Anyone have an Ice Machine (free-standing)?

[Rambler]

We have a stand alone ice maker. It sits on our covered patio and drains by gravity into the adjacent bushes. At our former home we had an ice maker at the poolhouse, but it died so many times while still under warranty that we got a semi commercial (think small coffee shop) version on Amazon to replace it. It is too wide to fit in a standard cabinet slot for an ice maker. But it makes great ice. The water source is the adjacent hose bib, run thru an RV hose and an RV water filter that removes any chlorine taste. It can make up to 80 pounds per day, but of course in the Phoenix heat, a lot of that melts. (I’ve been able to harvest 50# a day in the summer when stocking up for family reunions, etc). We of course have an ice maker in the fridge, but since we use a lot of ice, I won’t be without an extra ice maker again. Besides that, the half moon ice in the freezer always seems to taste like “freezer”.

 

[jinju]

Do not get one. I am on my third Scotsman thing breaks down after 4 to 5 years Reason being they work 24/7. They are expensive too
Gita

 

[Dreamer]

My daughter had one at her last house. It was a large counter one. I did think it was noisy and was glad when it would cycle off. It had a choice of cube or I believe, crushed ice. I, personally, could never imagine getting one. However, I used it while I was at her house for approximately 6 weeks, and I have to admit that I missed it when I went home.

She had worked at Culligan Water with a guy, who went to another company that sold commercial water systems. They stayed friends and would go to lunch together. She craved a certain type of ice when she was pregnant and my son-in-law would go get cups of this ice at night. Anyway, she would refer any one calling for a commercial type system to her friend. He talked with his company and they gave her the ice machine to use in her house. I do not remember the name of the machine, but it did have great ice.

 

[NotYourAverageJones]

We had a Zline outside in our BBQ patio and loved it's convenience in summer and just shut it down in winter. We are building a new house and I am adding one to our walk in pantry. We don't care about the noise factor because it will be tucked away in the pantry which has a swinging door. (But adding a dedicated drain line thought is a good one since we are still in design stages!)

I despise in-door ice and water makers so that's the only option except going back to filling those good old fashion Rubbermaid ice trays. My southern husband says ice is a requirement. Apparently Southerners take their ice pretty seriously!

 

[Sunset]

OP - How about some photos of the ice machine drain line and pump , the water is being pumped to somewhere.
A photo could easily show the relationship in height between that and the island sink pipes (which should also have a photo or be in the photo).

 

[Retired Expat]

People may be confused. Commercial icemakers and that usually meant all stand alone units , because they were built in used water to cool themselves and were not air cooled. Think the big icemakers at a hotel or motel, you always hear water running. Highly wasteful unless you are using a cooling tower to cool that water..

Get a chest freezer and store up 20 lbs of the ice you make. If you want super clear cubes you need to use insulated ice forms, something about cooling it slowly... or I hear if you twice boiled the water before making cubes they will be clear, though never tried it. For the first time in a long time am without an ice maker and make two trays of ice per day usually for one person only.

 

[Time2]

People may be confused. Commercial icemakers and that usually meant all stand alone units , because they were built in used water to cool themselves and were not air cooled. Think the big icemakers at a hotel or motel, you always hear water running.

Not sure I can agree on that. I had two commercial Ice makers, a Scotsman about 420 lbs a day and a Manatowic about 485 lbs a day. The were both air cooled.
There is some waste, at the end of each cycle it pumps out the left over water in the water holding container. The water has
excess minerals in it, because some amount of the minerals don't get frozen in the ice and build up in the hold container water. Tastes really bad.

I put that cold discarded water to use.
My water pipes and machine were outside (covered), meaning at outdoor ambient temperature in Florida. The water going was often 85* or higher. I built a heat exchanger and ran the cold discarded water into a container and ran the water going into the machine through many coils of pipe in the container. It worked great and lowered the incoming water temperature as much as 25*. It made the difference of us having to buy extra ice in the summer. It was for business use.
My hero repair on the Scotsman, they wanted $109 for the full ice sensor, I bought an infrared LED and Sensor pair for $1.98. Worked perfect.

and fixed it.

 

[YakGrl]

No one has mentioned insulation. Could you try to insulate the cabinet or pump area to reduce the noise? It might be a simpler fix since you otherwise like the appliance and the cabinetry is valuable.

 

[Amethyst]

I wish I knew how to do things like this.

I put that cold discarded water to use.
My water pipes and machine were outside (covered), meaning at outdoor ambient temperature in Florida. The water going was often 85* or higher. I built a heat exchanger and ran the cold discarded water into a container and ran the water going into the machine through many coils of pipe in the container. It worked great and lowered the incoming water temperature as much as 25*. It made the difference of us having to buy extra ice in the summer. It was for business use.
My hero repair on the Scotsman, they wanted $109 for the full ice sensor, I bought an infrared LED and Sensor pair for $1.98. Worked perfect.

and fixed it.

 

[Time2]

I wish I knew how to do things like this.

I started tearing radios apart 50+ years ago, and building Radio Shack kits soon after. I have an electronics background so the ice full sensor was easy to figure out with the schematic.
The chiller was a neat project, I had an 18" piece of PVC pipe that I made sealed ends for, installed connectors for in and out pipes, it worked surprisingly well. I know people that put a coil of copper tubing in the bottom of the ice bin to cool the inlet water, not realizing they are just melting the ice they just made. This just makes the ice machine less efficient.

 

[Amethyst]

It's a creative idea. I'm just not sure where the insulation could go, as the unit fits inside a section of the kitchen island. As a new one would, in a renovated kitchen.

No one has mentioned insulation. Could you try to insulate the cabinet or pump area to reduce the noise? It might be a simpler fix since you otherwise like the appliance and the cabinetry is valuable.

 

[calmloki]

It's a creative idea. I'm just not sure where the insulation could go, as the unit fits inside a section of the kitchen island. As a new one would, in a renovated kitchen.

Last year our dishwasher died down south. Bought a replacement and installed it, but robbed the sound deadening blanket from the old unit and added it over the new one's sound blanket. It probably helped, and for free, but wasn't a miracle. Too many open unsound-damped areas.

 

[Amethyst]

Update: Response from contractor

A contractor we've dealt with before, sent his plumber over to inspect the current arrangement. Response matches what some of you immediately suggested.

"Yes, The plumber said we can drain in to the lower part of the sink drain."

 

[jazz4cash]

A contractor we've dealt with before, sent his plumber over to inspect the current arrangement. Response matches what some of you immediately suggested.

"Yes, The plumber said we can drain in to the lower part of the sink drain."

Yay! Let us know if you pursue and how it all ends up.

 

[Amethyst]

Will do. Nothing is planned to happen until early 2021. I was told that appliances need to be ordered 8 weeks in advance, so we may do that in October.

Yay! Let us know if you pursue and how it all ends up.

 

[skipro33]

The ice maker in our freezer quit soon after the warranty expired. Parts are ridiculously priced and no guarantee that's the problem since most modern units have too much electronics controlling them. We just buy our ice at the corner market. Comes in an 8lb bag that contains 3 smaller bags. One smaller bag fills the freezer's ice tray. I'd say a bag lasts a month or so unless we have company. When we do, we usually get asked if they can bring something so we tell them ice. When I do pay for the ice, it's $3 for that 8lb bag. At most, I spend $30 a year for ice. My best guess is that is several years cheaper than fixing what ever is wrong with ours.