Unlimited (sort of) Ice

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Aug 19, 2013
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Our most recent acquisition for summer entertaining for the 2019 season was a commercial ice machine. Makes 150lbs a day of crystal clear ice. Just chiming in to say it's been a worthwhile purchase. I have a 5-gallon food-safe bucket to tote ice from the machine in our garage to our coolers and no more hunting for large bags of ice on
 
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I have been considering one for us as well. I really hate having to pay for ice - kind of irrational I realize.

Do you just leave it on all the time or do you shut it off and restart a few days before an event?
 
I've been keeping it on 24/7, but that's just because I've been reveling in ice. It signals "FUL" when the bin hits capacity and then goes into hold mode. I have this model: Blue Air FSE LLC

They call it "undercounter" but it's pretty tall. Has really nice self-diagnostics. For best performance get a disposable canister filter. I haven't used it enough to warrant a descaling yet, but I'll probably do it after Labor Day and then maybe shut down for a while.
 
I love our clear ice maker. Makes “bar ice”. Continuous making cause it is plumbed into my waste line for my house so mine can run 24/7. I bought it for when I come back from fishing and don’t have time to fillet that night. This way no more stopping for ice. It’s down in our basement bar so for pool use I get lazy but I try to use it as much as possible.
 
Last year we had a wedding at our home. We estimated to purchase ice would be approximately $400 for the day. A month before the wedding we found a church auction and bought an ice maker for $400. It produces up to 400 lbs per day. ($400 seems to be the going number here. Just happened that way!) We have it on our deck in the back yard. We dont have an actual ice bin that it dispenses into so we use a cooler. On hot summer days it produces maybe 250 lbs per day. In the winter it gets moved in the laundry room. Before this we had a counter top ice maker that could barely make enough ice to feed 2 rum drinkers. Never look back!
 
We got an Opal nugget ice maker last year which doesn't product anything near a commercial volume, but we love it. Instead of letting the ice melt and recycle, we bag it up and store it in the outside freezer for parties and events. People also now take "to go" ice when they leave. Having a separate ice station that doesn't involve people opening the freezer, or standing in front of the fridge waiting for the ice to dispense has greatly improved the overall flow when we've got a lot of people over.
 
I need a filter to get rid of the Fluoride that the gov dumps in our water supply for mixed drinks. Nasty stuff, worked in research labs with fluorine gas for Excimer lasers. Any ideas for a filter for my Thermador fridge ice maker? Looked all over but doesn't look like you can get rid of it without an expensive whole house system.
 

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wjr75 said:
I need a filter to get rid of the Fluoride that the gov dumps in our water supply for mixed drinks. Nasty stuff, worked in research labs with fluorine gas for Excimer lasers. Any ideas for a filter for my Thermador fridge ice maker? Looked all over but doesn't look like you can get rid of it without an expensive whole house system.
Click to expand...
purewaterfreedom.com

Refrigerator/In-line Fluoride ONLY Water Filter System

The Refrigerator/In-line Fluoride ONLY Water Filter is designed for use on refrigerators with ice-makers and/or water through the door. It may be used with fountains, water coolers, coffee makers and ice machines. It can be used on 1/4" o.d. copper or plastic tubing. It effectively filters...
purewaterfreedom.com purewaterfreedom.com
 
wjr75 said:
I need a filter to get rid of the Fluoride that the gov dumps in our water supply for mixed drinks. Nasty stuff, worked in research labs with fluorine gas for Excimer lasers. Any ideas for a filter for my Thermador fridge ice maker? Looked all over but doesn't look like you can get rid of it without an expensive whole house system.
Click to expand...
Just cause an element is dangerous doesn't mean all things made with it are dangerous. Chlorine (which is a halogen like fluorine and bromine) is nasty stuff too. But sodium chloride (salt) is essential, we'd die without it, and we purposely add chlorine to pools since it's such an excelled oxidizer.
 
nemeth8 said:
I figured.... just seems like a lot of ice!
Click to expand...

It seems like a lot of ice until you have a dozen (or more) visitors on a hot weekend day. We have a 99-quart cooler built into a chest in the yard and we keep it stocked with beer and soft drinks throughout the weekend. I was lugging several 20-lb bags of ice home each weekend to keep it cool. Having a decent-volume ice maker simplifies my life.
 
We always make large cubes from large containers. Cascade containers from Costco work best, IMO. Save a few after they're empty with the lid, they take about 3 days to freeze solid. A large cube will last longer than smaller ones. After the smaller ones turn to water we add one or two of these to the cold water at it will last a weekend.

I was out in Lake Powell a few years back. I saw a guy load up his boat with 10 - 20# bags of cubes. WT he could have bought 10 - 10# blocks, they had them. Cause I bought one, lasted the till the next day in a regular Igloo.

Wish I could find a place that sold 10# blocks.

I don't have a boat to fuel up on the way to the ramp and buy a bag. So this has me thinking......:unsure:

Amazon.......
 
I use big cubes that I freeze for my bourbon. But I make those manually.

But what I use the regular ice for is to put in insulated drink containers where I store champagne, wine, etc. While we are in the pool. 10# blocks probably wont work for that. Besides it is a very nice look.
 

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