Been debating on buying an ice maker to leave in my trailer and top off my cooler during race weekends. sometimes I get too lazy and don’t want to drive to get a bag of ice. I know these things only produce 1.5 pounds an hour. This is only for my water bottle and to top off ice that melts in my cooler. anyone have any experience with these or are they not worth it? I’m in a trailer and not an RV.
Simple. Buy a $0.50 carton of regular table salt. Salt your cooler. Ice lasts all weekend. Mine consistently lasts 72+ hrs. DONE! Just don't add too much salt or your water bottles will actually freeze rock solid.
Our first one was one of these: Frigidaire 26 lb. Countertop Ice Maker EFIC117-SS, Stainless Steel - Walmart.com Not great but would keep up with what we were drinking so we didn't have to rob any out of the cooler. It was pretty loud as well.
That's what I kept thinking when I saw the title of the thread. Then again I was thinking restaurant/ industrial level ice maker and he was going to sell at the track. Not a bad racket if you think about it?
Why not just buy a refrigerator for when you get to the track. And one of those $500 coolers the ice stays frozen.
We bought one from amazon after out freezer ice maker stopped working for the third time. Its fast but makes ugly white airy ice. It works well.
my dad has a frigidaire counter model... claims to do 26lbs per day (not sure how much babysitting it requires) https://www.amazon.com/Frigidaire-EFIC206-SILVER-Ice-Maker-Through/dp/B075QP7SCP
for you guys in the real heat, 1 extra cooler with dry ice, swap back and forth stuff as needed. i used to keep ice cream at the track. and put in ice cube trays
This solves the problem well. People think all ice is the same. Ice makers make ice that isn't very cold and has a lot of air in it. Ever wonder why hotel icemakers are shit when you load them into a cooler for some storage cooling? They are not very cold, have a large surface-to-volume ratio, and a bunch of trapped air reducing their thermal mass. It's *almost* time for me to report out on how to make pro-level cocktail ice, but here is a teaser.
For about the same price, keep your drinks cold and store an extra bag of ice in the freezer. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Arctic-K...rigerator-with-Freezer-Black-E-star/515928269
Is it coincidental that pretty-pure lattice crystal ice formed by slow cooling from above to very low temperatures is also better (read: more effective at cooling) than trashy-looking hotel ice? Like I said, dry ice makes water ice work a lot better, plus you get some sublimation-effect, which might even tickle your aesthetics (or not).
I make blocks using 1 pound butter containers, the bigger pieces last alot longer. That size isn't so big to be a pain.