Ice maker vs fridge?

Kelpie

Kelpie

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Our boat has no fridge so we tend to cruise using a coolbox and top up with ice or, if needs must, bags of cheap frozen veg etc. I would like a proper fridge but can't really justify the cost of a proper marine one at the moment.
It crossed my mind that one answer would be to make our own ice using a small machine- turns out these are under £100- we would run this whilst in a marina, or could fire up the lidl genny I have just bought, or indeed as they only draw about 150w just use the inverter off our 12v bank which is topped up by the engine and solar power. A couple of hours runing should produce nearly two litres of ice, which in our rathe cool climate ought to keep the coolbox going for another day or so.
Thoughts?
 
Can't see why this would not work, and you also end up with ice cubes for the G&Ts, so a good move all round.

To take this idea one step further, would it be feasible to dismantle the ice maker and install the parts in and around the cool box so that you end up with a fridge of sorts?




Gitane
 
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Kelpie said:
Our boat has no fridge so we tend to cruise using a coolbox and top up with ice or, if needs must, bags of cheap frozen veg etc. I would like a proper fridge but can't really justify the cost of a proper marine one at the moment.
It crossed my mind that one answer would be to make our own ice using a small machine- turns out these are under £100- we would run this whilst in a marina, or could fire up the lidl genny I have just bought, or indeed as they only draw about 150w just use the inverter off our 12v bank which is topped up by the engine and solar power. A couple of hours runing should produce nearly two litres of ice, which in our rathe cool climate ought to keep the coolbox going for another day or so.
Thoughts?
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Sounds a great idea - not sure how quickly it makes ice but that's only an issue when you're using the genny.
 
Colvic Watson said:
Sounds a great idea - not sure how quickly it makes ice but that's only an issue when you're using the genny.
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We had one on a charter boat once. We were on shore power when we used it and it took a couple of hours to actually start generating any ice but once it gets started it churned it out at a prodigious rate. If they draw 150W those first two hours are going to draw a lot of current at 12V before anything actually happens so one would need a good battery pack or a generator.

Richard
 
RichardS said:
We had one on a charter boat once. We were on shore power when we used it and it took a couple of hours to actually start generating any ice but once it gets started it churned it out at a prodigious rate. If they draw 150W those first two hours are going to draw a lot of current at 12V before anything actually happens so one would need a good battery pack or a generator.

Richard
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That's interesting to know, thanks. The blurb claims ice within 12 minutes, which does seem a bit too good to be true.
Perhaps I would be best off running the genny to power the machine and recharge my 12v bank at the same time, then I can switch the genny off and continue running the ice machine from the batteries. Just seems a bit overkill to run a 1kw genny for hours for a load of 100-150w.
 
We have both and run the ice cube maker in marina to top up ice in the fridge which is engine run so can't use when tied up.
The ice is not very cold so melts quickly at first - Andrew James compact produces loads after 15 minutes.

Our best test was when fridge decompressed and we had ice maker only for a week in Greece in July. Calm weather so we motored and used ice maker via inverter- basically it was fine once fridge contents cold enough. First ice maker lasted 3 winters on board. Now on second.
 
Kelpie said:
.... Just seems a bit overkill to run a 1kw genny for hours for a load of 100-150w.
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We plug our shorepower plug into the wee genny, which means we are charging the batteries at 25 amps (if required) as well as whatever the 240V is required for. We also have a 700watt immerser but that's just too much for the 600W genny. Electric blankets and aft cabin tube heaters at 60W each are a bonus...
 
Kelpie said:
It crossed my mind that one answer would be to make our own ice using a small machine... A couple of hours runing should produce nearly two litres of ice, which in our rathe cool climate ought to keep the coolbox going for another day or so.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Why not just leave it out in the cockpit overnight? That should freeze everything down apart from August when things will just get wet!!!
 
dslittle said:
Why not just leave it out in the cockpit overnight? That should freeze everything down apart from August when things will just get wet!!!
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I remember family camping holidays... to Aviemore... at Easter... my Mum had to chip ice off the lid of the coolbox to get inside. I think its primary purpose on those trips was to keep the milk from freezing...
 
Have you got a decent coolbox? We bought an Icey-tek (http://www.icey-tek.com.au) in 2006 and have used it on sailing/camping trips until we upgraded our on-board fridge 2 years ago for the princely sum of £800 for a new compressor. It (the Icey-tek) was retired until a week ago when I took it on a camping trip. I put 8 of those cold blue blocks in it on a Friday and on the Sunday they were still frozen. Good kit.
 
The Icey-Tek looks very good, no wonder it works as the wall thickness appears to be about 75mm.
I have previously used polystyrene to line the inside of a normal coolbox and it made a huge difference.
I am doing some building work at the moment so my plan is to save some offcuts of Kingspan and make something up using that.
 
Cool box to Icemaker - awful. on the 655 Oysters we usually drop the "ice maker" and make the space a.... wait for it...... a cheese fridge ;-)

So go get yourself a fridge. Call up Calor gas centre in Southampton. I was in there today and saw in the "marine" section a do it yourself fridge system with compressor.

The icemakers on yachts are generally awful and for sub £100 that is asking a lot so I would not take the risk.

We used to get a bag of ice in each port for £1 to fill the coolbox - it lasted all day in the BVI so I would suggest Keeping it Simple.
or
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dometic-Combicool-RC-1700-3-way-Portable-Camping-Fridge-/322094317032
 
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Two main reasons against fitting a fridge:
- cost
- need for major surgery to the galley. No time to do that just now.

I was led to believe that those 3 way units(12/240v & gas) were awful? Likewise the cheapo peltier effect coolboxes.

At the moment it does look like the lowest cost option is an ice maker plus a good homemade cooler. I like the idea of only having to run the ice maker when it is convenient- e.g. when motoring or if it's sunny and the batteries are full. A fridge will want to run whenever it needs to.
However I also see that a fridge which is automatically at the correct temperature is much more convenient than coolbox plus ice.
 
Ravi said:
If you are only making ice in the marina, could you not just buy frozen bottles of water as 'ice' to cool the fridge? Apart from anything else It avoids the wet mess from melting ice. You would need a big glass for your G&T, though.
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Which shops sell frozen bottles of water??
Cruising up here you have to take what you can get with shops. Likewise with shore power! In fact I have never connected a boat to shore power and do not own the requisite equipment. The vast majority of nights spent aboard are in locations without shore power so i have never seen the point.
 
mjcoon said:
Lots - in the Mediterranean
Mike.
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Lots on French North coast too. And their yacht clubs. Often a dedicated chest freezer full which might be for ice lollies on the English side of the channel.

We only have an icebox. Fine on holiday once in France.
 
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