Ice maker water supply

Magnum

Magnum

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We have an ice maker on Magnum that we would love to use, but it is supplied by the main water tanks which are refilled with med marina water. We do use our water maker when at sea or in an anchorage but cannot rely on it exclusively for our onboard water requirements.

I'm not keen on marina water water ice cubes so am exploring alternative water supply options. Princess have come up with a solution that includes a 30L auxiliary tank in the crew quarters pumped to the ice maker. Great in principle but a bit OTT given that we would probably get through 5KG of ice a week and horrifically expensive.

I have heard that some people use a 5L mineral water bottle located in the wet bar supplying the ice maker via a simple pump. This sounds like the perfect solution to me. Has anyone done this or know what parts are required?
 
Having used marina water including Cala dor ( which is very salty ) i am not sure why you would want to do this. The water element is small ( I also drink tank water quite happily )

We do have carbon filters which removed most taint.

They will need an operating pressure to work and you will not want the pump running all the time so you would then need a system like on the voat with accumulator etc or he water tank above the ice maker which is not very practical if it is on the fly bridge

Jeremy
 
Ah, one of the biggest problems with being berthed in Mallorca.

We use the town water supply to the ice maker from the main tank and ONLY use the ice in the built -in cooler box which has a cooler element, to keep the drinks cold.

Ice for use in the drinks is bought from the local supermarket.
 
I use tank water to supply the icemakers, via a carbon "Whale" inline filter. The tank is filled either with town water or watermaker-water, or more likely a blend, depending on cruising etc. Seems ok to me. You can definitely get an add-on tank for the icemaker, that you fill from time to time with bottled mineral water. Easy to do if gravity fed; more complex if you need a pump (as jrudge says above), but either way it's not worth the effort imho.
An alternative if you care about it a lot is to install a much bigger and better filter in the pipe from water tank to icemaker. Something like the carbon filter that supplies the backflush to your watermaker (you'd then use the same filter elements, making spares inventory easy). But even that is unnecessary imho - each to their own though.
Cala D'Or, from where DougH writes, is a separate case: the town water supply there is horrible and salty and you never want it in your water tanks. Horrible to drink, shower in and probably knackers your dishawasher and washing machine. You need to take the boat out of the marina and make your own water if you're planning to be based in Cala D'Or
 
Lots of farms and houses with a private water supply round here use a multi-stage filtration system , plus a UV steriliser, which is about the size of fire extinguisher, and you can have additional filters to make the water as hard or soft as you wish.


If interested, I 'll find some more details for you,
 
jfm said:
Cala D'Or, from where DougH writes, is a separate case: the town water supply there is horrible and salty and you never want it in your water tanks. Horrible to drink, shower in and probably knackers your dishawasher and washing machine. You need to take the boat out of the marina and make your own water if you're planning to be based in Cala D'Or
Click to expand...

How it is legal I have no idea.

Immersion elements last 6 months.

Other than that I drink anything. Cala Dor water you can even taste when showering!
 
Magnum said:
I'm not keen on marina water water ice cubes so am exploring alternative water supply options. Princess have come up with a solution that includes a 30L auxiliary tank in the crew quarters pumped to the ice maker. Great in principle but a bit OTT given that we would probably get through 5KG of ice a week and horrifically expensive.
Click to expand...
Thats how our icemaker works and its not expensive to run. I put about 5 litres of bottled water in the tank at the beginning of every trip simply by pouring it into the icemaker from where it drains back into the tank and it seems to last for ever. Whilst we are on 240V, the icemaker makes ice until it reaches a level sensor and switches off. If we go out to sea and we havent got the gennie on, the ice melts over several hours and drains back to the tank. When we're back on 240V, the icemaker starts making ice again. Basically any unused ice melts and drains back to tank so effectively you never waste any ice or water

The big problem with the system is keeping the tank clean. Unless you happen to have used all of the water in the tank, there is always standing water in the tank when you leave the boat and that water may become contaminated if you leave it there for more than a few days. When we first got our boat we didnt entirely understand how the icemaker worked and just switched it off when we left the boat without cleaning the tank with the result that we had a few cases of upset tummy which took us a while to trace to the ice. We have now got into a habit of cleaning out the tank after every trip and that means cleaning it until its dry which does take some effort because the tank is hidden away under a cockpit locker and not easy to reach. Also we always make one batch of ice when we get back on the boat and throw it away before using the next batch. Often I'll put a water purifying tablet in that first batch of ice too

So I would say that the system Princess are proposing will work well but the tank has to be very accessible so that you can clean it out every time you leave the boat
 
Struggling to buy into this as a proxi forum member
Surley the freezer chest of the AN Other fridge (s) with suitable ice trays filled up with bottled is enought
.
You supose to be eating the full Med ( longlife we are lead to believe diet ) not Jack Foulton or Iceland shit !

My two measearley 2 make enought ice in the "empty " freezer compartments ,takes only 30 mins for a full tray a d we can do 8 -10 + trays big ones .
Christ the gin or pastis or Rose - will run out 1st .
How fast do you guys in sets of 6-8 drink ?
Day time @ anchor -just jump in or drink a "fridged" soft with ice if you wish .I don,t drink n drive btw -
By the the time ( 30 mins ) you have topped up the empty the whole trays are solid .

Tell me what I,am missing ,

Cooling a 600 lb just caught tuna excepted , in a Lurhrs .
Not wanting to prick any ones balloon --but ice makers sound like chocolate tea pots , esp the risk of gastro issues -nice !
 
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Just to be clear, we didn't spec the ice maker as the boat was already in build. But it's there now and I either find a workable solution or it's getting removed! At the moment it's just taking up space.

Deleted User, I don't think our ice maker has a tank as it's just connected to the boat's pressurised water supply.
 
Magnum said:
We have an ice maker on Magnum that we would love to use, but it is supplied by the main water tanks which are refilled with med marina water. We do use our water maker when at sea or in an anchorage but cannot rely on it exclusively for our onboard water requirements.

I'm not keen on marina water water ice cubes so am exploring alternative water supply options. Princess have come up with a solution that includes a 30L auxiliary tank in the crew quarters pumped to the ice maker. Great in principle but a bit OTT given that we would probably get through 5KG of ice a week and horrifically expensive.

I have heard that some people use a 5L mineral water bottle located in the wet bar supplying the ice maker via a simple pump. This sounds like the perfect solution to me. Has anyone done this or know what parts are required?
Click to expand...

Bejesus! And I thought I had problems.;)
 
Magnum said:
Just to be clear, we didn't spec the ice maker as the boat was already in build. But it's there now and I either find a workable solution or it's getting removed! At the moment it's just taking up space.

Deleted User, I don't think our ice maker has a tank as it's just connected to the boat's pressurised water supply.
Click to expand...

Exactly what's the issue you have with it -piped from the tank as it is ?

To consider alternatives ? --- to bring brevity to this thread !
 
Oh forgot to mention the obvious one can freeze trays of diet cola or tonic water too as well as water in the trays.
Tell me what imam missing pease folks ice maker Vs freezer box trays ?
 
This year, we fitted a Seagull Water tap in the galley.
When I fitted it, I connected the ice maker to the same outlet as the Seagull filter.
Our icemaker is in the galley.
So far this year, it has been working well.
We hsve been at anchor for about 10 days and are still on Sant Carles sweet water.
Refilling tomorrow before heading off to Ibiza.

However, I agree with most of the above - the water on the south side of Mallorca Porto Colom and Cala d'Or etc) is very poor.
Water in Palma is ok IMO
We are hoping to fill in Santa Ponsa tomorrow - friends tell me the water there is ok.

So, I wouldn't do the Princess upgrade - maybe invest in a Seagull or equivalent carbon filter/purifier for ALL your drinking needs.
 
Magnum said:
Deleted User, I don't think our ice maker has a tank as it's just connected to the boat's pressurised water supply.
Click to expand...
I thought the separate tank solution was what Princess were offering you to get round the issue of taking water from the main water tank?
 
Portofino said:
Tell me what imam missing pease folks ice maker Vs freezer box trays ?
Click to expand...
Ice for drinks is fine in those little moulds that you put in the freezer compartment, and as you say you can put bottled water in them. But what you're missing is ice for the ice buckets for the wine/champagne. You can't possibly fill a decent double/quad ice bucket with the production from those little things. You need serious ice production gear (I specced two, just to be on safe side:encouragement:)
 
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