I purchased this unit a couple of weeks ago. It has been used almost continuously the whole time. At home, we use it in our den as the fridge in the basement has no ice maker. We have used it over the past week in the camper. The size is great and the output is what we need.
We normally buy 1 to 2 bags of ice a day when camping. This trip, we have bought none. Don't expect this unit to provide instant output. It is not your at home hotel ice maker.
I read a lot of the reviews before buying. The quality of the ice is directly dependent on how cold the water reservoir/ice chamber is. The first batch of ice after a water refill will be smaller, softer cubes. As the water in the reservoir cools, the ice making cycle will become more efficient.
I experimented with recycling cold water out of the cooler to make ice. The quality of the ice remained high on all batches. When I fill it with tap water, the first batches are of lower quality. The best solution is to "prime the system" by putting some of your ice into the reservoir when filling from the tap.
In order to produce a sufficient amount of ice for camping, the ice making process is continuous. When hanging out, dump the ice hopper when the full red light comes on. When leaving the camper or going to bed, dump the ice into the cooler and make sure the water reservoir is full. You will have a full load when you return or wake up.
At home, the cycle is less intense. Make ice when convenient, put it into freezer bags or an ice hopper and put it into the freezer. Expect the cubes to freeze together, but it is easily broken up.
I am rating this a 4 for two reasons. First, I don't know the longevity of the unit. Second, my gut feel is that a smart engineer could improve the efficiency of the ice making cycle through improved insulation of the ice chamber or extending a coil off of the compressor to cool the chamber.
We live in Phoenix. This ice maker has been running all summer long. We refer to it as a part of our hydration station now. This and our water cooler are in constant use. It makes three sizes of cubes. Small, medium and large.
- Update 3/26/16 -2 Failed, trying to get a replacement...... I'll wait with the PI mod on knowing if I can send it back.
Update 11/30/16 - I got the replacement part that I needed under warantee in good time. I was able to replace the main board myself.
Since we bought this, it has failed four times. Once the main controller board failed and twice I had to take the water pump out and clean it. Small particles clogged the motor and it failed to pump enough water.
The fourth failure was catastrophic. The water container housed in the top section where the ice is made developed a crack. The water would drain and the ice that was made was only about 1/4 inch tall. I tried to fix it, but this time my handyman skills were at their limit. (30 years of electronic / computer repair)
After consulting with my family. *We have come to love the convenience of having ice all the time made from clean pure water*, we decided to purchase a second IP210SS1 with a 3 year coverage. Even with the small repairs I've had to do on this device, I still give it 5 stars. We live in Phoenix and use it year round, non-stop.....
This is better than I expected! Once this machine "warms up" it's certainly produces the ice! And I love how it holds almost a gallon of water so you don't have to keep refilling it up every hour or so. The large ice cube size is about the same size as you will find at most grocery stores, while the small and medium ones are about the size of the ones you get at the restaurant.
Super fast shipment, so easy to use. Hated going to the store to buy a bag a ice, and living like 3 minutes from the store would still have ice melting so ended up 1 huge ice cube. This ice maker makes it so much nicer. Don't ever have to worry again about running out of ice. The shapes of the cubes make them so easy to use them in a soda or water bottle. I looked through slot of different portable ice makers, and this had everything I wanted, 3 sizes of cubes, recycling the water as the ice melts, very portable, easy to use, and a easy drain spout. I highly recommended this one
Such a lifesaver in the heat! My husband just had shoulder surgery and it has been very warm the last few weeks. Our ice maker can't keep up on a normal basis, let alone with us going through this much ice. I would have been buying bags of ice every day before this, and we live miles from the nearest grocery store. It makes ice very quickly and keeps making it without need to be refilled that often. I don't see that much difference between the small and large size cubes. It does make some noise. I moved it to the mud room so I could close the door...not enough that I wouldn't use it but worth having the extra ice for sure! We did take it camping in our trailer, worked great! Plugged in at the RV park or on the generator we never had to buy extra ice.
Feature Product
- Begins producing ice in an average of 10 minutes; Use tap water or bottled water
- Soft touch controls; No drain required; Three (3) different ice cube sizes; Ice bin stores 2 1/2 pounds
- Lightweight and easy to transport; Makes up to 28 pounds of ice per day; Dimensions 14 3/4" H x 11 3/4" W x 14 1/2" D
- PLEASE NOTE: While well insulated, this ice maker is not a freezer; Excellent for RVs, cabins, boats, etc.
- For different color options see IP210RED (red); IP210TI (titanium); IP210SS (stainless steel)
Description
Get rid of those pesky ice trays and add an attractive unit to your countertop with the EdgeStar Black Portable Ice Maker (IP210BL) instead. Compact and portable, you can place this ice maker practically anywhere. Have Ice Fast: You can create ready-to-serve ice in an average of 10 minutes Portable: Perfect for your RV, boat, or small kitchen, this ice maker is compact, portable and works anywhere there is an outlet available Ice Production: Able to make 28 lbs. of small, medium or large bullet ice cubes per day, you won't have to deal with ice trays ever again Insulated Storage Bin: The integrated storage bin is well-insulated and is able to hold 2.5 lbs. of ice at a time Easy-to-Use Controls: Turn this ice maker on/off and choose your ice size using this unit's simple touch-sensitive controls Innovative Water-Use Design: This intelligent ice maker will re-use the water resulting from melted ice to then make more ice, saving you time and water resources PLEASE NOTE: While this machine is well-insulated, it is not a freezer.
Works great. It makes Ice that is a little larger than the sonic ice we like so much but it is just as soft and easy to chew! It's a little larger than I thought it would be and takes up a good deal of counter space but it makes a heck of a lot of ice! It makes a little bit of noisy when it cycles so it's a little bothersome in a camper while trying to watch a movie, but you get to have ice with you at the campsite so it's a fair trade off. I recommend this Ice Maker to anyone without their own at home. Distilled water works best and at $0.89 a bottle you get perfect tasting Ice! We love it!
Although I spent two days on line reading reviews on all the brands of ice makers and they all had poor reviews failure after failure and there were some who had real good luck. Of all the models this one the Edge Star was better so I took the plunge and will wait and see.
One thing that's weird is a couple of reviews said they had seen the inside of most of the machines and thy all looked alike as if one company made them all and then added the outside cosmetics according to the brand being made ?.
The way I use mine is add the water and make cubes to put into a gallon plastic bag for my refrigerator freezer, when the bag gets down to about half full make another bag of cubes. Being I only run the unit for a short time maybe it will last longer?.
It comes with an ice scoop. This makes easily crunchable ice. It's still working fine. No funny smells or tastes after a couple months. I leave it always running, except when I want to clean it out. Works great. I find myself making a lot more smoothies and drinking a lot more tea and diet soft-drinks lately.
This is the third one of these we purchased,. The first one lasted about five years. The second one lasted about only two years. Probably our fault we didn't leave enough space around it to allow the heat to dissipate ( they do run hot). We have place this one differently with more free space around it and it seems to be running cooler. Except for the hot running they are great little ice makers and well worth the money especially if you can find them on sale.
This is an amazing stand-alone ice maker!! I purchased it for a Polar Cube icing machine to ice my back after surgery. (My prior back surgery, we had to keep running to the store every 2 days to buy ice). It is SO easy to use!! Just pour in the water into the main area, and the machine does the rest. With the push of a button, you can change the "size" of the ice cubes which is actually their thickness. It makes 9 cubes at a time, I wish it was more, but it still fills up the ice holder. To keep it going, I just empty the ice into gallon sized zip lock bags. It sits near the fridge, it doesn't need a drain and it looks attractive. The biggest problem with refrigerator ice makers, is that they can cause undetected leaks, that can cause terrible damage to a house. It did it to my fathers kitchen floor and ruined a structural beam that ran through the kitchen and laundry room. Thousands of dollars of damage to hos house!!
When this icemaker fills to capacity it will shut off an a red light will come on, and it will wait until you empty it enough to get below the full mark. I accidentally left it overnight, and the icecubes were in fine shape, only a couple had partially melted (the water returns into the system to make more ice). So even though it is not meant to have the ice just sitting in it "like a freezer", I was impressed that they kept in as good of shape as they had! Love my icemaker and highly reccomend it!! For any reason, not only for medical. Now, if I was going to have a big party, I suggest starting to save your ice a couple days, or more, ahead so you have enough! But, this ice maker WILL pay for itself, because ice at the store is expensive!
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