New Ice Maker is a Success!

[Don Draper]

I wanted to post a pic of our "newest baby" and to tell you all that so far it is working out perfectly. The table you see sits in our dining room, and previously I had just placed wine glasses and openers there. I got some old-fashioned glasses and set them out on a tray next to the ice maker. The guest fridge and water cooler is on the opposite side of the room.
The machine works really well, just as some of you had described to me. Fill up with water, hit "on" and away it goes, it takes it about 2 hours to make a full basket of ice. It is insulated so the ice stays whole for a few hours, then will start to gradually melt and as it does the melting water drains down through the basket and gets used to make new ice.
The ice in the basket at the bottom started to clump together a little bit but on one of my runs through the dining room to refill hot water for tea I just took the scoop and gently broke it up, it wasn't frozen solid together and broke up easily.
I had to laugh out loud, the very first check-in we had after starting it up last Friday came in, brought her suitcase in and went upstairs to check out our deck...she left her bedroom door open and I could see that she had a glass of ice water sitting on the nightstand...she was here a grand total of about 8 minutes! So clearly it's going to be popular. I'm going to need to get more glasses for when we are super full.

 

[egoodell]

Great! The only other thing you ever need to do is to clean the insides every so often. Pretty much trouble free for us for the past two years!
RIki

 

[Morticia]

Glad that's working out for you! We find ice is a small amenity that guests really like.

 

[wendydk]

Rupe...what is the brand and where did you get it?

 

[Don Draper]

Sunpentown IM-101S Portable Ice Maker with LCD with Stainless Steel Body
I got it from Amazon for $190.00, and then the shipping was $55 (it is HEAVY 40-50 pounds). This was the best price I saw, other places offered free shipping but then the price was closer to $300.00. Right now it is listed on Amazon for $249 with free Prime shipping so essentially the same.
I think it comes in black and white if you don't like the stainless steel.

 

[swirt]

Pretty cool. Here's the link.
What's involved with cleaning it? Do you have to run bleach through it every so often?
Any guess as to how it would hold up to being outside? I'm thinking about putting it out in our gazebo but not sure if it would hold up to the elements.

 

[Don Draper]

Pretty cool. Here's the link.
What's involved with cleaning it? Do you have to run bleach through it every so often?
Any guess as to how it would hold up to being outside? I'm thinking about putting it out in our gazebo but not sure if it would hold up to the elements..

You just run water with a little bit of vinegar through the cycle to clean it.
A lot of the reviews were from people with RV's so the things were getting moved around a lot...I would think as long as it's not exposed directly to water you'd be ok (like in the middle of the gazebo you'd be ok)...you could probably get a small cover for it, something like you'd get for a small grill at Lowe's or Home Depot.

 

[muirford]

Yay! I'm glad it's working out...

 

[wendydk]

After reading the original post this morning, I found it at overstock for $235 + 2.95 shipping. Think I might go for it!

 

[Don Draper]

After reading the original post this morning, I found it at overstock for $235 + 2.95 shipping. Think I might go for it!.

I don't think you'll regret it. Overstock did not have this brand when I was looking, and after lots of online research the SPT definitely had the most consistent good reviews.

 

[Don Draper]

Yay! I'm glad it's working out....

What do you think of that placement? And thanks for sharing the suggestion in the first place

 

[Samster]

Cool! (pun intended....tee hee...)

 

[muirford]

Yay! I'm glad it's working out....

What do you think of that placement? And thanks for sharing the suggestion in the first place

.

That's a good spot for it. And keeping it close to the water dispenser is a good idea.