Ice Maker Poll - give Heartland your feedback

[Hockster]

We have a portable ice maker that we leave in the basement and love it.
If we have a problem with it, it's easy to get at for repair.
They are a little expensive for a good one, but worth it we think.
Ours is rated at 35lbs in 24hrs.

Hockster

===================================================================================================================

 

[GoPackGo]

Hi everybody.
First - Let me state that I'm not an owner - yet. I initially was looking at Montanas, but when I told my salesman that I would be full-timing, he suggested looking at the Heartland BigHorn line. There were several reasons why he made that suggestion but one that I especially liked was when he showed me the icemaker in the BH and then showed me the ice maker in the Montana - ice cube trays. This is admittedly a small thing but also something I really like. I have an icemaker in my current home fridge; why wouldn't I want one in my 'new' home on wheels ? I do understand the space issue so I will want the bigger 4-door model. I expect to be staying for weeks at a time in one place and I don't intend to buy ice every few days. I already have one of the small portable units that require manual refilling. I like them but you need to periodically empty the (soft) ice, put it in bags and put them in the freezer. I just don't see this as better then a built-in.
So now I am looking at the 3010RE model, hopefully WITH a built-in icemaker but WITHOUT the leak.
Full disclosure - I have owned campers in the past, as well as boats with built in fridges/freezers so I am familiar with this issue.

Just my .02 - hope I have not offended anyone.

 

[bdunker]

we have an ice maker and it is in constant use.

 

[Piperflyer]

We use ours all the time

 

[IronJ]

I had a portable first...

Main issue...i wanted ice when I needed it...not to sit around babysitting the ice so it didn't melt ..

Now I have the built in...I run a pretty substantial filter system when on city water and generally fill my fresh tank with filtered/soft water so it can make me nice tasty cubes while I travel to my destination

Between the 40 lbs I pack in my yeti before a trip and the icemaker running I have yet to actually BUY ice (that yeti is a thing of beauty filled with pure ice!!) And that includes a couple of weeks in az/Utah at the end of summer!!

Bottom line...for us we would not consider a unit the size of a 420 with any less than a residential WITH icemaker....the inverter based fridge uses surprisingly little ac power so the batteries last a couple days easy running the fridge....And. simple button push fires up the genny for a recharge if needed...

Sorry that was a long answer to say yes absolutely to the ice maker. ..but I felt it only fair to address the solutions I have to issues others have posted. ..

also, with the tray removed you lose nearly none of the freezer space...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

 

[porthole]

I bought a Yeti for our recent trip where we needed to use the electric cooler in freezer mode. For the price of a Yeti, I am not that impressed. I used it for drinks and kept it toped off with ice from the portable ice maker. I had to drain the cooler daily, which was about what I had to do with our regular cooler.

 

[IronJ]

Hmm..not my experience....only time I see that issue is with sticking warm drinks in the ice...yeti is made to hold cold in....but warm/cool drinks are gonna melt the ice regardless...

I had about 24 beers in 20 lbs of ice in mine sitting in back of truck. ..forgot about it....11 days later the ice was about 80% melted and everything was still frosty cold (daytime highs were about 69-75)....if you use a sacrifice bag of ice (as yeti recommends) and pack it with cold drinks it will go 10 days easy sitting in 100+ weather. ..we do it every summer...wet ice is horrible in any cooler,as are warm/cool drinks...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

 

[porthole]

Bottles go from the house fridge to the trailer - cold.
For our dog camp trip i tried all frozen foods and 10 pounds of dry ice. Dry ice was gone in two days.

 

[IronJ]

Well that don't sound right..with 1lb of dry ice my 65 will keep ice for over 10 days (yes some melts, but the water is still 35 degrees and that's enough to refrigerate any drinks food)...my last trip to moab I filled the whole cooler with pure ice...after a week at Grand Canyon I opened it and maybe had 1/8 melt off...when I got home it was mostly melted but still 42 degrees....so still cold...dry ice under reg ice is best way I have found...dry by itself sublimates too fast

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

 

[bellpr]

Don't have an ice maker in the Current 5'er. Want one in the next one! Prefer Built in with the Refer rather than a stand alone unit.

 

[jbeletti]

Well that don't sound right..with 1lb of dry ice my 65 will keep ice for over 10 days (yes some melts, but the water is still 35 degrees and that's enough to refrigerate any drinks food)...my last trip to moab I filled the whole cooler with pure ice...after a week at Grand Canyon I opened it and maybe had 1/8 melt off...when I got home it was mostly melted but still 42 degrees....so still cold...dry ice under reg ice is best way I have found...dry by itself sublimates too fast

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

I can't add anything to the Yeti conversation but I learned a new word today! Sublimation - the transition of a substance directly from the solid to the gas phase without passing through the intermediate liquid phase. Nancy is a Chemical Engineer and knew what it meant off the top of her head. Me? I like Google

 

[IronJ]

I can't add anything to the Yeti conversation but I learned a new word today! Sublimation - the transition of a substance directly from the solid to the gas phase without passing through the intermediate liquid phase. Nancy is a Chemical Engineer and knew what it meant off the top of her head. Me? I like Google

Sorry sometimes I revert back to my inner science nerd of college years...lol...

I have nothing else to add about a yeti either...and actually the pelican and other brands are cheaper and work as well. ..rotomolded is rotomolded...

Now the yeti stainless mugs....those things are alien technology!!..hot coffee will burn your face 3 hrs later!! Lol

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

 

[jolar3329]

We removed the ice maker from our freezer to get more freezer space. Why give up half the space for an ice maker.

 

[TxCowboy]

A steady supply of ice is important, particularly here in the South Texas summer heat. (Summer lasts nine months here. )

Our ice makers makes about 8 pounds of ice per day. That's a savings of about $2 per day using our own homemade ice vs. buying from the local stores. That really adds up over time.

We also decided to buy a small college-sized frig for the basement area ($70 delivered from Amazon). That saves us even more money on buying ice and lets us focus the homemade ice on frozen margaritas and other frosty libations.

 

[pegmikef]

Poll closed, but none installed and we use a portable one we keep in the basement.

 

[jassson007]

I bought a Yeti for our recent trip where we needed to use the electric cooler in freezer mode. For the price of a Yeti, I am not that impressed. I used it for drinks and kept it toped off with ice from the portable ice maker. I had to drain the cooler daily, which was about what I had to do with our regular cooler.

Duane they say not to drain the water though. That is what helps to keep everything cold. Also try having things precooled before you put them in there with your ice.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[OldTanker]

We have one and used to use it until the fragile line used at the factory leaked. We would like to use it again but also would like the factory to understand the fragility of the line and use a braided line instead on the installs, saving much headaches for owners.

 

[farside291]

We loved ours until it sprung a leak and flooded the trailer. Its fixed now but i am too afraid it will leak again, so we turned off the water supply line and bought a portable icemaker. Make a better supply line...definitly keep the ice and water in the fridge.

 

[travelin2]

I realize the poll is closed but others are adding their $.02 so I will too...
Don't have an ice maker, don't need one. That's why there's a refrigerator/freezer on board.
We buy a bag of ice periodically, fill a Tupperware container in the freezer, discard remainder.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[wdk450]

I can't remember if I voted before, but I removed just the icemaker tub from my Dometic Side-by-side refrig, as the whole mechanism is too much hassle to remove. I had repeated pinhole leaks in the tubing under the slide, and I didn't like the 4 hour icemaking time. I bought a tabletop icemaker through WalMart.com
which makes 6 round ice chunks (no such a thing as a cylindrical "cube") about every 12 minutes or so. After 3 years of use, mine is starting to have some intermittent problems, but I found a YouTube video yesterday (in 3 parts) on disassembling the tabletop icemakers and repairing a common plastic fracture problem.