Fill in the designated reservoir with some water and then plug in the machine to a power source. Turn the device on and wait for less than ten minutes to get your first batch of ice out of it. Once you pour water into the device, they get stored in Eiswuerfelbereiter a tub surrounded by metal pegs supporting both heating and cooling system. The cooling technology lets the water freeze through the rings and the heating technology makes them warm up, so that the ice cubes can easily drop off from them.
Once you have decided to buy a portable ice maker for your own purpose, then you need to go with the ones that are small in terms of size and fit perfectly on any space. Irrespective of the size, make sure to go with the ones that can produce large numbers of them in a faster rate when compared to the standard ice makers.
Best Buying Guide
If you love to have plenty of ice cubes by your disposal, yet, sick of manually creating them through the trays with your refrigerator, then you will get highly benefited out of purchasing a portable and at home maker. There are some basic considerations that you need to store in your mind while thinking about purchasing the perfect ice machine for your own purposes, and below mentioned are some of the highlighted buying guide that can help you in many ways.
Capacity and size:
Many of the portable ice makers that are available for a sale on the market shall have the same size of capacity, yet, they shall vary based on a size of a pound or two. A normal portable ice maker shall deliver twenty to thirty pounds of ice cubes every other day for a gallon of water that is poured upon the maker. This pound capacity is more than enough for both home usage and for small parties. The major difference happens with the physical size of the ice maker. If your house has a smaller sized kitchen or if you are planning to take your ice maker while you travel, then you need to go with them smaller sized ones that can fit perfectly on the room and easy to carry over to any place. Although such small sized ice makers shall produce less number of ice, it can be used to meet up to your needs at your convenient time and place.
Choose the larger capacity ice makers for home or office use, so that you need not worry about adding water to them from time to time, or even think about clearing the ice trays often, like you do with the refrigerator ice trays. Large sized ice makers can save your time and effort spent on creating ice cubes, especially a bigger benefit for busy people who do not find enough time to sit back and watch the maker produce it every other day. Once it gets formed, it must be immediately used or stored in a freeze to let them stay frozen for a longer period of time. If at all the solid ice that has been formed are said to be staying within the ice machine for more than an hour, it does melt and get defrosted. In short, the portable ice makers are capable of producing your much needed quantity of ice and does not having a separate cooling system to let them stay frozen for hours. Make use of the machine whenever you are in need of, as it can deliver with your required cubes instantly unlike other devices.
The ice cube style and size:
If you have a thought that an ice cube is just a normal one, then you need to rethink about it. There are numerous varieties and styles that one can produce to meet up different purposes. Smaller sized ones are mostly preferred for preparing smoothies, fill up ice buckets and while preparing a quick drink. The larger sized ice ones are mostly used along with whiskey and to cool water. Kids these days love their healthy drink with larger ice ones floating on them, as it looks appealing than the smaller ones. Most of the portable ice makers do have an option to choose the size of them that can vary from small to large. If you are purchasing a portable ice maker for multiple uses, then purchase the ones that have options to create small and large sized ice cubes.
These types of makers must create a clear ice that can last longer on any kind of drink. A clear ice can help in enhancing the overall taste of the drink and let the tongue stay cooler for longer period of time. So if you are looking forward to have such an option, then you need to choose the one that can help in creating clearer ice cubes.
Ice Production Time:
Every other ice maker is known for producing ice cubes in a shorter period of time. The ice production time spent by an ice makers shall be six to fifteen mm per batch of ice cubes that are prepared at a normal temperature range. The entire ice production cycle of an ice makers shall vary based upon the operating temperature and some devices can take some extra time when exposed to high temperature areas. The portable ice maker must produce at least nine of them per cycle within ten to fifteen minutes of time.
Overflow protection:
A well-built ice makers must have an overflow protection that lets the maker handle the ice cubes production, even when the user has poured more than its own capacity level. The ice maker must have a control panel with an alert or any kind of indicator system to provide with an emergency signal when the maker tends to turn overflow during the process of ice making. This overflow protection option shall completely prevent the device from pushing out the ice, even when the bin is said to be full.
Additional features:
Ice making is not only about freezing the water and creating a particular shaped ice cubes, the portable ice makers have taken the device to a great step, where one can make use of various additional features that can come handy on any situation. For example, if you are need of a crushed ice to decorate your drink, then you would be searching for a place to squash the ice cubes and scrub them over the drink. This is where the ice crushing feature turns handy, as it can be easily used to crush them into smaller pieces and pour them over a drink or even decorate your ice creams.
Certain ice makers do have an option to refroze the ice cubes that turned into water out of staying inside the maker for long hours. This feature can help in saving water and makes less space for cleaning them. Gone are those days where an ice cube used to be rectangle or square in shape in default. The new portable ice makers can create different shaped ice cubes that can look great, meeting up your ice cube need. These different shaped cubes can add a bit of style and fun to your entire ice cube making process.
What common accessories you need for a portable ice maker?
Ice Scoop:
The ice scoop shall be the main and most common accessory that can help you to easily access your portable ice maker. Although the ice scoop is not about to change or affect the entire functionality of the ice maker, it does help in scooping out some fresh ice straight from the device. Many brands do have their own sized ice scoops that can go easy with their maker, yet, an ice scoop is a general accessory that you can use with any brand that produces and sells ice makers. A metal ice scoop for a portable ice maker is an added advantage, as it can withstand the weight of the cubes while scooping them out from the maker. Also, if you are taking the ice maker to a party, make sure to carry more than one ice scoop, so that people can randomly use the bucket that has been filled up with ice cube at the same time.
Ice Bag:
An ice bag is a specially designed accessory that can be used to transport the ice from one place to another. The ice bag portrays the same idea like a normal bag that helps us to carry over things to various locations. If you are taking your ice maker to a party, but looking forward to carry some ice cubes, then these ice bags can go easy with your need. The ice bags are great accessory for people who are camping with their friends or family members. The bags do have a string that lets the cubes stay frozen until the cubes are taken out from them. The string does help the ice from melting down even when you are carrying the ice bag in extreme hot weather condition. The ice bags can also be used as storage bags for home use, where you cannot store much ice cubes inside the freezer – just fill up the bags and refrigerate them in the freezer to make use of them any part of the day or night.
Ice Bins:
Another important thing that one must know before purchasing an ice cube maker is that the ice shall eventually melt if they do not have the capability to act as a freezer. Unless you are planning to make use of the ice instantly, you need to invest upon an ice bin or a tray that can help in storing the ice cubes for more hours. Every other portable ice cube makers shall have an ice tray that lets the melted ice cubes fall upon to. These kinds of trays are easy to remove from the maker itself. If you are a person who is looking forward to create more than a batch of ice cubes at the same time, then you need more such trays. If at all the ice is produced soft from the maker, you need an ice bin to store them in your freezer to harden them up in a few minutes of time. Also, these ice bins can be easily removed from your freezer, irrespective of its size.
Does an ice cube maker require plumbing?
Portable ice cube makers are marketed and designed for an average home usage and can be ported while travelling through any transportation, which makes the fact clear that there is no need for plumbing with these makers. The ice cube makers are smaller in terms of capacity, which makes it unnecessary to connect them to running water. The water can be directly poured into the reservoir of the maker and moreover one can pour water as per the ice cubes they are in need of. It requires only a power source to run the maker, and there is no need for a plumbing work.
Tips for maintaining a portable ice maker
Before reading through the cleaning tips, you need to know the basic fact that can let you know when to make use of them. The ice maker must be cleaned whenever you are noticing a bad taste of ice cubes produced from the maker, a strong smell of plastic felt on the ice, and when the maker producing low levels of cubes than before.
Cleaning the portable ice maker:
Frequent cleaning of the portable ice maker can help in elongating the lifetime of the maker and can produce quality and healthy ice cubes for years. Ice makers are known for producing a significant amount of ice cube with the water that gets poured into them. Water, being a mixture of numerous mineral particles can lead to some metal damage, if at all the ice maker is not cleaned from time to time. Regular cleaning of the maker shall prevent any kind of damages from happening to its components. Rusty parts inside the maker and bad smell on your ice cubes are two basic indications that you must consider to clean the maker.
Easy cleaning methods:
There are two different types of cleaning methods commonly followed while cleaning a portable ice maker. The first method is known to be the self cleaning method, where you need to make a press upon a self-cleaning button that can be found on the control panel of the maker. This cleaning method has a default cleaning system that can help in eradicating the dust and dirt formed inside the maker to an extent.
If you are planning to clean the ice maker to a greater extent, then manual cleaning is the method that you should be following with. Although the manual cleaning method shall be a time-consuming one, you are about to completely eradicate the dirt from the maker. Manual cleaning does require some safety precautions that you must follow before continuing with the process.
Safety precautions for manual cleaning the portable ice maker:
You cannot barely clean the ice maker using your hand, as you can get wounded out of the rust or dirt that are formed inside the maker. Make sure to use cleaning tools like a soft cloth or a brush to wipe out the dirt particles from the maker. You can also make use of solutions like warm water, vinegar, lime water or any other basic cleaning solution along with a brush to manually clean the maker.
Steps to manually clean the portable ice maker:
- You need to remove the entire ice bin and the water reservoir (if it is a removable one)
- Clean up the tray and the reservoir using any solution as mentioned below
- If you are using a non-removable water reservoir, then pour in the cleaning solution directly into the ice maker’s water tank
- Make a press upon the ice making button and the reset button that can be found on the control panel at the same time
- The cleaning function shall start and it might take about ten minutes of time to complete the entire cleaning process
- Red colored water with mud and rust shall be produced out of this process and it needs to be drained from the maker
- The final step is to clean up the other parts of the ice maker using any cleaning solution
- Now, your ice maker is neat and clean and ready to produce solid ice cubes with great taste.
Safety Precautions for Portable Ice Maker:
A portable ice maker is probably the most easy and accessible device that has a simple mechanism to run the device. Just plugging the Eiswuerfelbereiter maker to a power source shall result in producing ice cubes, yet, there are some common safety precautions that one must know while operating the maker and they are as follows:
- Always unplug the maker from the power source to avoid getting electric shock from them
- Remove the ice cubes from the maker to stay away from getting overloaded
- Never forget to pull over the drain cap while cleaning the maker
- Make sure to remove the filter and clean them up using soap water
- Allow the entire parts of the maker to dry after cleaning them
- If at all any noise is produced while creating ice cubes, you need to replace the machine parts.