The Best Ice Maker For Your RV - Complete Guide 2022
RVer’s know how to make the best out of their lives whether it’s through exploring nature, spending time with family, cooking outdoors, or relaxing with an iced drink in hand. For this, RVer makes all the necessary arrangements pre-hand. Whether it’s filling their propane tanks, getting their RV batteries charged, cleaning and maintaining the rig, or buying the needed appliances such as camper icemakers.
What is an RV Icemaker?
An RV ice maker refers to a stand-alone machine that can make ice cubes. This appliance helps you to have chilled drinks any time you wish. Having these portable ice makers is the choice of most RVer's because it supplies you with a large amount of ice, can fill up your coolers, or serves drinks to a number of people. These machines are quick, efficient, and easy to use. So if you want a small ice maker for your home or for your family BBQ in the outdoor kitchens, an ice maker kit is the best choice provided you have appropriate electrical hookups.
The Benefits of Portable Ice Makers
A portable ice maker is a wonderful appliance for Rvers due to a number of reasons. Here are some of them.
1. RV Ice Makers are Absolutely Portable
Many of us cannot think about food without chilled drinks and we always need ice cubes, when it’s a family event at home or while you are camping. The portable ice makers can make a good amount of ice anywhere you go. All you need is to have an outlet to plug it in. Because it’s a compact appliance, you can just adjust it somewhere on your campers and RV countertop. These counter-ice machines are relatively small in size.
2. Efficient RV Ice Maker
One of the amazing qualities of RV portable ice makers is that most of these units can make ice
Within 6-10 minutes on average. This is fantastic in the sense that you do not have to worry about stuffing your freezer with ice trays a day earlier than you want it. Just turn on the ice maker a few minutes before you want the ice with some water poured in it. It will start working.
3. RV Ice Maker Do not Need Drainage
If you have a portable ice maker in your RV, the best thing is that you don’t have to worry about any drainage and filling up your holding tanks. This appliance reuses the water and makes ice again.
4. Portable RV Ice Makers Make Plenty of Ice
Despite the compact size of portable ice makers, the average ice maker can make between 24-35 lbs. of ice in a day that is in 24-hour. You can store around 2 and 3 lbs of ice at a time in your ice maker.
5. RV Ice Makers are Easy to Use
The ice makers are very easy even a child can operate them. Pour some water and plug it. After a few minutes, you can get small, medium-sized ice cubes of your choice. Sometimes, even if you forget to take it out of the maker, it will melt and start producing ice again.
What to Look For In a Portable Ice Maker?
If you are convinced by the fact that an ice maker can make your life super easy during road trips, consider buying a quality unit in the first place. Let’s see some of the factors that can help you make the right choice.
1. The Production & Storage Capacity of RV Ice Maker
Certainly, the first thing that you will consider is to see the amount of ice that the unit can make. For this, it is important that you understand your ice requirement per day and then match it to the machine’s ice production capacity. Although most units can make ice between 20-35 pounds in 24 hours, some amount of difference does exist depending on the brand you are choosing.
Here it is important to mention that ice production capacity and storage capacity are two different things. Check out the storage bucket size before you buy. You will need to empty the icemaker every few hours, else the ice will keep melting and reforming.
2. Shapes & Size of the Ice Cubes RV Icemaker Can Make
You can get refreshing ice from a portable ice maker. It can be of any shape such as an icemaker with bullet-shaped ice cubes, crescent, half cube, gourmet, or nugget shape.
Depending on the type of machine you have, you can get these shapes in varying sizes such as a small, medium, or large-sized ice cube. Because your ice cube size may change, look for a unit that offers different sizes. However, there are only a few machines that provide you with all three sizes.
3. Style and Colour of RV Ice Maker
For some people, style matters a lot. They don’t want to make any addition in their home or RVs that looks awkward and doesn’t go with the overall theme and colors of the space they have. Portable ice makers come in a variety of colors and styles. Choose something that suits your interior the most. Contoure Icemakers can come in almost all types of styles and colors. For example, you may want a red one such as a portable ice maker by Contoure RV-130R. If you are following a silver theme in your kitchen, the portable ice maker FULL SS Contoure RV-150SS will look beautiful.
4. Your Available Budget for RV Ice Maker
Just like other appliances, ice makers for your RV may have different prices, and that all depends on its features, brand, and specification. Depending on your budget you can buy ice makers for between 100-600 dollars. Splendide ice makers are light on a budget if you consider the quality of the product. Another famous brand for ice makers that you may consider is U-line Ice Makers.
5. The Cleaning Process of RV Ice Maker
Consider the self-cleaning units for your RV or those which are easy to clean. Also, make sure the ice maker accessories are easy to handle and clean well.
Do RV Refrigerators Have Ice Makers?
Nowadays, most of the upgraded RVs come with a built-in icemaker but in case you don’t have the latest RV and are running an older rig? You may need a portable or countertop ice maker.
How to Choose a Portable RV Ice Maker Online?
Choosing a camping ice maker should primarily depend on your countertop size and its power usage. If you have plenty of space to adjust and store your ice maker you can even choose a comparatively bigger size machine. But for small rigs and limited spaces, it’s good to go for a compact size, for example, Ultra-Compact Portable Ice Maker Contoure RV100BK.
Your selection also depends on when you want to use your ice maker. If you can easily get hooked up to a power supply, you can use it any time and as much as you want. But if your style is boondocking, consider how efficient it is in your battery consumption.
How Do Portable Countertop Ice Makers Work?
These tabletop ice makers work super easily and the ice-making process is almost the same as it happens in the built-in ice maker in RV refrigerator freezers. You just have to plug in the machine, fill it with water and push a button and it starts working. The water is pumped through a refrigeration cycle that creates ice. The machine has trays or metal prongs that freezes the water in ice. The amount of water it needs depends on the size and number of cubes or the quality of the water. This ice then fills up the storage bin it has. You can empty the ice from the storage bin in your freezer and can make more ice if you want. Don’t worry if you forgot to turn the portable ice maker on. It will start recycling once it is melted.
Is it Possible to Use an RV Ice Maker Outdoors?
This depends on the type of ice maker that you. Some ice makers need to be protected from extremely high temperatures to work efficiently. Others are designed to work outdoors equally well. For example, DELLA Compact Portable Ice Maker is made to work outside or indoors both which makes it a great choice for RVs.
How to Clean Your Portable RV Ice Maker?
Most of the countertops have the self-cleaning ability but some of them need cleaning with a gentle cloth and detergent and rinsing it afterward. The appliances need to be well protected from dirt and residues as it may reduce their life span.
The Best Countertop Ice Maker 2022
There is a long list of the best countertop ice maker and some of them are as follows;
1. NewAir Portable Ice Maker
One of the top-quality ice makers is Newair Countertop Ice Maker Machine. This is a compact styled automatic Ice Maker with the ability to make your ice cubes ready within 6 minutes. The overall production capacity of this machine in 24 hours is amazing. That is 28 Pounds.
2. Igloo ICE 33BS Portable Ice Maker
Igloo ice maker is considered an efficient machine with an affordable price and amazing features. It has a large capacity and can make even 33 pounds of ice cubes in 24 hours. It comes with a scoop and baskets and you can get your ice cubes ready in just 7 minutes.
3. DELLA Compact Portable (Red) Ice Maker
This is a beautiful bright red unit that is considered best for RV and camping due to its Compact size and Portability. You can place it anywhere and it makes quick ice bars in as little as 6 minutes. It comes with essential icemaker parts such as an ice scoop and a removable tray, This unit does not take up any time and it does have an extraordinary water recycling system. This machine is able to make around 26 lbs of ice within 24 hours.
4. Frigidaire EFIC101-BLACK Portable Compact Ice Maker
This is one of the great capacity compact ice makers that make around 26 lb of ice in a day. This is one of those mini ice maker machines which is affordable as well as best suited for compact spaces including boats and RVs.You can choose from 2 ice size settings using this unit. It can take around 15 minutes to provide you with a good supply of fresh ice.
5. HomeLabs Portable Ice Maker Machine for Countertop
HomeLabs Chill Pill Countertop Ice Maker can make perfectly chewable ice within 8 to 10 Minutes. All you need to do is to fill the 2.2-liter water reservoir that can hold around 1.5 pounds of ice at a time. Also, this modern styled compact unit makes use of an energy-efficient compressor for the purpose of cooling and fits beautifully on your kitchen counter.
6. GE Opal Countertop Nugget Ice Maker
A little expensive, yet this high-tech GE ice maker is worth buying. It produces one pound of chewable and soft nugget ice. This unit comes with Bluetooth so that you can use an app to control the mini ice machines. You can also easily custom schedule from your phone. It’s a mini ice maker with a sleek design that looks nice on your countertop.
Best Small IceMaker for Your Camper
Magic Chef Countertop Ice Maker Machine is small enough to fit into your home cook or RV kitchen counter space. However, it comes with a manufacturer warranty and is equipped with an LED to keep a time check and a push-up button so that you can control the machine operations easily. However, knowing that small size doesn’t mean that these are 12Volt ice makers. Although they do exist but are not efficient enough to produce a large number of lots of ice in less time.
Best Place to Buy an RV Icemaker?
Finding an RV ice maker is very easy. Go to a store such as Walmart or even you can order it online from an authentic shop that sells RV and Camping parts and appliances. The online purchase helps you make comparisons between the products, saves the hassle of visiting places. Also, you can get the product at your doorstep within a few days.
Conclusion
Although in your RV refrigerators, it is possible to make ice but that takes a long and the quantity sometimes is not as much as you want. These small ice machines can make your travel and vacation free from the worries of having chilled drinks anywhere. You can also save a lot of money because you don't have to buy ice bags.use you don't have to buy ice bags. However, while buying one online, among great options make sure that you check out the quality and the space that it consumes. Check out our range of best portable ice makers online.