Homemade ice machine, adding a second ice maker to increase production!
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- Опубликовано: 2 мар 2021
- I mentioned in the last video that I wanted to add a second ice maker to my homemade DIY ice machine to increase production. I do a weight test in this video, it seems I will produce about 50lbs a week with two ice makers. Commercial ice machines are very expensive, this homemade ice machine only costs $369 to build, saving thousands over a commercial unit. DO NOT ATTEMPT, FOR ENTERTAINMENT ONLY. Seek professional advice for any wiring or modifications of any appliance. The Kelley's Country Life LLC accepts no responsibility for you trying anything you see on our show.
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As a certified City & Guilds refrigeration engineer, having a split system makes sense, I wouldn’t have done it any differently, you took all the right precautions, nice work.
Great job & a unique idea! I was an industrial refrigeration tech for 30 years and worked on tons of ice makers and the problem with air cooled condenser commercial ice makers is as the ambient temp rises ice production drops off severely. With your set up you have overcome that problem since you are just keeping the ice makers in a 10 f ambient constantly. Also commercial ice makers use tons of energy especially as it get warmer and ice in an unrefrigerated ice hopper melts and drains. I would recommend one thing to anyone considering doing this is to make sure that the freezer doesn’t have a mullion heater around the top of chest (where you cut into plastic to run lines and wires). The heater is used in some cases to stop lid from freezing shut from condensation. It is very easy to check just buy examining wiring diagram of unit and it will show if heater is present, it is more common on domestic fridge freezers than chest fry but worth a look. Again GREAT JOB!
I checked before cutting, no heater in the lip. Thanks for the info
I finished building my ice maker Saturday evening. it is now Monday afternoon and there is about 18 pounds of ice already. this works great
Awesome!
Afternoon from the UK Andrew. Just wanted to congratulate you on a brilliant idea and quality build. Never seen anything like that before. Living in the UK I don’t really have a need for one of these but I can definitely understand yours. Your seem a proper nice guy and have a passion for everything you do. Keep up the great work.
Thank you for watching and the kind words
Finally watched the middle video in the process. You can increase how efferent the coolers are by precooling them using one of those freezer packs they send with some orders to keep them cool in the mail. The day before the outing toss the frozen pack in so it will cool down the cooler and when you toss the ice in the next day the ice isn't cooling it down. The packs go back into a freezer so they are ready to go the next time they are needed as they are also good if you take a cooler when shopping to toss the frozens in so they don't thaw as fast on the way home.
Make good ice packs for your back too. Just make sure to wrap them good with a towel so you don't freeze your skin. They're colder than regular ice packs.
I already have the freezer. I’m going to add the ice makers. Really nice design and money saver.
Thank you for watching
Just sent these videos to my husband. I want one of these! This is awesome! Great show.
Thank you for watching
More videos coming on increasing production
I just ordered the ice makers and will pick up the chest freezer this weekend. This is the perfect solution for me.
Awesome, hope you enjoy it! Remember to be very careful around the copper tubing in the walls, that freon is toxic. Mine is producing ice very well.
Sorry I couldn't help Andrew but hopefully I can you.
The Idea is great but please don't gouge the side of your freezer.
The top of the freezer is nothing but insulation, all the cold stuff happens below the seal. Mount your ice makers near the hinge. Strategically drill through the top for the wires and the waterlines so that they line up with the makers. use large enough tubing aimed straight down so you don't get any capillary effect. You can mount everything right to the top and you can cover it all up with the box of your choice . Don't mess with the wiring of the freezer. Wire the whole thing independently like he did in the second video. Maybe put an ON OFF in the circuit since it's controlling water, plugging it into a ground fault receptacle wouldn't be a bad idea either.
Great video, great idea.
Good points!
Since you have the freezer and limited production you can fill some containers with water and make some block ice, which last a lot longer than cubes.
I have been doing that lately
@@TKCL i freeze milk jugs lasts a long time
@John Crypto how did you get your thumbnail to have movement?
A few days before a bbq or party, since I have a freezer, I just go to the grocery store and buy a few gallon jugs of distilled water and freeze them. All you need after that is a box cutter and an ice pick. You get beautiful crystal clear ice.
@@johnmcook1 My dad cuts the top off 3 liter soda then freezes it to use in his water jug at work it works pretty well
"I don't care what it was designed to do, I care what it can do!" - Gene Kranz from NASA.
Great video!
Thank you for watching
Awesome work buddy!
If you have to heat and bend rigid tubing, or pvc for that matter, in the future, look at filling the tube with salt before hand. Just cap one end with tape, add salt, and It'll help the tube maintain its shape.
This is god damned genius level problem solving. You just saved me a couple thousand bucks. So thank you for that.
Thank you for watching, glad you enjoyed it.
Check into some heat shrink tubing to cover those solder joints! Much safer and cleaner than vinyl tape!!!
I’m sad he didn’t use duct tape..
Ingenuity at its finest!
Doing my best
Very good sir.. I have been wanting to do the same thing for years. Seems like a worthwhile project!
It's absolutely a worthwhile project, 50 lb of ice a week for only $369. It'll pay for itself at 9-10 months at that rate
Love to see smart people doing stuff like this! A++
Thank you very much
Idk if I’ll ever need this but loved these videos and your ingenuity
Thank you for watching
You can place a bucket lined with nylon bags to gather your ice cubes every day and store them properly in the left compartment of your deep freezer. This way you don't need to use a shovel.
Your Ice maker videos are AWESOME 👍🏻👍🏻 You got me thinking, I already have the freezer so why not make my own, Thank You 👍🏻👍🏻
Glad you enjoyed it, more videos coming
Great diy project awesome workshop
This I will do. Just replaced one in my house freezer, no sweat to add to a chest freezer. Thanks!
Thank you for watching
Hoping it will furnish enough for y'all!!! Great video!!
Time will tell!
This idea came to mind today as I installed one of those kits in my fridge a while back. Thanks for making your video with how to wire it and the importance of that sleeve to keep the water line from freezing. Those cubes are better than "bag ice" IMO, going to build one here for parties, boat, and neighbors. Now to see who sells a reasonable chest freezer.
Mine is working great, probably has 150 lbs of ice in it now. I love being able to have my own ice. Try Sam's club or Lowes, I've been to both recently and seen smaller freezers in stock.
Great vids bro. You are a smart guy. This is a great way to make ice on a budget.
Thank you
Damn good common sense.! One of the best ideas I've seen lately for filling coolers for us weekend drinkers. Price is right!!!
Thank you for watching
This is a pretty good idea! A lot of people use a fair bit of ice in coolers for weekend events and a lot of contractors use it for lunches and drink coolers for their employees. It gets pretty annoying to constantly be stopping by the store for ice. But at the same time it hardly justifies a commercial ice maker.
Very true!
I love your channel. Keep them coming
Thanks for watching
Great job bud, I always thought ice maker needs its own separate pcb, but turned out that it works just fine without anything special. Also I’ve seen your latter updates, adding 2 fans was a super wise choice. Just like a freezer everything works super faster yet more efficient with the assistance of fan.
Thank you for watching
Hell yeah man!! Great video. Ordering my supplies tomorrow. I already have a chest freezer. Thanks for showing us this!!
Thank you for watching
@@TKCL I got a free similar looking working ice maker out of an old fridge freezer. With an attached wire harness I wanted to put in a small cooler do these wire directly to 120V AC wall plug in? Or is it wired into the fridge/freezer and has the power stepped down? (I have to re watch the video)
I now have two ice makers and made my own extension cord that plugs directly into 110.
Great video and thanks for sharing! Stay Safe!
One of the greatest video ever. Im definitely making my own ice maker,
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it
My thought exactly, I already have the freezer.👍🏻👍🏻
New video out tomorrow with some ideas for a easier build with no cutting of the freezer.
Amazing!! You sir are a genius!
Wow, thanks!
What a scoop. Good build
I plan on scooping lol!
The tare button on a scale is a beautiful thing!
Yes
@RAH Capital I am pretty sure he knows what a tare button it. But you cant use that when you already have it full....
I know exactly what that button does. I would have to dump the contents out and clear out the weight of the pan or just do it the way I did, it's multiple steps either way.
This is a great idea and video! Thanks for sharing
Thanks for watching
What a great idea....thinking "inside" the box...lol Great idea and great video. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for watching
Nice build very creative
Thank you for watching
New follower. We are weekend ranchers and use a lot of ice. I like. I will be doing something similar. Great channel. Love the shop.
Thank you for watching!
That second ice maker is going to be nice to double your ice maker process. 😃 you save a lot of money.
I think so too!
Wow thats awesome
Thanks
Well done !!
Keep improving and soon you’ll have a production line happily happening haha
Congrats bud :)
Thank you for watching
Was wondering if I could borrow a cup of ice
I might have a little extra 🤣
Great Design and Install! A Very Effective Format for Cheap Bulk Ice Production. As a 30 Retired Maintenance Guy, I only see 1 Flaw in Concept and Install. That Ice Maker that you Purchased is an IM-6 Automatic Ice Maker for Standard Home Refrigerators and if you take a Look at the Bottom of Each Unit? You will notice a White Plastic Paddle Shaped Lever that is Designed into the Gearing System of the Unit. As the Ice Maker sends the Signal to the Solenoid to pull for water, after the Water has been sent through the Fill Tubed and drains into the Catch Trey it sends another Signal to cut the water Off. First, if you look at the Front Cover of the Ice Makers you will see the Cover Square with the Logo on it and say between the 3 and 4 O"clock Position on the Right Hand Side of the Ice Maker Itself you will see a Little Circle with a + and - Symbol. Remove the Circle Cover Tab with a Small Flat Head Screw Driver and you will see a Phillips Head Brass Screw. Turn that Screw Clock Wise 5 Times, what that does is tell the Ice Make to Pull for More Water so your Catch Trey has Larger Cubes in it and They will Last Longer in what ever need you are using, 2nd the White Plastic Lever that I mentioned rotates out toward the Front of the Ice Maker and is designed to in a Normal Installation that when the Factory Trey is full, the Lever hits the Ice Cubes and tells the IM-6 to not pull for more Water until that Lever is able to Cycle Completely. Without that Stop System, it will continue to make Ice, unless possible the Freezer fills with enough Ice and it fills in a way that the Lever will hit it and Stop the Process. Please take a Look at the Ice maker as it Cycles for a Better Understanding of what I have given a Description of. Again, Great Concept and Install. If you have any Questions? just ask. Thanks for a great Post...
Thank you for the information
Awesome project.
Thanks!
Very good job buddy!!
Thank you for watching
neat project, thanks for sharing.
Thank you for watching
Great job!
Thanks
Very cool! Thanks.
Thank you for watching
Nice! I am going to make one of these for my club.
FYI. I have a small freezer like this and the interior aluminum surface is very thin. You might want to put something down where the ice hits and be careful if you’re using a scoop. I put several holes in the bottom of mine with frozen food.
I'm worried about that too
Awesome stuff dude..
Thank you
Cool project. Just found your channel, Daniel from Arms Family Homestead sent me your way.
Thank you for stopping by
Flat 4 or 5 conductor wire is available at any NAPA store. It is used for trailer wiring.
Former bartender and current refrigeration tech.
¡ Kudos !
Beware of being to aggressive with that ice scoop! Easy to puncture the thin walls.
That's been bothering me! I can see that happening
If the ice is purely for chilling cans and bottles not consumption, might want to line the bottom and sides with 1/2" foil faced foam board to avoid damaging the coils with that dangerous dagger of an ice scoop.
That's pretty darn awesome right there. I go through about 20 pounds a day in the summer so it wouldn't be quite enough for me. Unless I make 2 of them :o
I'm testing fans and other options to increase capacity right now
Great video eventually I'll be able to make one myself also your workshop looks amazing love the organization for a while I had a similar set up in a 10x16 lofted building but as they say crap happens had to move and change the workshop to living space most of my tools are still packed up unfortunately I miss the organization I once had
Thank you, it's a constant struggle to keep clean and organized.
@@TKCL yes I agree especially when others have use of your tools and they just leave them laying around most of the time is spent looking for the particular tool that you need lol
Great idea, 2 is always better than 1
With everything except wives LOL
Cool! ❄️🥶
Thanks
Why would anyone give this a thumbs down? Crazy!
Thank you very much
Man I'm telling you that is so awesome that you don't have to go to the store and buy ice. Ice is so expensive now days. We have an ice maker Vending machine in a parking lot in town & in my in-laws town and for a 10 lb bag of ice it's $10. Expensive man when I can go to my local Exxon gas station and get it for $3 for a 10 Ib bag of ice. $3 you got my business. That is an nice ice machine that you got their man.
Wow that's very expensive! We are 3.99 a 20lb bag and I thought that was high!
That is so cool
Thanks
Hi, just wanted to say hello and I look forward to watching your videos. Arms family homestead sent us your way.
Thank you so much for the support and stopping by
Me too! And I’ve been binge watching every since!!
Thank you so much
Cool!!!
thanks for sharing!!!
Thank you for watching
I know your machine is probably making enough ice for your needs. In my opinion, the one thing that you could do to increase is production even more is install the ice makers onto aluminum heat sinks that thermally join the ice makers to the chilled wall of the freezer using a thermal mastic. Interesting project. Thanks
I'm installing fans tomorrow and testing output. Next week I am adding block ice and increasing thermal mass to see if production increases
Great Video
Thank you
Genius
Great Work!!
Thank you
@@TKCL how many days it take to fill up freezer with 2 ea?
No idea, I take way too much ice out during the summer to fill it up. It won't fill up until winter. I'd say it would take several weeks, like 5 or 6. That freezer can hold a lot of ice.
@@TKCL great idea, Thanks for sharing!!
As I said you got a great idea there if you do a little research on your ice makers and possibly even add a fan inside to speed up the cooling across your ice makers you can probably I'm just going to speculate as long as those are like the old-style ice makers where you had an almost infinite control inside the front cover to speed up and slow down the production you can probably make up to 50 - a hundred pounds a day with those ice maker.
I already have two fans that I'm installing tomorrow, video out next week. Thanks for watching!
Awesome project! I would go with a slightly larger freezer and 2 ice makers. The longer freezer would keep your options open to add 2 more at the other end while still leaving room to reach in to scoop out ice.
Second ice maker was added a while back, that video is at the end of this one. So far so good, update video out tomorrow.
@@TKCL I have looked at the Commercial Ice Makers for my home for years. Even used they cost too much money. Then they waste so much water from the drain in the bottom. Some even have built in heaters in the bottom to ensure the bottom ice melts. This solution never occurred to me. Great video.
Glad you enjoyed it
Brilliant awesome hack gotta do this... Hou,Tx
What i would do to quickly make it more efficient is to place a few pails, juggs whatever of water into the freezer. This will help get the temp lower and keep at that range better. One main issue you have is the makers are at the top of the unit where it's the warmest preventing it from chilling the ice faster and making it out ice out faster more ice out. I would put some small pails of solid ice on that side shelf this will keep the makers cooler so your making ice faster. The pails you can remove later when there's enough ice in the machine that it regulates better.
I installed fans and I'll have a video out tomorrow. I'm making block ice next week and testing thermal mass effects.
Nice project!
Thanks! For some reason your earlier comment disappeared 🤷🤷🤷🤷
@@TKCL Yeah, I thought it offended you. I sure hope that wasn't the case.
Not at all, RUclips has a bad habit of just removing comments before I can ever respond. Ticks me off that they do that!
@@TKCL Okay, good... Thanks Brother!!
That's a cool project there Andrew, You will be going through a pile of ice next fall when you guys are sitting on your new back porch having some cold snacks watching the sun set. Thanks for the video.
That's exactly right!
I love it. Im going to make a slight design modification and make a wooden/foam collar to mount everything to like a Keezer.
That's exactly what I'll do on my next one, I didn't discover that until after I was done.
I built one with the wood collar / keezer style last weekend. The wood is a poor insulator and stays wet due to condensation. The condensation adds considerable heat to the interior I believe. I need more insulation (have 3/4 blue foam inside the collar) and a shorter collar (used a 2x6 and only need a 2x4).
I'm going to use pvc or hpde (cutting board material) for my next build to avoid that.
Yea I may sandwich it with a foam.
I would
Woot. Like number 1000....
Jumped up Jebus in a side car. That was a lot of work that won't last very long. But I have been wrong before. Good luck. Cheers from Saskatchewan.
Won't last why?
Summer is coming and us in Florida really need our ice. Coolers, Margaritaville machines and such suck it up. LOL. Nice job.
Don't forget whiskey on ice!
Thats a smart idea!
That box seems huge tho.
I would probably partition off the left side, and you could still use it for other stuff. Ice pops for the kids maybe...or deer meat.
Also having other items in there would increase the thermal mass allowing it to freeze faster.
Not in my case, I fish, hunt and boat all the time. I use 80lbs of ice everytime I saltwater fish.
I installed fans today and testing has begun. I'm making block ice next week to increase thermal mass and testing.
Nicely done, went fishing in Keaton last Friday and absolutely killed them! Wasn't so good Saturday tho! I'm sure we'll run into each other there soon!
Yes I'm hearing good reports! I need to go very soon
@@TKCL yes sir! Could of had a 3 person limit in one spot! Weather permitting may make a run offshore for some seabass next weekend!
I'm gearing up for some sheepshead spearfishing very soon.
Here are the changes I would make to the design. First, you mounted the ice maker in the warmest part of the chest freezer, of which has no active airflow. In a regular freezer, they are usually designed so that the coldest air coming off the evaporator hits the icemaker. Maybe mount a small fan inside the chest freezer to get more cold air across the ice maker. Second, I would add another icemaker, or a larger capacity one, to make more ice. Third, I would add a catch bucket, so you are not digging ice off the bottom of the cooler. You could even rig a 20lb ice bag under a chute, and fill it as they are made. I bought a case of ice bags with drawstrings on ebay, from a store that closed, for cheap. Lastly, if you can find a way to pre-chill the water to around 33 degrees, like running it through a coil of copper tubing kept inside a mini-fridge, it would greatly speed up the ice making process.
You'll enjoy the video I'm about to post, cover most of that.
Like a boss
Propane is a fantastic refrigerant!!!
A direct drop in for R-12
Great idea and execution. You need to look into the tare function of your scale though, no need to deduct the weight of the ice bin manually. :)
My upcoming videos I start using that are but for everybody
The wiring: I would have had the 2 power in splices much tighter in, so there is only 1 set of wires out to the plug, and the 2 harnesses to the valves. I would have also made a separate entry point for them (likely used one of the tubes and a hole just below the top lip to run the wires through, since with the first cut you could have found where the top coolant pipe is run to know how far down you can safely go), and also used a waterproof connector inside, for servicing.
As I said on your first video once you have your container down to the temps that you were talking about you should be able to double and possibly triple the production of you ice makers themselves if you go inside the front covers I'm sure you'll find information out there on the net that will tell you how to speed up those ice makers by the way love your video just because it is definitely something that I would do if I hadn't been given a small commercial ice maker
Thank you
awesome idea. i think you could add two more units for sure (longer bracket).
Possibly, but they would be in my way. I added fans this morning to see what kind of production increases could happen. I have a few more things to test too. Videos coming soon.
@@TKCL i cant wait. this is something i have wanted to do for years. hurricane irma 13 days no power. my generator could have kept your ice maker running forever.
Exactly! We live in Florida and have hurricanes too.
1. Jealous of your tan!
2. Your tool bench looks awesome.
3. Damn that’s a big a** ice scooper!
1. It's Florida 🌞🌞🌞🌞
2. It's not big enough 😔
3. You da$# right! Bigger is better right?
@@TKCL what part of Florida?
North central near Tallahassee
@@TKCL nice I live in plant city between Tampa and Orlando
I'm familiar with it
When drilling metal, using a center punch on your marks will help prevent the bit from walking on you.
Yes it will, I usually only center punch steel
I have written a number of comments now and hope you put them in order but anyway In the last mod I described I said try contact freezing against the cold wall. If you pull vacuum on that it should be much faster. Now I have one more idea for that get soda fountain carbonator and use carbonated water then pull a vacuum while contact freezing with pre-chilled water.
It should freeze much faster like when a cold beer suddenly freezes when you remove the lid.
new house ... new shop.... new tools .... high roller .... shoot on stick !!!
Your looking at thousands of hours of overtime working shift work at a paper mill. I don't miss it
Fill the plastic tubing with sand and tape the ends securely. Heat and bend. The sand will maintain the shape of the tube.
Thank you
Also like your idea about separating ice makers out cuz I imagine you're going to get to a point where you need to just shut those ice makers off meaning your container will be full and the standard ice maker shut-offs aren't going to work for you because of your configuration.
In winter I will just unplug them when they fill up
those ice makers should be running out of cycle of each other so they never compete for a water refill. You'll know this is happening if you see some tiny cubes. I think this is a great idea and I cant believe no one has done this before. It's so simple.
I've been in the shop several times, the ice makers are on timers and several minutes apart. I can always trip one and make them 45 or more minutes apart. No issues and uniform ice cubes.
maybe add a wedge under the ice makers to force the ice to flow into the lower section, to prevent shutting off the ice maker early with ice pileup on the upper shelf?
add a padding under the ice maker where its drop ice cube on deep freezer rectangle lip will save it for long run, just like a inch thick Thermapole or any foam
I put a tray there that catches the ice
You can run them both on same cord those bearly pull any Current..
Yeah, I came here to say that. Chest freezers like that are so energy efficient, and the current draw on those ice makers is so slight, no reason not to run it all on one cord unless you just have a super under gauged cord.
I wonder if it would be more efficient to mount one of those countertop ice pellet makers inside the freezer? They put out like 40lbs a day if you keep them filled with water. Most of the smaller ones I've seen just drop the ice into an uninsulated bucket, so you could probably cut a hole in the bottom of the housing and let it fall into the bottom of the freezer chest. Might make for an interesting trial!
Thinking through it, you may need to mount the tabletop one to the top or side dropping through the lid of the chest. Not sure what would stop the chest from freezing the water if it was inside. May also need to figure out how to feed it water continuously... Could make an interesting trial though!
I've kicked that idea around but have concerns. Cutting an opening would allow outside air and moisture in, resulting in frost buildup. Also those table top models make small hollow ice cubes that melt quickly, that's not what I'm looking for.
Great idea. I really like the small square cubes. Does anyone make an ice maker kit that produces square cubes?
Not sure, most table top models make those. They are good for drinks, not for coolers, fish ect
A day late and a dollar short. Story of my life. LOL