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Countertop pellet ice maker

teachermom2834

By teachermom2834,
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teachermom2834

teachermom2834

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I am convinced a constant supply of pellet ice would change my life. I visited a friend who has the $600+ GE opal model and while it is awesome, I am not in the place to spend $600 on ice cubes. It was on sale for $450 on prime day and that isn’t a lot to change my life…all things considered..but I didn’t go for it after all. 

I see plenty of cheaper models on Amazon but I feel like this isn’t worthwhile unless it really works well. So is there a pellet ice machine out there that could almost change my life for less than $600? Or is that what I am going to have to spend to make it worthwhile? If a $100 machine isn’t going to make enough ice or it isn’t going to be the “good ice” then it isn’t worth the money or counter space. Is there a cheaper model that is worthwhile or do I really need to spend $600 to get a reliable supply of good pellet ice?

Y’all know all the things. Is there an economy model ice maker that is worthwhile? 

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itsheresomewhere

itsheresomewhere

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1 hour ago, teachermom2834 said:

I am convinced a constant supply of pellet ice would change my life. I visited a friend who has the $600+ GE opal model and while it is awesome, I am not in the place to spend $600 on ice cubes. It was on sale for $450 on prime day and that isn’t a lot to change my life…all things considered..but I didn’t go for it after all. 

I see plenty of cheaper models on Amazon but I feel like this isn’t worthwhile unless it really works well. So is there a pellet ice machine out there that could almost change my life for less than $600? Or is that what I am going to have to spend to make it worthwhile? If a $100 machine isn’t going to make enough ice or it isn’t going to be the “good ice” then it isn’t worth the money or counter space. Is there a cheaper model that is worthwhile or do I really need to spend $600 to get a reliable supply of good pellet ice?

Y’all know all the things. Is there an economy model ice maker that is worthwhile? 

It goes on sale cheaper than prime day every few months.  My rv and camping stuff deals group has a love affair with it.  They say the cheaper models are not worth it. 

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Drama Llama

Drama Llama

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When I win the lottery, I am getting two.  One for my nice big kitchen, and the other for the bar area by my indoor/outdoor pool.

Also, I am getting a house with a nice big kitchen and an indoor/outdoor pool.  

You are all invited to my pool party.  There will be good ice in the ice tea.

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teachermom2834

teachermom2834

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2 minutes ago, itsheresomewhere said:

It goes on sale cheaper than prime day every few months.  My rv and camping stuff deals group has a love affair with it.  They say the cheaper models are not worth it. 

This is what is suspected. I don’t know why but I figured it was one of those things that you might as well go big or forget it. Maybe for Christmas for both dh and me. That almost makes sense. Almost. If I get it on sale. And have a couple drinks before I order it. 

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Drama Llama

Drama Llama

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20 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

This is what is suspected. I don’t know why but I figured it was one of those things that you might as well go big or forget it. Maybe for Christmas for both dh and me. That almost makes sense. Almost. If I get it on sale. And have a couple drinks before I order it. 

You should wait and have the drinks after.  They will be better.  

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Katy

Katy

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I had an older model of Opal, and I did love it, but it only lasted 25 months before it broke.

I would highly recommend the kind with the reservoir of water on the side. I've heard they are much easier to both clean and fill than my original kind.

DH found it on 50% off sale at Home Depot before Christmas I think.  It was probably a black Friday sale they forgot to take off in the week after.

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Alte Veste Academy

Alte Veste Academy

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I had one, the GE Opal with the side tank. I LOVED it. LOVED IT! Named it Olaf, took amazing care of it, cleaned it once a week as instructed in the manual, proclaimed it my favorite purchase ever and one that I would never live without. I’m a middle-aged, constantly hot woman living in Arizona, and I LOVED it. 

I’m feeling lazy, so I just copied and pasted a review from Amazon that was almost exactly my experience.

“Beware!! Black sludge no matter how you clean it 
By Chelsey on June 10, 2022I really loved this ice machine when we first bought it. It worked great, for about 5 months. Then I started to notice the ice was getting black stuff in it. We use distilled water, I clean it a cycle with bleach, then water, then 2 cycles of vinegar, then another water. Each time I would notice the black I’d clean it. And for a few days I wouldn’t notice anything, then it would return. I called support and they told me that I was doing everything right and they didn’t know what it was. Told me to call support specifically for the ice machines. As time has gone on, it has gotten worse. We’ve only had it 9 months now (ordered it September 9th) and now when I clean it, the black stuff is back as soon as it starts making ice. So we decided to pull it apart and found that it’s making black sludge that I’m assuming is some type of mold! Not happy since we’ve been getting sick a lot recently and my gut is telling me it’s the moldy ice 😭 I would really like my money back because these things aren’t cheap, and we haven’t even had it a year! All of this is completely aside from it being super loud and squeaky! It wasn’t in the beginning but has gotten worse. To say I’m ticked is an understatement.”

So, bottom line, Olaf has passed. 😔 He has not been replaced. It was too much money to have only served a year, and that with the last few months worrying about what we were consuming. DH is great at troubleshooting, disassembling/fixing things, etc. and tried his best to take it apart to see if we could figure out what we were missing in the cleaning process that caused the sludge mentioned below kept returning, but we couldn’t figure it out. There are areas in the machine that are just inaccessible and impossible to clean. Even the underside of the top part where the cubes come out cannot be properly reached to clean, something I recognized early on and should have been a red flag. 

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fairfarmhand

fairfarmhand

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My only contribution to this conversation is this:

4 years ago I was tasked to purchase a commercial ice maker for our church. I thought that I would be the bomb if I found and bought the pellet ice maker. Everyone would love me. But alas. It was over double the cost of a regular ice maker. Like 5500 vs 2000. So I settled for the regular one. 
 

i still wish I could’ve bought that ice maker.

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KidsHappen

KidsHappen

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One of my dds bought me a GE Opal for Christmas and I sure hope it didn't cost that much. To tell you the truth I am not sure how it works. It does not have a water container and we don't add water either so I am not sure where the water comes  from. It does sit near the fridge and our fridge is not hooked to the water line so it may be hooked to that. I haven't had to clean it yet so not sure how that works either. But I love it. One of my best presents ever. 

Edited by KidsHappen
Apparently it is the Opal Profile and the rest of the family adds water to it every day. The current cost on Amazon is $449 but I think that my dd paid around $300.
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teachermom2834

teachermom2834

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17 minutes ago, KidsHappen said:

One of my dds bought me a GE Opal for Christmas and I sure hope it didn't cost that much. To tell you the truth I am not sure how it works. It does not have a water container and we don't add water either so I am not sure where the water comes  from. It does sit near the fridge and our fridge is not hooked to the water line so it may be hooked to that. I haven't had to clean it yet so not sure how that works either. But I love it. One of my best presents ever. 

I am positive your dds got it on sale!! 😉

And also that they really really love you and wanted you to have an amazing gift!

So you just got it this past Christmas? You’ve been using it less than a year now without issues?

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teachermom2834

teachermom2834

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3 minutes ago, alisoncooks said:

A machine sounds awesome, but I’m thinking of getting this for DH. https://www.amazon.com/Silicone-TGJOR-Chilling-Cocktail-Stackable/dp/B096MKYQ6Q/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=55XQ7N8EBMJ1&keywords=crunchy+ice+tray&qid=1658539571&sprefix=crunchy+ice+tray%2Caps%2C131&sr=8-4#aw-udpv3-customer-reviews_feature_div
 

I have seen those! If you get them let us know how they work. I have slightly larger ones so not the pellet ice effect but nice for drinks. 

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KidsHappen

KidsHappen

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7 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

I am positive your dds got it on sale!! 😉

And also that they really really love you and wanted you to have an amazing gift!

So you just got it this past Christmas? You’ve been using it less than a year now without issues?

Yes, this past Christmas and no issues so far. Plus we have probably saved at least what it cost because we used to buy a bag of ice everyday for smoothies. 

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teachermom2834

teachermom2834

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1 minute ago, KidsHappen said:

Yes, this past Christmas and no issues so far. Plus we have probably saved at least what it cost because we used to buy a bag of ice everyday for smoothies. 

I’m getting ready to have all my kids in town for a few days and we will have to go out everyday to buy ice. That’s not a daily situation but it would be so nice to have when we do have company.

Ok so maybe I do want one again. 

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itsheresomewhere

itsheresomewhere

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1 hour ago, alisoncooks said:

A machine sounds awesome, but I’m thinking of getting this for DH. https://www.amazon.com/Silicone-TGJOR-Chilling-Cocktail-Stackable/dp/B096MKYQ6Q/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=55XQ7N8EBMJ1&keywords=crunchy+ice+tray&qid=1658539571&sprefix=crunchy+ice+tray%2Caps%2C131&sr=8-4#aw-udpv3-customer-reviews_feature_div
 

I have these in our rv. Be very careful when you go to remove the ice. One tiny misstep and you fling the dang tiny cubes everywhere.  I can’t explain how far they can fly when I barely twisted the tray.  Get very large ziplocs ( the 2.5 gallon size), stick the tray in, seal and dump in the bag. Lol

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Arcadia

Arcadia

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On 7/21/2022 at 8:21 PM, AbcdeDooDah said:

I love mine. It’s a Frigidaire my kids bought at Costco last Christmas. It was $300. I am a compulsive ice chewer and thus makes me feel less guilty since the ice is so much softer.

Which model is it? I found a $89 model and my husband is interested in one https://www.costco.com/frigidaire-portable-self-cleaning-ice-maker.product.100530104.html

17 hours ago, fairfarmhand said:

My only contribution to this conversation is this:

4 years ago I was tasked to purchase a commercial ice maker for our church. I thought that I would be the bomb if I found and bought the pellet ice maker. Everyone would love me. But alas. It was over double the cost of a regular ice maker. Like 5500 vs 2000. So I settled for the regular one. 
 

i still wish I could’ve bought that ice maker.

My university dorm has a commercial ice maker in the dining hall. I don’t remember what brand it was but there was more than a thousand of us students using that dining hall and the machine never broke down in all the years my friends and I stayed there.  It looked like this one and even those of us who are short can easily fill our ice buckets.

6E3BA5BE-C5E1-4D6B-BB3B-239F71E011D5.jpeg.c4916999e2ff2f75fe5af8457c5418c5.jpeg

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Hen

Hen

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ha, I told my husband an ice machine would change my life!!  looks like we think alike!  We have the in-the-door fridge kind, but I would really like one with filtered water.  I have been looking at the ones at william sonoma, but yeah, the cost is really high.  

I was at a house in Tahoe that had an ice maker that I thought was a trash compactor - it was that size and shape and built in to the counter...I would love one of those!! 

 

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