Newair Silver Countertop Ice Maker Machine, Compact Automatic Ice Maker, Cubes Ready in Under 15 Minutes, Portable Ice Cube Maker, Perfect for Home/Kitchen/Office/Bar

Order arrived early, 7 days, in perfect condition. The NewAir ClearIce 40 is an amazingly small, but productive ice maker. It really does make 40 lbs of CLEAR ice/day. The ice bin holds 3.5 lbs, so it must be emptied every 2 hours. The overhead water supply reservoir holds just over 2.0 liters, or 2 quarts 4 ounces, and needs filling 9 times/day, or every 2 hrs 40 min. No supply/drain plumbing! The ice itself is very roughly a cube in shape. It is produced by a 3-high, 8-wide refrigerated grid. Water pours over the grid and gradually forms ice. This makes ice with no air, so it is crystal clear. When the machine is ready it switches from refrigeration to heating on the grid metal. In 30+ seconds it warms the grid enough to drop the ice into the ice bin below. Immediately after dropping ice, the machine starts making the next ice. The ice generally does not break into individual pieces to any significant degree when it falls in the ice bin. As other users have suggested, the ice can be broken up by dumping it into a large Ziploc bag and smacking it down on a hard surface to separate the individual cubes. You can put the ice bag in a freezer after that if you want, but you will need to smack that totally frozen bag of formerly wet ice down on a hard surface because the wet ice cubes will freeze together. The cubes produced by the above process are compatible with my freezer’s ice dispenser and crusher, which is designed for the usual crescent-shaped ice. This machine is great because it does not require a supply water and sewer drain hook-up, and it is about as energy efficient as can be. It takes more user effort to use than a commercial ice machine that just makes ice and dumps it in a very large bin, non-stop. Such machines have no refrigeration for the ice, so the ice is constantly melting and going down the drain, which adds to electricity cost. This ice machine uses 180W. In 24 hours this will be 4.3 kWh (30 to 80 cents) on your electric bill, in the production of 40 pounds of ice. It has implicit refrigeration of the ice storage bin because the very cold, 32° water pouring over the freezing grid falls below the ice bin, where it is re-pumped over the freezing grid, serving to refrigerate the ice bin compartment without hard freezing. This results in bin ice lasting well with little melting through the entire two hours to create six loads of ice, at which time you must empty the bin. The machine automatically stops when ice bin is full, and that ends refrigeration until either you dump the ice bin or some of the ice simply melts. Once the machine is waiting for you to empty the bin, the rate of icemelt increases because the refrigeration compressor stays off until some ice melts or you empty the 3.5 lb bin. The cost of this machine will be recovered after it has made enough ice to fill from a few dozen to several dozen bags of store-bought ice. So in the long run it will save on your cost of ice.

With 14 of our grandchildren living in the neighborhood, our adult children, their spouses, friends, and neighbors -- not to mention our pool, deck, and Kamodo Joe, we have one of the busiest backyards in town. We also keep a couple of coolers on the patio loaded with all kinds of beverages for kids and adults respectively. For years, keeping those drinks cold meant periodic trips to the grocer's for bags of ice -- an inconvenience and expense. Several years ago I did the math, and calculated that a small ice maker would pay for itself in one summer, so we bought a 20 lb. model. It worked well -- took a bit of baby sitting -- but made enough ice to keep one cooler full. On really hot weekends we still sometimes had to send some one out for ice. It lasted a couple of years. We replaced it with another one of the same capacity. It also died after 2 summers. The need for ice has not diminished one cube, so this year we upgraded to the NewAir, designed to produce 40 lbs. of ice per day. From day one I was completely satisfied with it, but waited until after the Memorial Day weekend to write a review. No counter-top ice make has ever performed more heroically. We kept both coolers teeming with ice and ice-cold beverages with ice cubes to spare. Haven't had to buy a bag of ice since. This machine takes a half gallon water at a time. We have a pitcher dedicated for the purpose. Yes, it must be filled and emptied manually, but my wife and I routinely check every time we pass it, and it is little trouble. My only complaint is that the ice collection basket could have been designed with higher walls. The clumsy old man that I am tends to spill a few cubes each time I empty it. My wife does not seem to have that problem, so maybe it's only me.

Pros: * Makes lots of ice, quickly * Ice is clear, which looks neat, but also means that sodas barely fizz when poured over * Holds a decent amount of ice at a time * It makes sheets of ice, which makes it easy to fill up my cup with lots of ice Cons: * Sort of loud, but not in an offensive way * The top water lid can rattle a bit from time to time, placing something heavy on top fixes this * The controls are vague, sometimes it doesn’t appear to turn on, then does. Sometimes when the ice full flap is lifted it doesn’t kick on. * Occasionally it makes a monster ice sheet and can’t seem to defrost it off. Turning it off seems to cycle a defrost cycle and remove it. * The ice is slightly “wet”, as the storage area isn’t below freezing. This is good as the ice won’t stick to each other, but it also means it’s always melting a little. * I do wonder about the long-term durability of this. Under its nice stainless steel box, it’s a bunch of cheap-looking plastic parts. The sounds it makes don’t make me feel it’s of the highest quality. * It takes a lot of counter space. * The ice isn’t a block, but rather a hollow block. That means it isn’t very dense and melts quickly. Tips: * Make sure to clean it from time to time. Even my filtered water has some particles and stuff that makes the sides turn slightly yellow and I found a collection of particles at the bottom under the ice tray. after cleaning my ice was super clear again. * Use the Zero Water filter for this. The ice will stay clear up until the Zero Water filter starts making the water taste like it has lemon in it, then get a new filter. Overall: Despite the long list of cons, I really love this thing. I drink an insane amount of water, about 2.7 gallons a day. I like it to be very cold with ice. My refrigerator is pathetic. It doesn’t make ice fast enough and the water comes out super slow. Now I use this, and a Zero Water pitcher next to it. I refill the machine as needed, and pour water from the pitcher into my cup with the ice. It’s slightly more work than using a water dispenser and ice machine from the fridge, but it’s way faster and I don’t run out of ice.

Wrote to the company after having this for less than 4 months about how the ice clogs up, resetting it didn't help, so we unplugged it for 9 hours, and it worked fine for 2 days then again went to this BLOCK of ice that is not falling and gets stuck as water falls around it making it larger and larger. THIS IS ALWAYS HAPPENING now, and it's a bummer as this is our 2nd ice maker we've tried, the prior one had metal shards in the water, and though it was easier to use (sets ice thickness, didn't block up) it was tough to keep clean...so we tried this one, only to find this constant problem. When I wrote to their email from their booklet, they NEVER RESPONDED. So this is a WASTE OF MONEY PRODUCT! it's not working to make ice, only forms a giant block which (if left on and unattended) may cause some POWER OUTAGE or a fire to happen thanks to it being locked up and not moving the ice, but water flows constantly over the block making it larger and larger. We only used it for a few hours a few times a week, so leaving it on and wasting that much electricity wasn't an option for us, and it SHOULD NOT BE THE MANNER IN WHICH THIS MACHINE WORKS. Many letters to them and calls to them led to NOTHING and sadly it's been a few months of us having it so AMAZON won't refund it. Amazon needs to know, this is a terrible machine and should not be on their website as anything purchasable.

It became obvious to me after researching ice machines online that there are only a couple of manufacturers make all of these "different" ice machines! I owned a Nostalgia brand ice machine that made the bullet type ice. It used a moving tray to lift the ice up and into the bin. This is the same one as the Igloo and other bullet shaped ice machine "brands" that still sell in the one to two hundred range. My Nostalgia one had its microswitches on the tray lift mechanism fail. I replaced those with these: uxcell 10 Pcs G605-150S06A Micro Limit Switch Roller Lever Subminiature SPDT Snap Action LOT That got it working for another six months until the tray lift motor when nuts and over cranked the tray past the stop point causing the tray to break in half at its crank pivot point. That is when I decided to look for an ice machine with fewer moving parts! That is how I found this "clear ice macine". Again after some research it is obvious that again there are only one or two companies that manufacture ALL of these "clear ice machines". Luckily, this machine has only the pump and a small microswitch activating lever that gets pressed down when the ice tray gets full. As ice is removed from the bin or it melts the lever pops back up and ice making resumes. This machine uses a constant waterfall of water over the freezer metal cube form. The pump flows water over the metal ice mold for a prescribed period of time after which the freezer compressor shuts off. The ice then falls off the metal mold into the bin. The "clear Ice" is nice in some ways. The square and clear cubes contain little air and melt more slowly than the "white bullet type ice". The clear ice also remains more crunchy longer than the bullet type ice that gets very soft as it melts. I kind of like both types of the ice. I can tell that my big lab-shepherd 80lb female liked the softer white bullet type ice better. But, she still follows me when I go to get ice out of the bin as she enjoys crunching a couple of cubes. Some have complained about the ice coming off in one big 24 cube piece brick and having to break up the cubes and that being a hassle. However, the trick is to wait a little while when it stops making ice before getting cubes out. With a little patience, after about a half hour the brick of square cubes breaks apart perfectly as the brick falls apart as the ice melts. Again, the biggest plus with this machine is that there is no motor or tray lift mechanism! It is just the pump and the microswitch plastic lever. I still have plenty of microswtches and I am confident that I can find a pump to replace the machines one if it fails. I think the key to keeping the pump healthy is to make sure the H2O bin is always full enough so that the pump doesn't run dry. All in all, I am happy with this machine so far. I think it was worth the extra hundred to get this better ice machine design. It also makes plenty of long lasting ice.

I am a heavy user of ice and the refrigerator doesn’t really hold up to my needs so for twenty years I’ve had $80-150 ice makers doing its thing day and night. They don’t last forever, but I am happy with anything that can give me four or five years of continuous use. So. I have lived with cloudy ice all my home life. My Frigidaire maker died and I needed a new ice maker. I started doing research instead of picking up whatever Costco features this week. The idea of clear ice sounded unnecessary to start with. I don’t drink nearly enough whiskey to be bothered by cloudy ice cubes. Sure, I’ve got a couple of ice ball makers and I get the idea of controlling the water dilution of your alcoholic beverage. But two things sold me on this ice maker - it produces a pretty large amount of ice (perhaps a little slower than my cloudy ice makers but when you’re into the production each finished cycle is easily more than twice as voluminous as the cloudy makers I’ve had. The other “feature” is that clear ice causes vastly less foaming in a carbonated drink. I thought this was a throwaway feature but is it not. It is my absolutely favorite feature of the clear ice. You can fill a glass of carbonated water a lot quicker when you don’t have to wait for the foam to dissipate. Snd the carbonation sticks around in the drink much longer. The clear ice also does not melt as fast as cloudy ice. I generally take a class of fizzy water to bed at night, in a yeti tumbler. With cloudy ice there is generally some ice left in the morning, but the glass is substantially fuller of remaining clear ice. There a “trick” not clearly labeled in the manual (and an ice maker manual is a rather cursory read) and that is how to make thicker ice cubes. You good the start button (when you turn in the appliance) for about five seconds, and you don’t get much in way of confirmation, but the ice making is a little slower and the cubes a good bit thicker. Now this comes at a price: when the flat sheet of thick ice cubes come off as a solid sheet, the anemic little plastic scoop is NOT up to the task of breaking up the sheet into individual cubes. Do yourself a favor and buy a metal scoop. Wait until you get the unit so you can measure what is a comfortable width and depth of your scoop. (And while you’re waiting for the new scoop, just run the ice maker in small cubes - the plastic scoop can handle that.) While I researched the Clear Ice Makers, I did see several that offered an attachment where you can use an external jug for water. Min retrospect, I would like to have a ten gallon set up, but I am so pleased with every other aspect of this ice maker that I would buy this unit again, in spite of not having an external water attachment. But: I’ve gotta have SOMETHING to complain about so you know that I really like the other aspects of the maker. You’ll be done with cloudy ice forever after this!

Some Ice is made within 30 minutes of starting it. However, the ice cannot be stored in the machine. It melts if you leave it too long.

5/14 UPDATE Happy to say I am updating to 5 stars! Got the replacement and it is spitting out ice faster than I can keep up. Even works outside in 90` heat (in the shade). Ice is not as clear as I would like, but will give it a try indoors next week and see if that makes the difference. Even rigged up a water drip line to keep the tank filled. Junk! Gave this thing multiple opportunities to work, only got one slab of ice over 5 days and multiple attempts given. I really like clear ice, so other ice machines wont do. If I'm going to have a single purpose appliance it better wow me. Returning and buying again to see if I just got a dud

Love it some say it makes blocks of ice that doesn't break, to me I LOVE that about it. I freeze the blocks of ice completely im the freezer to dry em out and then i place a knife in the lines and twist and place in a large container. The ice doesn't clump that way! And for iced coffee enthusiasts it's the best! Leave your coffee tasting better because the ice is clear and free of gasses and minerals. Bullet shaped ice makers always made disgusting tasting ice until I read up on it and realized why

I have had nothing but problems. Worked decent for the first 6 weeks. I was told it couldn't be returned at that point. I thought it had 1 year warnty, not such the case. 6 months old and will not work at all. Dont waste your time or money. Had a different brand for 6 years.. JUNK

Great ice maker so far. I use distilled water and the cubes come out perfectly clear. I fill up zip lock bags for future use. The reservoir is quite large and makes ice very fast. I will post an update in a few months.

The only problem I have with this product is that the sheet of ice cubes that come out are difficult to separate.

Amazing ice maker, after the first few batches it really turns out ice fast. I think the first batch takes closer to 30 minutes, the second around 20 mark and then less than 15 minutes per batch. And best of all, it really does make crystal clear ice.