Half Moon Ice Cubes

[philcobendixduo]

I make my own ice

I've never had a refrigerator with an ice maker and probably never will.
I just think they cause too many repair issues and have potential to flood the kitchen, etc.
It wasn't easy finding a large refrigerator with no ice maker but this 2010 Whirlpool purchased in 2011 had what I needed, for the most part. I was a bit disappointed in the single BARE light bulb in the refrigerator compartment and single temperature control but they do the job just fine.
I saved the ice storage bin from my old GE and bought 4 new ice cube trays and 2 storage shelves from Amazon to make my own "ice center" as the new Whirlpool came with nothing for ice making/storage.
Works great for me and fits just perfectly in the freezer.

 

[twintubdexter]

I do have an ice maker in my Whirlpool freezer, a separate unit next to my all-refrigerator. I use that ice for things like wine and champagne buckets or small Igloo coolers. To keep the ice maker in good order I dump the bin periodically. I've learned not to do this by dumping the ice on the back lawn. One night I "dumped" right before bed and my dog went out there through her door and brought all the ice cubes back in the house. Cubes were everywhere! Silly Springer Spaniel.

 

Many years ago I had the ice maker instruction booklet that came with the first Servels. Every page had instructions from some little gnome-like person called "Yahoody" which the book said was the guy who turned the refrigerator light on and off. I remember one page where Yahoody said "don't hoard Ice Circles because they develop beards (frost) like old men." It was a funky little book but I can't imagine any manufacturer using a "Yahoody" to explain anything, not in today's high-tech world. I wish I would have kept it.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Oh Allen, that poor ground coffee! What a way to be sacrificed.

 

[ea56]

I agree with Bill in reply #20 about not having an ice maker. We did have one for a brief period in our last home over 20 yrs ago, and the convenience was nice. But when we bought our present home there was no plumbing for an ice maker and I can honestly say that I haven't really missed having one. We don't use a lot of ice unless we have company. Then I just start making ice the day before. We have 2 ice trays in the freezer all the time. Freezing these trays 3X's will fill the ice bin and be enough to carry us through.
Eddie[this post was last edited: 7/22/2015-14:21]

 

[rp2813]

No big loss

Tom, have you forgotten what weak airplane coffee tastes like?

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Sounding like THIS would be the right time for--:

 



 

 

-- Dave

 

[whirlcool]

I forgot to mention that the coffee grounds they used had already been brewed once, so it's no great loss. Airplane coffee makers use those prepackaged filter/coffee flat things makes less of a mess.

Coffee and food on airplanes is kind of tasteless. The altitude and pressurization kills flavor, so anything that needs to be consumed in the air loses flavor. BTW, we the crew never drink the coffee on airplanes. It's the water source. Water from many different places end up in the supply tank. For some people it can mess up their stomachs.

 

[arbilab]

Allen, surely they purge and sterilize those tanks at short intervals? You know, like Alaska Airlines greases their elevator jackscrews.

Water goes bad. That's why beer was invented.

 

[combo52]

Different And Interesting Ice-Makers

That have been used in home refrigerators over the past 65 years or so.

 

Yes Servel started it all with crescent shaped ICs with the worlds frist in freezer home ice-maker that produced zero degree ice fully automatically. The crescent shape is the easiest shape to make because it makes for a very durable IM that does not have to have water seals in the mold for a pusher mechanism to eject the cubes, instead the cubs can just be swept out from above with a rotating set of fingers.

 

Whirlpool bought Servel in the mid 50s and has been producing crescent cube IMs ever since. Once the patents fully expired on the CC IMs around the mid 80s GE made an almost perfect copy of WPs Compact IM that WP had used since around 1964. Since this time almost everyone else has copied this basic CC design. As late as the 70s WP was building the IMs for about 9 out of 12 brands of refrigerators sold in the US.

 

Automatic IMs that relied on plastic trays that flexed to release ICs are much more troublesome and prone to problems. Several US ref makers found this out the hard way, [ GM Frigidaire , Gibson, Adrimial, Westinghouse, and even WP tried to make a cheaper IM from about 1977-84 [ the Flex-Mold ], all of these designs are long gone because of excessive problems. Today only the Koreans are stupid enough to try selling plastic tray IMs in some LG and Samsung refs, but it not a great loss as these refs are not lasting long enough in many cases for the IM to be the major problem, LOL.

 

All US refs today use some version of a crescent cube IM in thier refs. Yes the crescent shaped ice cube is not the best shape for round drinking glasses, but you can crush the cubes or buy squared glasses.

 

There were better IC shapes in the past, All plastic tray IMs made at least partly squared ICs and GE made cylinder shaped ICs in there first IM design [ 1968-1986 ] before GE switched to their WP copy. GEs ICs never had a hole in the middle.

 

We have quite a collection of unusual early IMs from early refs that came with them here at the warehouse. I even have a 1967 FD bottom freezer model that has a working conveyor belt IM that works, FD called this IM " AIS " for Automatic Ice Service, this IM drops the cubes in a door mounted ice bucket. We also have a bottom freezer GE ref from 1968 that had the GE Snap-Action IM that actually throws the ice forward into the ice bucket for even distribution of the ice.

 

John L.

 

[combo52]

Different And Interesting Ice-Makers

That have been used in home refrigerators over the past 65 years or so.

 

Yes Servel started it all with crescent shaped ICs with the worlds frist in freezer home ice-maker that produced zero degree ice fully automatically. The crescent shape is the easiest shape to make because it makes for a very durable IM that does not have to have water seals in the mold for a pusher mechanism to eject the cubes, instead the cubs can just be swept out from above with a rotating set of fingers.

 

Whirlpool bought Servel in the mid 50s and has been producing crescent cube IMs ever since. Once the patents fully expired on the CC IMs around the mid 80s GE made an almost perfect copy of WPs Compact IM that WP had used since around 1964. Since this time almost everyone else has copied this basic CC design. As late as the 70s WP was building the IMs for about 9 out of 12 brands of refrigerators sold in the US.

 

Automatic IMs that relied on plastic trays that flexed to release ICs are much more troublesome and prone to problems. Several US ref makers found this out the hard way, [ GM Frigidaire , Gibson, Adrimial, Westinghouse, and even WP tried to make a cheaper IM from about 1977-84 [ the Flex-Mold ], all of these designs are long gone because of excessive problems. Today only the Koreans are stupid enough to try selling plastic tray IMs in some LG and Samsung refs, but it not a great loss as these refs are not lasting long enough in many cases for the IM to be the major problem, LOL.

 

All US refs today use some version of a crescent cube IM in thier refs. Yes the crescent shaped ice cube is not the best shape for round drinking glasses, but you can crush the cubes or buy squared glasses.

 

There were better IC shapes in the past, All plastic tray IMs made at least partly squared ICs and GE made cylinder shaped ICs in there first IM design [ 1968-1986 ] before GE switched to their WP copy. GEs ICs never had a hole in the middle.

 

We have quite a collection of unusual early IMs from early refs that came with them here at the warehouse. I even have a 1967 FD bottom freezer model that has a working conveyor belt IM that works, FD called this IM " AIS " for Automatic Ice Service, this IM drops the cubes in a door mounted ice bucket. We also have a bottom freezer GE ref from 1968 that had the GE Snap-Action IM that actually throws the ice forward into the ice bucket for even distribution of the ice.

 

John L.

 

[mrb627]

buy squared glasses

I almost fell out of my chair!
Thanks for this.

Malcolm

 

[whirlcool]

Allen, surely they purge and sterilize those tanks at short intervals? You know, like Alaska Airlines greases their elevator jackscrews.

As long as I was in the industry the only thing we did with the water tanks was top them off at the hubs if they got low. It may be MSP one day, DTW the next time, ORD a few days later. From what I understand, the service crews are supposed to dump in some disinfecting tablets every now and then, but it's more to keep the water safe than make it taste better. On international flights the water may be from various countries!

When the aircraft goes into maintenance for a few days they may have drained the tanks and run a disinfectant through it. And at this time they also send a sample of water from the cleaned tank out for testing. But starting in the 90's they started putting decals on the sinks in the bathrooms indicating that the water is for hand washing only, not drinking. See the F/A for drinkable water.

And as for ice on airplanes, it comes on in bags. Just like you'd buy at the local corner store. Dry ice has special handling procedures because of off gassing and if it's wrapped in non breathable wrappings it can explode!

There was a case back in the 70's where a cargo crew(DC8) made it out to the runway and then right before take off almost passed out in their seats. The cargo was fish that had been packed with dry ice. The dry ice had evaporated enough in the pressurized aircraft to change the mix of Co2 and O2. The control tower got their attention when they were cleared for takeoff and didn't take off and were slow to respond to the tower. They popped the cockpit windows and returned to the loading center. That was a close one!

 

[rp2813]

Strike Two

I think it's time to suggest to some participants that they read before they type.

 

[alr2903]

.... strike 2.....

I think it is time to be accepting of others. People openly post they lurk on the site. Some people are reluctant to post. I think that is very sad. Or is this the permanent record and the real club participates on social media?

 

[twintubdexter]

My neighbor's PENNCREST side by side made hallow round cubes. Perhaps it was malfunctioning.  Maybe a resident <span style="text-decoration: underline;">brainiac would know which manufacturer's ice maker made cubes like this.</span>

 

You had to drink fast before the best parts melted away...

[this post was last edited: 7/23/2015-20:40]

 

[whirlcool]

Strike Two

I think it's time to suggest to some participants that they read before they type.



By all means, feel free to do so instead of making little snide remarks.

 

[a440]

Luma Comfort Portable Ice Maker

Have you guys seen these?  I don't have one but a friend of mine does.  It

is very quick with making ice.  It is clear cubed ice. 

 

 

[arbilab]

Tablets, eh?

Ahh, I get it. FAA regs makes potable water the same way Blue Bell makes ice cream. "It won't kill you if you're healthy."

Water is not what makes me sick every time I fly. 'Fuel-saving' low cabin air exchange rates and concentrated exposure to airborne pathogens do. You know, what the airline smoking ban was REALLY about. Fuel saving. Highly-pressurized air doesn't pay for itself so the more you blow out your tailfin the more it costs.

Howcome EVERYone doesn't know this stuff? It's been published.

 

[combo52]

Hollow Ice Cubes

If a GE IM was making hollow ICs it was malfunctioning, usually an under fill condition  can cause the ice to be at least partly hollow, this also happens with crescent cube IMs, I have had customers complain after I fix their CC IMs because they liked the hollow ICs, LOL.

 

Cloudy vs clear ICs, when water is frozen in a mold to temperatures down toward zero degrees F you see have some air trapped in the ice making it cloudy, it does not hurt a thing and is actually pretty. Clear ice is either made with water flowing over the freezing grid or it just isn't very cold [ you will see fairly clear ice cubes in ice trays in freezers that are not working properly, this is one of the ways I can tell a freezer is not cooling properly ]

 

Ice made in ice machines like the one in the video melts a LOT faster and dilutes your drinks much more than cloudy 0 degree ICs from a good home freezers IM. We hear this all the time from customers that have both a clear ice machine and an in freezer IM. Yes ice from a combination refrigerator-freezer can taste bad if food is not properly stored, usually an activated charcoal filter in the ref section will greatly help or eliminate this problem.

 

[a440]

John,

 

What vintage are these GE / Hotpoint / JC Penny Automatic ROUND Ice Cube makers in these pictures?  I guess they quit making this design because they weren't reliable.  I was wondering how large were the cubes?

 

From the pictures the tray actually looks cast iron! I am sure it is some type of plastic though? I had a "Magic Chef" branded fridge in the 1990's that had round ice cubes.  It never gave me any trouble at all.  I am wondering if it was this ice maker?

 

I have actually seen these as New Old Stock on Ebay from time to time.