Half Moon Ice Cubes

[michaelman2]

Anyone else dislike the half moon ice cubes produced by many of the ice makers nowadays? The ones that slip down in a round glass and as you try to drink from the glass the half moon cube blocks the beverage from reaching your lips.....hate that design. Oh how I long for cubes, actual cubes...lol.

 

[xraytech]

I unfortunately cant weigh in on ice cube shape, as I looked for a fridge with no ice maker. I have a small bin in my freezer with two ice cube trays from a mid 70s Hotpoint.
I keep ice at home for if I get company or for an occasional protein shake.

If at someones home I never use ice, as I prefer tepid beverages

 

[gansky1]

Frost Crescents

The "Free Crushed Ice" from the KitchenAid side-by-side is definitely better than the crescents but I still like real cubes. I have three ice trays on a rack and a Frigidaire ice storage box on the top shelf under the factory ice maker. It's certainly more trouble, but the cubes last much longer and no beverage damming!

I'm not opposed to ice makers in general, they're great for parties or busy households, but I really wouldn't care if my next refrigerator had one or not.

 

[whirlcool]

We had a GE SxS at our last house that made those half cubes. I hated them for the same reason. They seem to like to stick to the shape of the curve of the glass and it's impossible to take a drink and get a mouthful.

The Whirlpoll and the GE we now have all make cubed ice.

How do you make clear ice cubes at home?

 

[michaelman2]

Hey Allen,

I am glad you understand my "pain"...lol I really hate those half moon / crescent cubes....When I entertained more, the ice maker was handy...typically I do not like ice in sodas and I simply chill them until they are cold enough to drink with no ice.

If I am going to make clear ice for a party, I will either buy it or use my ice trays. I sometimes do a centerpiece that requires "clear" ice and I use distilled water inside a mold.

 

[whirlcool]

Yeah, with those half moon ice cubes you shake the glass to try to get the ice to reorganize away from the curve of the glass, but they seem to be stuck there. Around and around they go, but never away from the wall of the glass. Do any ice machine mfg's that you find in home refrigerators even make half round ice cubes anymore?

Ah, so that's how it's done! Thanks!

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

GE-Hotpoint Oval; Whirlpool-Coldspot Crescent:

Whatever happened to the actual CUBE-SHAPED Ice from Frigidaire?! (Or Montgomery Ward's TRU CUBE?!)

 

Likewise, what shape did Amana use?! Gibson?! Admiral?! Norge?! 

 

 

-- Dave

 

[rp2813]

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">GE ice makers used to turn out half spheres, which I think everyone would prefer over crescents.  Maybe LG will start offering them like it's something new.</span>

 

<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437455996305_2180" style="font-family: Times New Roman;">When we had an '85 WP SxS with crescents-only IM, I bought square shaped glasses for mixed drinks and that helped, but when the time came time to replace it all the dispenser fridges had a crushed ice option.  That's all I ever use now.</span>

 

<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437455996305_2174" style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Another option would be those modern rubbery molds for huge ice cubes (I have one that makes four), the size used for a Vieux Carre or Old Fashioned.  They melt relatively slowly and are truly cube-shaped.</span>

 

[whirlcool]

Were those thru-cube things the completely round ice cubes with a hole in the center? I have seen those in restaurants/bars before.

 

[norgeway]

GE

Had a much better cube years ago, my Aunt Mable had a late 60s fridge that made the best ice, round drum shaped cubes.

 

[brucelucenta]

About two years ago I bought an LG made refrigerator sold by Sears under the Kenmore Elite badge. That refrigerator was supposed to be the biggest one made and it was the biggest I have ever seen. However, last November it quit working and the system had leaked all of the freon out. That refrigerator had squarish ice cubes that were very nice to use. I ended up getting a replacement refrigerator, the newest model of the same size refrigerator. This was the same size and an LG made one too. This new one has the half moon shape ice cubes though. It was a disappointment that the new one did not have the squarish cubes like the old one did. I am thinking that it must me easier and probably more durable to make half moon shaped ones. I do remember that the old GE refrigerator I had that made squarish cube had to be serviced about every year or so because the ice maker would start leaking.

 

[retro-man]

Whirlcool, the round cubes with the hole in the center that you see in restaurants are from a fast making ice maker. I have a countertop ice maker that is this pattern. It will produce a batch of ice every 10-15 minutes. The hole in the center is the freezing post. Water is introduced into the tray where the tubes are located. The water is frozen from the center outwards versus a regular maker that freezes from the outside in. Its a great machine for parties and cookouts. You fill the water reservoir plug it in and off it goes. I will usually start it about an hour before usage and it has filled the bin by then.

Jon

 

[tomturbomatic]

My GE makes the little drum-shaped cubes. I like them.

 

[kevin313]

I have a 15 year old Amana bottom-freezer model that makes the crescent shaped ice. I'm not so bothered by the shape, but I only use that ice for cold packs or to shock vegetables, etc. I don't like to use it for drinking because it's cloudy and always seems to have a bit of an off-taste.

I always have a bag or two of "good" ice on hand for drinks. I like a square cube, and I like my ice to be crystal clear - I think it makes the drinks look and taste better!

Now, who'd like a highball?

 

[twintubdexter]

I think Servel called those early cubes "Ice Circles."  Servel sure wanted people to know those early Servels had an ice maker...there were gold letters on the outside of the freezer door that said AUTOMATIC ICE MAKER, the handle on the food compartment door said Automatic Ice Maker, and then when you opened the freezer door letters at the top of the compartment said AUTOMATIC ICE MAKER. The ice maker itself would be pretty hard to miss since it took up almost half of the freezer.

 

As I recall, most manufacturer's had limited success with their own ice maker designs. Frigidaire's conveyor belt models had many problems. I had one of their models that made small square cubes by turning a tray up side down and twisting it. GE had some weird units that made these little barrel-shaped cubes with a hole in the middle. The old Servel/Whirlpool Ice Magic seems to be the most dependable of them all, but then I haven't been around the service area for decades.

 

I'm like Kevin, I like clear cubes for drinks. I have a Monogram (made by Whirlpool) ice maker in my kitchen island that makes clear cubes but it's an expensive thing to use. Filtered water from a reservoir flows over a refrigerated plate until the desired thickness is achieved. Then the plate heats and the ice sheet slides down to a wire grid. The grid heats and the the cubes fall through to a bin. The process repeats until the bin is full. The bin itself is insulated but not refrigerated so the ice stays separated but is constantly melting. In a bar or restaurant there's usually a floor drain to take care of the melting ice. The unit I have has a small pump and sensor so in addition to a water supply it needs a drain. All in all, it's a pricey way to enjoy clear cubes. I prefer to buy Sparkletts Ice at the market, clear and made from Sparkletts drinking water. It's an inexpensive luxury I enjoy in my twilight years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mixguy]

Ice Maker Designs

The reason most ice makers make crescent or half moon shapes is because it is the most trouble free design! Most ice makers that formed cubes of ice tended to clog, leak, or overflow more than any other design. The frequency of repair caused them to revert back to the "crescent ice maker" Many GE Americana models with the ice and water dispenser in the door flooded kitchens during the night, imagine waking up to that!

 

[michaelman2]

Oh I understand the "why"...I just do not like the result.

 

[tomturbomatic]

If you want clear ice, boil the water before pouring it in the ice cube trays or in the portable ice maker. Boiling drives out the dissolved air so that the cubes freeze clear.

If you want ice without an off flavor, do not store produce in unsealed containers in the refrigerator section of your refrigerator. The odors from uncovered food, mostly produce in the produce bins, circulate through the freezer and flavor the ice. Keep produce in Tupperware-type containers and all other refrigerated foods sealed up. I keep a few spoons of ground coffee in a cheese cloth covered container to absorb odors in the freezer. Shake it occasionally to expose new granules. The surface area of ground coffee is immense and will keep the refrigerator/freezer odor free for a long time.

 

[mrb627]

Experiment Time

Boiling water before making ice.
This might be cool to have too, no pun untended.

Malcolm

 

[whirlcool]

The surface area of ground coffee is immense and will keep the frigerator/freezer odor free for a long time.

On airplanes if the can starts stinking too much the F/a's will throw coffee grounds in a filter in the area or hang on the door. It gets rid of bathroom smells very quickly and efficiently!

 

[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.