First off, what a great set of video's! Learning while building and experimenting is what made this country great. Good Job!! My suggestions: ( I haven't taken the time to read the "1000's" of comments so please excuse mine if they are repeats) 1. Add a liner box to the storage area with a .5" to .75" airspace between it and the walls of the freezer. Add spacers underneath the liner to raise it. Doesn't make any difference what material you make it from as long as it's waterproof. The thinner the better. You don't want the liner to have any insulative value. At that point your 2 original fans will easily circulate air around the ice mass and draw air that's in direct contact with the walls. The walls are the coldest surfaces in the unit. As of now when the storage area fills the ice touching the walls is blocking circulation and air volume. Your only getting the air from unused space above the ice. The higher the ice gets the warmer the air gets from blowing over the trays with less and less air volume. 2. Add an aluminum shoot angled into the liner directly under the ice makers to stop the ice from dropping on top of the compressor enclosure - the warmest part of the interior. If you thought your water was hot ... put your thermometer inside your compressor compartment overnight and you'll see why. Add another 1" of rigid board insulation over that interior area (top & side) it will help. Manufacturers insulate that area but they are only trying to hit acceptable loss stat's at minimal cost. Adding even a very small 5vdc fan to the compressor compartment wouldn't hurt. For your new build put the ice makers on the other side. 3. Attach a few cheap 12vdc peltiers with a thermostat to your copper water line at the sink. It may eliminate the need for your ice chest cooler? It's been super interesting watching your vid's. Best of luck!
I just wanted to say thank you for the hours of content you have provided. You are an inspiration and I will continue to watch and cheer you on in your endeavors. I also am super grateful for the mention of Arms Family Homestead, you pointed me in their direction and between the two of you, there is nothing better to watch on TH-cam.
Fan Solution: you can place the fans directly under the ice maker. Just make a slatted grate with parallel bars/fins running in the direction the ice should fall and place it at an angle above the fans. The ice will fall onto the grate and be directed into whatever bin you like. The fans will be able to blow through the bars/fins of the grate.
It is amazing…I am a 66yr old woman and how I came across your ice maker build I couldn’t tell you but, I am hooked. You make this so interesting and I can’t wait for your next video. We have a small farm and we are looking into Flail mowers. I was scrolling through You Tube, watching flail mower videos, and after about a minute into one video, I thought, I know this voice ! I looked over to see who’s Channel it was and started laughing because it was you. Keep up the good work. How you get time to do it all, I don’t know.
This is and has been an awesome series. I'm building myself one very similiar thanks to you. Pulling cold air off the bottom in my set up is going to consist of a "false bottom" in the the freezer made out of hardware cloth or rabbit cage wire where I will have a couple fans underneath the wire to move cold air from the underneath the ice. The wire will keep ice out of the fans. Then there will be another fan in similiar location as the higher velocity fan in this video to blow and circulate the cold air across the ice makers. The power strip that has the circuit the shuts the other ones off when it's calling for a load is a great idea.
How about to limit your temp loss when opening the lid try using Plastic sheeting, heavy weight drop cloth. Cover the ice makers fan and drop the plstic down to the bottom area of freezer, leave it hang loose so the ice can drop through the bottom of the plastic barrier and you can easily move it out of the way to retrieve ice.
@ The Kelley's Country Life, 2 things, insulate the lid to limit heat intrusion. when I put a FLIR camera on my freezer there was also a cold spot on the back that went halfway across, and I insulated that, too. Also, to get the top colder all you should have to do is put a fan at the top opposite the ice makers pointed down towards the opposite side bottom. I do this all the time to dry carpets and distribute airconditioned air, and it works. I would also shade your well pump and where the water comes into the shed for this, but also so your tap water temperature will be more pleasantly cool.
I actually ran a test off camera with a huge insulation blanket over the lid, not much increase. The efficiency was a little better on the compressor though
@@TKCL I understand production, but I'd be curious if it helps with your temperature difference problem? It's good to know it helps with efficiency, and it makes me think combining it with the fan to circulate cold air you might have something. More fans is actually going to hurt efficiency, so if you can lose heat up high it might be part of the system. I have r10 foam on mine, which is similar to what commercial freezers use, you can buy in in 1 inch thickness and double it up to not get too expensive, but it's going to be way more insulation than a blanket, and it helps the cold in tighter, so you're cooling less of it down.
I should have mentioned I monitored temperature too, maybe a degree or two better from what I remember. I also had a box fan running by the compressor at the time too. Didn't get the results I thought I should have.
You've got me thinking about freezers. My local Walmart has several on display, right in the main aisle. And there not terribly expensive. I want one. And that's despite not needing to keep that much food AND even though I live up two flights of stairs and the last thing I need is trying to drag a freezer up the stairs. It's nuts. And I don't need it. But I want it!
I am not sure if you mentioned it earlier but I believe you are not an engineer. Let me tell you as an engineer - you are doing everything right on the drive to a final solution. The problem that I have seen too many times is that engineers get stuck on perfecting "a" solution but don't realize that the the efforts are in no relation to the gains. I applaud you for your decision to break from this path and move on to the next "innovation step change". Keep up the good work, you represent what TH-cam is all about. Sharing knowledge for the greater good! Don't forget to go fishing sometimes to use up all this great ice you make.
Been following your project since nearly the beginning. Keep up the good work! A few things that MIGHT help... 1: Try blowing the hot air DOWN into the cold space, NOT the cold air UP! Per physics, it's easier to slow things down than speed them up. To keep the slightly warmer air from having too drastic of an effect on already made ice, blow it into a perforated box. A few layers of a cut up sheet of furnace filter might be enough. 2: If the metal wall is hot, put a sheet of reflective foam insulation between it and the freezer. 3: For reusable thermal mass, use frozen milk/water jugs, 2-ltr bottles, etc. A solid block of ice takes a LOT longer to melt than small cubes do. This alone might well produce over a hundred pounds of solid blocks in a fraction of the time of producing your cubes. 4: Once your house is finished, move the freezer inside!
Thank you for watching! That ice maker is going in an air conditioned room as soon as the house is done. I can't wait to see what it will produce then.
I only just saw this, so sorry for the delay. I think you should get the square metal ductwork for heating, run it across the bottom, and the turn 90° up the side. As it comes up, use a 4in rectangle to 4in circle converter, and attach the fan in a pancake position. Get a second fan to circle adapter/flare, and a 3in steel elbow. The flare, elbow, and a a straight pipe would just sit on the fan, and take that cool air and direct it to the same point where the fan used to sit right between the makers. The reason for not attaching the flare/elbow/pipe assembly is that it would be on two or three of those aluminum plates and could very easily be quickly removed to allow for measuring and ice removal. Just a thought. Good luck on v2 and I look forward to the video.
Freeze some gallon jugs of salt water and leave them in the bottom at all times for permanent thermal mass. Also, on our shrimp boat, we had twin home made ice chests made with 2” roofing foam fiberglassed each held 1000 lbs of ice. We kept a piece of carpet on top of the ice to drop as the ice melted and create a barrier from the air. They held Ice outdoors in the sun for right at 2 weeks until the last cube melted if we filled them and only opened them a few times a day to check.
I was right on several things, I knew pulling air from the bottom wants going to help much if any, also knew reversing one of the fans was not going to help. And I knew the higher velocity fan would help. 2 of those fans right over by the ice makers will work best. I’d totally forget about pulling from the bottom. It’s such a small space that a fan alone directly on the ice makers is going to net best results. With the small space and fan moving so much air there is absolutely no need to pull from the bottom.
Great work. What i do with my coolers amd deep freezer fridge i cut a piece of material clear so once u open the lid u arent letting all the cold air out, i just lift up the piece on the side u want to take something out on. It helps much with my coolers with keeping the cold air inside. Just giving ideas. Great project. 👍👍
For pulling cold air from the bottom, you were on to something but not quite.. To keep the CFM of the fan, I believe what you should have done is to leave the perforated pipe coiled up on the bottom, then used the dryer duct to run from the perforated pipe up to the fan. Using the perforated pipe all the way loses a lot of CFM and also sucks in the warmer air from the upper section. The upper pipe should not be perforated. Just a thought.
I willing to bet if you had that in conditioned space you’d get close to 20# a day!!! I have been working on commercial ice machine for 20 years and I still like your videos and the cheap way to make ice!!! Thanks Tommy
I would suggest the next build be a side by side fridge/freezer... Cool you water thru the refrigerator before it hits the ice maker As well as a upright I am seeing all kinds of possiblities of maybe be a split shelving...top half be the ice maker and your dumped ice. The bottom half storage for bagged ice you make...
To stabilize the temp, stack block ice like bricks along the very bottom. Smooth surface, you'll have your thermal mass. Also I think you're right about losing velocity. I'm not an air conditioning person but when my house in college was being renovated, the handyman stated that cold air is the hardest air to move around corners. Warm air moves easier in that regard. That's why they made the AC ducting very gradual on its turns. I don't know if that's true, but I remember the conversation. Third, nothing says you have to catch the ice on that small little ledge. Perhaps a design or something incorporated into 2.0 like a grill grate at a 45 degree angle and put the fans under it. The only consideration would be to make sure that the bars were close enough together so ice wouldn't slip through, but far enough apart and not restrict the air flow. It would be easier to draw then to text this but I think you get the idea. I don't want to add to your testing because you have tested a lot, right now it's about best practices and ideas out of how to best accomplish what you already know. The power strips with the power cut off on activation are brilliant. I've seen it in reverse but not in the way that you are looking for. It doesn't mean they don't exist.
Yep adding the flexible pipe will restrict a lot of air flow. You could just mount the fan high and point it down on an angle so its blowing down to the floor of the freezer and pushing that colder air circulating around with no pipes or duct work.
When the ice makers go into harvest, the trays have heaters on them to detach the ice cubes from the trays. Without a relay to shut the fans off when they go into harvest, you are trying to heat and cool the trays at the same time . You are adding heat to your box and taking substantially longer to get out of harvest and back into ice making mode. A lot of ice makers contain a switch to turn off the freezer fan when they go into defrost. If not, a couple of spdt peanut relays would do the trick.
You did it!!! 👍🏼👏👏👏Suggestion instead of drawing the air from the bottom, push the air down allowing it to escape up through the ice (just reverse the fan) A second fan in the area where you reached the 10 lbs mark. They would be out of the way of everything and ice won't get trapped in them. Looking forward to the next one.
Well I might have ran another test today and air velocity seems to be far more important than temperature. I'm testing again tomorrow and will release the results if consistent, it was a shocker.
This is literally my favorite series of TH-cam videos ever. What about building a “false bottom” out of something like expanded stainless steel so that the ice sits above the perforated hose and there ice a nice space to draw cold air from.
First off great job! What it sounds like you need is a time delay relay. You can utilize the ice maker power as the timer signal. Then tie the fan to the normally closed contact and set the delay time for how long you want it to stay open (off).
I've had my temp sensor sitting up by my fans since I put mine into operation. I have the freezer temp adjustment set to about 1/4 way past the minimum setting. I've been averaging 14-16 degrees. Been making ice fine(for my use) for idk.. a month now. I haven't gone to the lengths of testing like you have. This is just fyi for you/those that want it .. and might help.
Also.. I sent you an email about the power strip you ask about. I think they are simply called "smart plug power strip" Idk how youtube is about providing links in comments is why I'm not throwing a link in here.
adding more fans to the inside is not going to get you much , after all each one adds heat = to its wattage + increased lose do to air movement on the inside. Insulation works by stopping air movement, adding fans lowers the efficiency of the unit, but accelerates cooling at the exspence of high energy usage up to the point the condenser can no longer shed heat any faster. at this point i would add a heat sink and fan to the compressor
That new fan will screw on to a closet flange and you can run 4” pvc pipe to the bottom of the freezer and pull the colder air to the top. I use this in my kegerator, I have the same freezer
The theoretical thermal energy (kWh) to be removed from water of a certain temperature to freezing temp and the latent heat to be removed during freezing and the thermal energy to cool ice after freezing to a certain low temperature is well known and can be easily calculated. It would be great to compare the calculation with actual measured power consumption in kWh, which in other words will be the maximum and actual energy efficiency! I can help!!
Yes, this becomes an issue of opposing goals then. Max efficiency will come from slower freezing ice and lower production. To get higher production you need to get it to freeze faster, and that isn't as efficient, like adding the power usage of the fans to help move the btu's quicker, causing the compressor to kick on more to cool the freezer. Right now it's all indirect freezing of the cold storage to the ice trays. A more direct route from the compressor to the ice trays would move the btu's better causing it to freeze faster, like a real production ice machine, but the steps to get closer to that without custom designing the whole thing from scratch. The production machines can be very efficient but only they only produce ice, it's assuming your going use it as fast as it makes it, and not storing much, so they don't cool the storage bucket. Here the goals are backwards from that and it's about storing the ice.
I would mess around with the temperature probe placement to find the coldest place in the entire freezer. Then you know exactly where you want to pull air from to direct towards the ice machines. A laser thermometer (or thermal camera if you're feeling adventurous) should also work well.
a smart plug with power monitoring and an automation may help you with that. home assistant in a raspi. an automation to turn off the fans when the icemaker turns on to heat the ice . there may be another ease way to do it but i cant figure it out.
ok....so 2.0 build. > incorporating all the fun stuff you've learned so far and adding in....insulation. 1. on the back wall behind the freezer - Lowes will sell you some 4x8 sheets of various thickness foam sheets. Place a pair behind the freezer so you have an 8x8 insulated wall. 2. while you're picking up that sheeting...grab some more sheets. You're gonna cut to fit an extra layer on all sides of the freezer and just attach via construction adhesive. 3. the compressor set of the freezer - take one of those fans you had used and put that shroud and perforated pipe on it mounted to the compressor area blowing air away from the unit and somewhere else in the shop. now onto the build of the new unit.... 4. That insulated lid extension for all your passthroughs.... 5. Just the one high volume fan inside is enough 6. gallon jugs of water / 2.5 gallon jugs of water laying on the bottom or you could place them up at the lid on one end to give you your thermal mass. Outside the unit 7. Move that mini fridge over next to the freezer. Run your water lines out of the valves and into their own water cylinder pass through (so it's cooling water and pushing cool water into the ice maker as previously tested) (you could even 3D print the water cylinders to do this with) 8. Make sure the mini fridge is in front of the wall insulation (no need to heat it up more than the shop temp from the radiated heat from the metal wall) That's the stuff I can think of right now...there's probably something I've missed.
The only problem that I see is insulating the freezer walls. As they were designed to release heat. These newer freezers have the heat coils built right in to the 3 walls. Right left and front. i do not think the back has the hot coils. Older deep freezes if I recall has the coil on the underside or on the back. The new ones are designed to release the heat from those exposed walls.
@@kameljoe21 I'm not up on the design of the freezers, but I thought from his original video explanation they had cooling coils throughout the sides and the heat would be dissipated through the compressor air exchange. This is something to definitely look into before any insulation is added to the exterior of the freezer.
I honestly wouldn't worry about the gears. At least not until you get a failure. Or maybe take one apart before you worry about it and look at the gears and see if there is much wear. Then decide if its an issue. You might just be causing an headache for your self over nothing. Remember your moving air around not a think fluid so there's no reason to stay at a 4 or 3 inch pvc, its just for the fan duct. I would reduce it down to a 1.5 or 2 inch to save some money. Before you jump into 2.0 make a video explaining what you plan on doing. Maybe as a community we can help provide some ideas or maybe see something you overlooked. Also thermal mass is there only to help the insulation and compressor. Think of it like a triangle with the compressor/power used on top. And thermal mass and insulation at the bottom corners. Now put a dot in the middle, this is your balance point. The less you have of one the more you need of the other 2 to make up for it. Another way to look at it is if you want to save on one, the other 2 have to get bigger to make it work. Want to use less energy, you need more insulation and mass. With 2.0 you want power costs low so you really need to have alot of insulation, if you can make it thick enough then can use less power and need less thermal mass. What I would do is just add 4 inchs of housing insulation boards to all six surfaces.
I would try putting a copper or aluminum sheet over the ice makers to increase the coldness temperature over the ice makers 🤔. I don't know if you can get some styrofoam that thin that would seal up in there but I would think it would get it colder right where the ice makers are while the fan is blowing air.
Congratulations on getting to the 10 pounds of ice:) It sure is crazy how this whole ice machine has taken a life of its own:) can’t wait to see the next one:) tfs:)
Build a duct on the same wall as the ice makers with the fan inside the duct just as they do with a regular refrigerator could probably even take one out of an old refrigerator
I think the tubes air is being restricted by the ice blocking the end of the black tube. If you had a double wall design were the first wall ideally made perforated PVC pipe and an elbow, and stood up at the perfect height to point between the ice makers. The second wall would be made by the fan and the perforated black pipe. The black pipe would be cut off about 2 to 3 inches from the bottom. This would limit the air restrictions, pull the coldest air from the bottom of the freezer, and better aim the air flow. Remember this air will immediately be mixed with the warmer air at the top of the freezer, so it will not be cold enough to stop ice production.
The first day of testing had no ice in front of it, the second day produced similar results. I did a little more testing after this video and air velocity seems to be the focal point.
What if you used aluminum for the intake of the fan or "duct work", which is fairly cheep. If you have a shroud that ducts the fans cold air to the ice makers it could still be out of the way. I don't think the thermal transfer would be fast enough to cause stuck cubes as it dumps out pretty quick when the cubes are done.
The 2.0 might do better if you have a larger freezer thus increasing your thermal Mass and give you room for your corrugated conduit for airflow and still have enough room to maneuver around inside the freezer
I built the a bracket with a bend just about the compressor level with 2 fans blowing back up to the to the ice makers. We use at least 10lbs of a a day if not more and by the next morning it has replaced that 10 plus a little more. And by the weekend if we don't go fishing it way ahead of us. And mine is in a open shop like your non insulated and we live in southeast texas.
Think using a water cooler (like from a pc) looping around the bottom to the ice would work a ton better than attempting the fan from the bottom. Issue is, it needs to stop when it has to dump the ice. I would be more than happy to build a board for you, with several temperature sensors, easily handle the relays, but personal would just switch to pwm fans, and instead of cutting the power, just tell the fans to stop or slow down. I have done this for my HVAC equipment to monitor all of their temperature points, humidity, amp draws. Not sure where in florida you are, but in ocala here
The ice maker in my whirlpool fridge has a built in centrifugal fan with an on/off switch labeled "Ice Plus". A bilge fan to circulate bottom to top with smooth ducting will probably work better for that purpose.
My suggestion is to make a false wall on your left side end from front to back approximately 1” away and cap the top leaving the bottom approximately 6-8 inches off the bottom. Cut a hole and Mount the fan at the top. My theory is to pull air across the whole surface of the wall that has the coils in it and should produce colder air as that surface is the coldest Instead of trying to pull it through a tube. I would just get a piece of galvanized sheet for ductwork from Home Depot and cut 2” wider than your end wall and bend a 1” lip on 2 sides, top to bottom and across the top leaving the bottom open and put it with The bent tabs against the wall.
Do the fans run 24/7 at max rpm? Are they still kicking? Instead of trying to have the one fan pull air from the bottom AND blow air across the top, you can put smaller 40-60mm fans at the bottom to blow air up to the big fan.
Thermosistor I may have spelled it wrong but you don't seem like a Grammer cop. Those resistors are ideal for this but you need to attached them to bottom where heating element is and use them as your on off switch. Just need to find the working range you need.
you could use a small single board computer called a Raspberry Pi ($35) to monitor the ice-maker turning on/off, and control a relay to power the fans off/on.
A smart relay could do what you are asking, but would be in the 150$ range. And you would have to know a little about programing. Win LGC is the software that gets bundled with idec's relay. It is very easy to learn and use. I'm not sure about Allen Bradley uses.
I tried insulating the top of my.chest freezer with some soft foam... and I got a gallon of condensation under the foam. Lol so it worked, but the unintended consequence was fatal.
@@TKCL it's crayzee how something "so simple" just isn't! I am really getting a lot of chuckles out of your testing and trying to guess the results. Thanks!
Congratulations on your 10 lb goal One more really simple test you might try before building 2.0 Is spinning the ice makers 180 degrees with the gear box motors against the right side of the freezer. Then back to your simple 1 high power fan or the 2 original fans blowing more directly on the trays without ducting I think you are very close to capacity Without adding a 3rd ice maker or finding a different brand freezer capable of way below zero temperatures in your hot environment. I commented before on setting it to 10 below to increase production I still think it would perhaps with a better freezer. You have clearly run that one for all it's worth. And I agree with you it's pending compressor failure after seeing your 10 below results It simply won't do it Awesome video 👍
Rotating the ice machines will expose the water inlet lines which could cause freezing or ice chips to form. Ice chips will then cause blockage. You may be right about the 10 below will work in a more stable ambient room temperature. All of my freezers are set to -10. I think a false floor with some holes in it will allow for a better air flow while pushing up colder air and making the entire box more stable may do the trick. I do think that he could very well get 6 lbs from each machine. The one thing that I do not think any one has ask is the cube size. Does adjusting the cube size smaller produce ice faster or does making it larger make more ice. As I really do not know how it knows when or if it should produce ice.
@@kameljoe21 good point on the water tube inlet From what I have read the ice trip's to eject the finished cubes when tray hits 13 below Small cubes may well increase the cycles. But I suspect the net weight of the produced ice would likely be very close small and more frequent or large and less frequent I intrigued with the results of all these tests Many of them with surprising results
@@acew280 I am sure there is some scinece stuff that could tell you the results. Though I suspect that when it cycle it heats up to release the ice. Though I wonder if this release is done by a timer or if it is done my load sensor in the arms. Really if we knew more about how an ice machine works then we might be able to see and understand how they function and if there is a way to speed up the process by adding in air flow etc.
Your vent pipe idea is good but it needs to be metal. Plastic doesn't conduct temperature. Metal does. Place the air inlet up about 14-18 inches from the bottom. Have the metal duct be in a 'U' shape with the outlet, facing the ice makers. I'ld change the fan to be on the inlet side, blowing air through the metal pipe instead of sucking/pulling the air through the metal pipe. It's easier to push than to pull air. With the air inlet up off the bottom, it won't be capable of being blocked by ice.
Instead of PVC or tubing, I would suggest making a grate that stands off the bottom and placing a fan under it to move the cold air off the bottom of the freezer. It would make a much simpler build. The keep that big fan in the same original configuration. A grate could be made from stainless steel grills or even lexan with holes drilled in it.
Hey Andrew, don't know if you watch Kens Karpenty on TH-cam or not, he builds garages mainly but he's been posting news on lumber prices when they go up or down, he posted an video this afternoon that 5/8 plywood drop $10's a sheet to $42's from $52's a sheet last week. believe he's in Vermont. He stocked piled lumber last year when it was cheaper to keep his prices low for all his planned jobs up till the fall of this year. O 2x4 by 8 prices dropped about 40 cents an stick too.
@@TKCL Ok Andrew, figured you might watch since he kinda builds his garages/apartments from the concrete up like you are doing. Now RR Buildings do the pole barn buildings or the 2 companies out of Texas to that build combination house/garages Texas Barndominiums or Texas Best construction. Guessing you watch both of those to for ideas. Good luck on the version 2.0 ice maker.
I've watched some RR too and a little Matt Risinger. Sadly I just don't have a lot of time for watching TH-cam since I'm always making videos and editing.
@@TKCL True with making & editing your content bring time consuming but maybe you will have time on an rainy day once finished with your content for TH-cam.
2.0 should be a 18-20 cubic foot freezer. It should have 2 ice makers at each end. You should try to make a gasket system between the top of the freezer and the door so you don't have to hack the freezer up.
It will have a collar, I've already purchased the materials. It must be the same size because it's got a new home in my air conditioned room as soon as my house is built and I clear my shop out.
I got a 40lb a day table top and bag that when needed. I've got the freezer running so well now I've started shutting off the ice makers. It's out running me
hi there been watching your ice videos lots of info. well done . well i ran out of ice and had to start my ice machine . not as good of making videos as you but made a few .on the start up and finish . we made about 300 of ice bagged it and put it in the deep freezer . the machine makes around 400 in 24 hours but i can't store that much . i am going to put them on in a day or 2 . thanks for all the info john
You have to be careful with the insulation, three sides of that freezer are hot and need to shed heat. The only two spots you can insulate is the lid and back, maybe the bottom.
@@wombat1222 Thanks for letting me know. I thought it came from old ladies picking knots out of their quilts. Now I know. Learn something new every day
@@jaybrown7177 happy to help. Glad you took it in the spirit intended. I reread my reply and realized it could have been interpreted as me being a dick. I'm a font of useless information.
Okay I have a suggestion. Get 1U server fans. They are smaller so if airflow works add more they are efficient plus they push/pull air fairly well compared to their size but I’d rather see that in the 2.0 though.
I appreciate that, but I've already got a couple of brand new fans and accessories for a design I'm working on. Those diffuser attachments are critical for me.
I thought when you first put the ice maker in the first freezer it said it would not make ice when it was below 10 degrees. But that's true it may be dipping too cold to make ice, and only making it during the day when it's warmer in the shop. I'm not sure if that's what they say but when you read the sign on the ice maker I actually backed it up a couple of times and to me it sounds like it doesn't make ice when it's colder than it 10 degrees
@@TKCL ambient temps? Its awfully close to that sheet metal wall. I think i read somewhere hot water actually freezes faster than cold water. I have no idea. **Waiting on version 2
I tested the hot water theory in a previous episode, didn't work for me. I have been struggling to find another freezer, heading back to town this week.
I think I would create a false wall on the left side of the freezer with some plexiglass. Cut 2 square shaped openings to fit two high powered fans at the top of the false wall. Leave a 3" gap at the bottom of the false wall, and use some lighting grate to prevent ice from going under the plexiglass. Now you're drawing air from under the ice to the top and pushing it over the ice makers.
@@TKCL I was thinking of something similar but instead of an entire wall try finding someone with a 3D printer and print a piece that will attach to the back of the fan and have them make it seal the back of fan off and attach a 2” flexible tube run it to the corner then to the bottom with a small chicken wire box on the end to keep ice from blocking tube that way you keep as much space as possible for ice storage while the tube attached to the fan acts as a vacuum for the cold air at the bottom
Yeah that would work really well. I though of some expanded or perforated metal floor with a pipe pushing air down which would allow the cost air to rise up. Though You may be correct that you will need to pull the air rather than push. Pulling it will allow the warmer air to pass thru all of the ice.
@@kameljoe21 what do you mean pulling will allow warm air over ice pulling aka vacuuming the cold air from the bottom and pushing it over the ice trays to keep the top of cooler colder and it would create a circulation through out because of the vacuuming from bottom and pushing out front of fan in a clockwise motion
@@nicholasearly8665 I was thinking that if you are pushing the air in to and under the ice you will or could create a warm pocket. Pulling the air thru the ice would allow the warmer air to chill as it comes up creating the coldest air. Either way in the comments below or above Kelly said that he tried another method of the fan and it works even better. So we may get a short video update about it soon.
as fascinating as your videos are there is a reason a commercial ice machine works the way it does. to increase production 10fold for what you are getting, I work on them all the time, for the time and effort you have put into this you just need to go to an auction and purchase an ice machine head or an entire ice machine and figure out how to work on it yourself and make it work. I have a commercial ice machine I saved from the trash 30 years ago that still works great and I just purchased 2 off a guy headed to the scrapyard the other day when I was dropping an NFG A/C unit off. fixed one an hour after I got it home and just sold it for well more than I paid the scrapper for it, A chest freezer has 1/10th or less of the BTU capacity of a commercial ice machine, they are designed to keep already frozen food cold, Not make ice all day, Fascinating what you are doing here but you are at the max of what you will ever see with production I dont care how many fans, mods, tricks you try to do, can only move so many btus with a freezer like you have. HMU, i can give you pointers on looking for a commercial ice machine, Mine makes 800 LBS a day, thats what they were designed for!!!
Thats 800Lbs of ice a day not 80!!! quit messing around with a regular freezer and home ice makers. the mcdonalds and chic fil a's dont make ice the way you are trying to do cause it doesnt work, they buy a commercial machine cause it makes a batch of ice every 12.5 minutes and its probably they same weight as what you make in a 24 hr cycle. a 5000 btu compressor is only 5000 btus no matter what you do to it all day long every day.
Good luck raising the lip did that first like a freezer a tor and it let in too much outside temp in and the ice makers would not work. It was 2" thick with insulation and let way too much heat. If you do this set your is maker deeper into the freezer or they won't kick on. good luck brother
@@TKCL You can tell it won't work because the frost on the inside of the freezer walls were stopping just below the ice makers proving that outside air was coming in. Another thing I did was glue a 1" pink board from home depot to the top, which I think helps insulate the top more.
Have you thought about lowering the ice makers a few inches? By dropping them down and getting them out of the warmer air on top you might reduce the time it takes for them to kick on after opening the lid. If the temperature is more constant lower down and colder then the need to bring cold air up is not needed. Not bored or tired of seeing these vids. Been awhile since you posted on the other channel, ain't it getting close to dove season?
I love the "ice videos", & that's how I got to your channel, but, more house. I dig the ice ones, but you have run it to its end. Either crush the idea of peltiers, or crush the idea of commercial makers. We all know now that "2 ice makers" is a limited producer. I still appreciate that. Because I was wondering how far it could go. We are done with it. I never knew about your self-made house before this, and now I watch that channel. More house.
I have wondered, can you lower your ice makers at all to allow them to be lower in the cold air? Even a couple of inches might make a difference in temp at ice makers. Also will your ice maker remain in the shed all the time, or move to a better area at your barno? Some better ambient temps for the maker to exist in would do wonders I expect.
Ok let's see if I can explain this without using a drawing; imagine the icemakers being unseen, in a box, same location, with the fan attached to the box blowing in, and the ice falling out of a chute (3x8" maybe?) that utilizes a swinging door/flap, and the fan having a cut-off when the lid opens. This way the ice makers would not be as susceptible to warm air coming into the chest. OR.. even relocating both icemakers to the back wall of the chest in a line so the ice falls forward into the chest, but still inside a plastic box with a flapper door that the ice falls out of. Still incorporating the fan. I hope I'm explaining this well enough, it's tough without drawing it out. Do you kinda understand what I mean by these boxes? I know restaurant icemakers are fashioned in this manner but the boxes are stainless. Just an idea. :)
As a tinkerer myself, your videos are never boring and watching you go thru some highly focused details is exciting for us as well.
Thank you
I agree... Keep going....
Looking forward to 2.0 and what tweaks you've come up with! Enjoyed it!
Thank you for watching
Howdy Mr Doug 👋
@@5150cash Hey Cash!
Thanks!
Loved the info, and hoping to support the future build.
That is very generous of you. I know it’s appreciated.
Thank you, very appreciated!
First off, what a great set of video's! Learning while building and experimenting is what made this country great. Good Job!!
My suggestions: ( I haven't taken the time to read the "1000's" of comments so please excuse mine if they are repeats)
1. Add a liner box to the storage area with a .5" to .75" airspace between it and the walls of the freezer. Add spacers underneath the liner to raise it. Doesn't make any difference what material you make it from as long as it's waterproof. The thinner the better. You don't want the liner to have any insulative value.
At that point your 2 original fans will easily circulate air around the ice mass and draw air that's in direct contact with the walls. The walls are the coldest surfaces in the unit. As of now when the storage area fills the ice touching the walls is blocking circulation and air volume. Your only getting the air from unused space above the ice. The higher the ice gets the warmer the air gets from blowing over the trays with less and less air volume.
2. Add an aluminum shoot angled into the liner directly under the ice makers to stop the ice from dropping on top of the compressor enclosure - the warmest part of the interior. If you thought your water was hot ... put your thermometer inside your compressor compartment overnight and you'll see why. Add another 1" of rigid board insulation over that interior area (top & side) it will help. Manufacturers insulate that area but they are only trying to hit acceptable loss stat's at minimal cost.
Adding even a very small 5vdc fan to the compressor compartment wouldn't hurt.
For your new build put the ice makers on the other side.
3. Attach a few cheap 12vdc peltiers with a thermostat to your copper water line at the sink. It may eliminate the need for your ice chest cooler?
It's been super interesting watching your vid's. Best of luck!
Thank you for the feedback
I just wanted to say thank you for the hours of content you have provided. You are an inspiration and I will continue to watch and cheer you on in your endeavors. I also am super grateful for the mention of Arms Family Homestead, you pointed me in their direction and between the two of you, there is nothing better to watch on TH-cam.
Awesome! Thank you so much
Fan Solution: you can place the fans directly under the ice maker. Just make a slatted grate with parallel bars/fins running in the direction the ice should fall and place it at an angle above the fans.
The ice will fall onto the grate and be directed into whatever bin you like. The fans will be able to blow through the bars/fins of the grate.
It is amazing…I am a 66yr old woman and how I came across your ice maker build I couldn’t tell you but, I am hooked. You make this so interesting and I can’t wait for your next video. We have a small farm and we are looking into Flail mowers. I was scrolling through You Tube, watching flail mower videos, and after about a minute into one video, I thought, I know this voice ! I looked over to see who’s Channel it was and started laughing because it was you. Keep up the good work. How you get time to do it all, I don’t know.
Lol small world! I absolutely love my Flail Mower, and have a lot of videos on the channel of it in use. Thanks for watching
This is and has been an awesome series. I'm building myself one very similiar thanks to you. Pulling cold air off the bottom in my set up is going to consist of a "false bottom" in the the freezer made out of hardware cloth or rabbit cage wire where I will have a couple fans underneath the wire to move cold air from the underneath the ice. The wire will keep ice out of the fans. Then there will be another fan in similiar location as the higher velocity fan in this video to blow and circulate the cold air across the ice makers. The power strip that has the circuit the shuts the other ones off when it's calling for a load is a great idea.
Thank you, I'm kicking around a few ideas myself, including a false bottom
How about to limit your temp loss when opening the lid try using Plastic sheeting, heavy weight drop cloth. Cover the ice makers fan and drop the plstic down to the bottom area of freezer, leave it hang loose so the ice can drop through the bottom of the plastic barrier and you can easily move it out of the way to retrieve ice.
@
The Kelley's Country Life, 2 things, insulate the lid to limit heat intrusion. when I put a FLIR camera on my freezer there was also a cold spot on the back that went halfway across, and I insulated that, too. Also, to get the top colder all you should have to do is put a fan at the top opposite the ice makers pointed down towards the opposite side bottom. I do this all the time to dry carpets and distribute airconditioned air, and it works. I would also shade your well pump and where the water comes into the shed for this, but also so your tap water temperature will be more pleasantly cool.
I actually ran a test off camera with a huge insulation blanket over the lid, not much increase. The efficiency was a little better on the compressor though
@@TKCL I understand production, but I'd be curious if it helps with your temperature difference problem? It's good to know it helps with efficiency, and it makes me think combining it with the fan to circulate cold air you might have something. More fans is actually going to hurt efficiency, so if you can lose heat up high it might be part of the system. I have r10 foam on mine, which is similar to what commercial freezers use, you can buy in in 1 inch thickness and double it up to not get too expensive, but it's going to be way more insulation than a blanket, and it helps the cold in tighter, so you're cooling less of it down.
I should have mentioned I monitored temperature too, maybe a degree or two better from what I remember. I also had a box fan running by the compressor at the time too. Didn't get the results I thought I should have.
You've got me thinking about freezers. My local Walmart has several on display, right in the main aisle. And there not terribly expensive. I want one. And that's despite not needing to keep that much food AND even though I live up two flights of stairs and the last thing I need is trying to drag a freezer up the stairs. It's nuts. And I don't need it. But I want it!
LOL I get it! I've actually seen brand new freezers of this size on sale for 99 bucks at times.
I am not sure if you mentioned it earlier but I believe you are not an engineer. Let me tell you as an engineer - you are doing everything right on the drive to a final solution. The problem that I have seen too many times is that engineers get stuck on perfecting "a" solution but don't realize that the the efforts are in no relation to the gains. I applaud you for your decision to break from this path and move on to the next "innovation step change". Keep up the good work, you represent what TH-cam is all about. Sharing knowledge for the greater good! Don't forget to go fishing sometimes to use up all this great ice you make.
Thank you!
Been following your project since nearly the beginning. Keep up the good work!
A few things that MIGHT help...
1: Try blowing the hot air DOWN into the cold space, NOT the cold air UP! Per physics, it's easier to slow things down than speed them up. To keep the slightly warmer air from having too drastic of an effect on already made ice, blow it into a perforated box. A few layers of a cut up sheet of furnace filter might be enough.
2: If the metal wall is hot, put a sheet of reflective foam insulation between it and the freezer.
3: For reusable thermal mass, use frozen milk/water jugs, 2-ltr bottles, etc. A solid block of ice takes a LOT longer to melt than small cubes do. This alone might well produce over a hundred pounds of solid blocks in a fraction of the time of producing your cubes.
4: Once your house is finished, move the freezer inside!
Thank you for watching! That ice maker is going in an air conditioned room as soon as the house is done. I can't wait to see what it will produce then.
I only just saw this, so sorry for the delay.
I think you should get the square metal ductwork for heating, run it across the bottom, and the turn 90° up the side. As it comes up, use a 4in rectangle to 4in circle converter, and attach the fan in a pancake position. Get a second fan to circle adapter/flare, and a 3in steel elbow. The flare, elbow, and a a straight pipe would just sit on the fan, and take that cool air and direct it to the same point where the fan used to sit right between the makers.
The reason for not attaching the flare/elbow/pipe assembly is that it would be on two or three of those aluminum plates and could very easily be quickly removed to allow for measuring and ice removal. Just a thought. Good luck on v2 and I look forward to the video.
Hello! I just wanted to say thank you for everything!!! I have greatly enjoyed all of your videos! You are an inspiration and a great person!!!
Thank you for watching and the support
Hi, Andrew! You have been very faithful giving content for your ice machine project. Good content.
Thank you, I try to please all viewers
@@TKCL you certainly do and you are achieving it.
Freeze some gallon jugs of salt water and leave them in the bottom at all times for permanent thermal mass.
Also, on our shrimp boat, we had twin home made ice chests made with 2” roofing foam fiberglassed each held 1000 lbs of ice. We kept a piece of carpet on top of the ice to drop as the ice melted and create a barrier from the air. They held Ice outdoors in the sun for right at 2 weeks until the last cube melted if we filled them and only opened them a few times a day to check.
I was right on several things, I knew pulling air from the bottom wants going to help much if any, also knew reversing one of the fans was not going to help. And I knew the higher velocity fan would help. 2 of those fans right over by the ice makers will work best. I’d totally forget about pulling from the bottom. It’s such a small space that a fan alone directly on the ice makers is going to net best results. With the small space and fan moving so much air there is absolutely no need to pull from the bottom.
I love the videos! Even the 1hr long ones. They are great for helping me stay the course with some of my longer projects.
Thank you for watching
Great work. What i do with my coolers amd deep freezer fridge i cut a piece of material clear so once u open the lid u arent letting all the cold air out, i just lift up the piece on the side u want to take something out on. It helps much with my coolers with keeping the cold air inside. Just giving ideas. Great project. 👍👍
Very interesting. Looking so forward to watching version 2.0. Keep up the good work Andrew. This is the best channel on TH-cam.
Thank you very much
For pulling cold air from the bottom, you were on to something but not quite.. To keep the CFM of the fan, I believe what you should have done is to leave the perforated pipe coiled up on the bottom, then used the dryer duct to run from the perforated pipe up to the fan. Using the perforated pipe all the way loses a lot of CFM and also sucks in the warmer air from the upper section. The upper pipe should not be perforated. Just a thought.
I willing to bet if you had that in conditioned space you’d get close to 20# a day!!! I have been working on commercial ice machine for 20 years and I still like your videos and the cheap way to make ice!!! Thanks Tommy
Next year it will be in an air conditioned room, looking forward to that.
Have determined where the coldest surfaces are within the box? Perhaps using an infrared thermometer would be helpful? Loving this project !
I've used infrared on the outside, not the inside.
I would suggest the next build be a side by side fridge/freezer...
Cool you water thru the refrigerator before it hits the ice maker
As well as a upright I am seeing all kinds of possiblities of maybe be a split shelving...top half be the ice maker and your dumped ice. The bottom half storage for bagged ice you make...
To stabilize the temp, stack block ice like bricks along the very bottom. Smooth surface, you'll have your thermal mass. Also I think you're right about losing velocity. I'm not an air conditioning person but when my house in college was being renovated, the handyman stated that cold air is the hardest air to move around corners. Warm air moves easier in that regard. That's why they made the AC ducting very gradual on its turns. I don't know if that's true, but I remember the conversation. Third, nothing says you have to catch the ice on that small little ledge. Perhaps a design or something incorporated into 2.0 like a grill grate at a 45 degree angle and put the fans under it. The only consideration would be to make sure that the bars were close enough together so ice wouldn't slip through, but far enough apart and not restrict the air flow. It would be easier to draw then to text this but I think you get the idea. I don't want to add to your testing because you have tested a lot, right now it's about best practices and ideas out of how to best accomplish what you already know. The power strips with the power cut off on activation are brilliant. I've seen it in reverse but not in the way that you are looking for. It doesn't mean they don't exist.
Yep adding the flexible pipe will restrict a lot of air flow. You could just mount the fan high and point it down on an angle so its blowing down to the floor of the freezer and pushing that colder air circulating around with no pipes or duct work.
When the ice makers go into harvest, the trays have heaters on them to detach the ice cubes from the trays. Without a relay to shut the fans off when they go into harvest, you are trying to heat and cool the trays at the same time . You are adding heat to your box and taking substantially longer to get out of harvest and back into ice making mode. A lot of ice makers contain a switch to turn off the freezer fan when they go into defrost. If not, a couple of spdt peanut relays would do the trick.
Yes I'm working on a trigger for that
You did it!!! 👍🏼👏👏👏Suggestion instead of drawing the air from the bottom, push the air down allowing it to escape up through the ice (just reverse the fan) A second fan in the area where you reached the 10 lbs mark. They would be out of the way of everything and ice won't get trapped in them. Looking forward to the next one.
Well I might have ran another test today and air velocity seems to be far more important than temperature. I'm testing again tomorrow and will release the results if consistent, it was a shocker.
@@TKCL velocity huh,, ok can't wait to see.
This is literally my favorite series of TH-cam videos ever. What about building a “false bottom” out of something like expanded stainless steel so that the ice sits above the perforated hose and there ice a nice space to draw cold air from.
That's been a popular suggestion and I might consider it. Thanks for watching
Run your two fan set up... push one across ice trays.. the other pushing air through the perfect pipe in bottom to push cold air up.
First off great job! What it sounds like you need is a time delay relay. You can utilize the ice maker power as the timer signal. Then tie the fan to the normally closed contact and set the delay time for how long you want it to stay open (off).
Thank you
I've had my temp sensor sitting up by my fans since I put mine into operation. I have the freezer temp adjustment set to about 1/4 way past the minimum setting. I've been averaging 14-16 degrees. Been making ice fine(for my use) for idk.. a month now. I haven't gone to the lengths of testing like you have. This is just fyi for you/those that want it .. and might help.
Also.. I sent you an email about the power strip you ask about. I think they are simply called "smart plug power strip" Idk how youtube is about providing links in comments is why I'm not throwing a link in here.
TH-cam is very picky about links, I'll check it out. Thanks
adding more fans to the inside is not going to get you much , after all each one adds heat = to its wattage + increased lose do to air movement on the inside. Insulation works by stopping air movement, adding fans lowers the efficiency of the unit, but accelerates cooling at the exspence of high energy usage up to the point the condenser can no longer shed heat any faster. at this point i would add a heat sink and fan to the compressor
Man o man, you have done an AMAZING job with this, don't let anyone tell you otherwise! Above and beyond in my opinion.
Thank you very much
Hell never thought that a homemade ice machine would so interesting. Watch all the videos beginning to end. You make some great content
Thank you for watching
That new fan will screw on to a closet flange and you can run 4” pvc pipe to the bottom of the freezer and pull the colder air to the top. I use this in my kegerator, I have the same freezer
Nice! version 2.0 needs a little bigger freezer and THREE! ice makers with one big fan , keepin it simple!
Sadly no room for a bigger freezer, I have a special spot for this one
The theoretical thermal energy (kWh) to be removed from water of a certain temperature to freezing temp and the latent heat to be removed during freezing and the thermal energy to cool ice after freezing to a certain low temperature is well known and can be easily calculated. It would be great to compare the calculation with actual measured power consumption in kWh, which in other words will be the maximum and actual energy efficiency! I can help!!
Yes, this becomes an issue of opposing goals then. Max efficiency will come from slower freezing ice and lower production. To get higher production you need to get it to freeze faster, and that isn't as efficient, like adding the power usage of the fans to help move the btu's quicker, causing the compressor to kick on more to cool the freezer. Right now it's all indirect freezing of the cold storage to the ice trays. A more direct route from the compressor to the ice trays would move the btu's better causing it to freeze faster, like a real production ice machine, but the steps to get closer to that without custom designing the whole thing from scratch. The production machines can be very efficient but only they only produce ice, it's assuming your going use it as fast as it makes it, and not storing much, so they don't cool the storage bucket. Here the goals are backwards from that and it's about storing the ice.
I would mess around with the temperature probe placement to find the coldest place in the entire freezer. Then you know exactly where you want to pull air from to direct towards the ice machines. A laser thermometer (or thermal camera if you're feeling adventurous) should also work well.
Do a false bottom with slits in the pan, and have the air flow come from there on the bottom to the top
a smart plug with power monitoring and an automation may help you with that. home assistant in a raspi. an automation to turn off the fans when the icemaker turns on to heat the ice . there may be another ease way to do it but i cant figure it out.
ok....so 2.0 build. > incorporating all the fun stuff you've learned so far and adding in....insulation.
1. on the back wall behind the freezer - Lowes will sell you some 4x8 sheets of various thickness foam sheets. Place a pair behind the freezer so you have an 8x8 insulated wall.
2. while you're picking up that sheeting...grab some more sheets. You're gonna cut to fit an extra layer on all sides of the freezer and just attach via construction adhesive.
3. the compressor set of the freezer - take one of those fans you had used and put that shroud and perforated pipe on it mounted to the compressor area blowing air away from the unit and somewhere else in the shop.
now onto the build of the new unit....
4. That insulated lid extension for all your passthroughs....
5. Just the one high volume fan inside is enough
6. gallon jugs of water / 2.5 gallon jugs of water laying on the bottom or you could place them up at the lid on one end to give you your thermal mass.
Outside the unit
7. Move that mini fridge over next to the freezer. Run your water lines out of the valves and into their own water cylinder pass through (so it's cooling water and pushing cool water into the ice maker as previously tested) (you could even 3D print the water cylinders to do this with)
8. Make sure the mini fridge is in front of the wall insulation (no need to heat it up more than the shop temp from the radiated heat from the metal wall)
That's the stuff I can think of right now...there's probably something I've missed.
Already purchased some of what you suggested and have been kicking around those ideas.
The only problem that I see is insulating the freezer walls. As they were designed to release heat. These newer freezers have the heat coils built right in to the 3 walls. Right left and front. i do not think the back has the hot coils. Older deep freezes if I recall has the coil on the underside or on the back. The new ones are designed to release the heat from those exposed walls.
@@kameljoe21 I'm not up on the design of the freezers, but I thought from his original video explanation they had cooling coils throughout the sides and the heat would be dissipated through the compressor air exchange. This is something to definitely look into before any insulation is added to the exterior of the freezer.
3 hot sides need shed heat, all I see that you could insulate is the lid and back. Those are the two cold spots
Can’t wait to see the final product!
I'm kicking around a lot of ideas
I honestly wouldn't worry about the gears. At least not until you get a failure. Or maybe take one apart before you worry about it and look at the gears and see if there is much wear. Then decide if its an issue. You might just be causing an headache for your self over nothing.
Remember your moving air around not a think fluid so there's no reason to stay at a 4 or 3 inch pvc, its just for the fan duct. I would reduce it down to a 1.5 or 2 inch to save some money.
Before you jump into 2.0 make a video explaining what you plan on doing. Maybe as a community we can help provide some ideas or maybe see something you overlooked.
Also thermal mass is there only to help the insulation and compressor. Think of it like a triangle with the compressor/power used on top. And thermal mass and insulation at the bottom corners. Now put a dot in the middle, this is your balance point. The less you have of one the more you need of the other 2 to make up for it. Another way to look at it is if you want to save on one, the other 2 have to get bigger to make it work. Want to use less energy, you need more insulation and mass.
With 2.0 you want power costs low so you really need to have alot of insulation, if you can make it thick enough then can use less power and need less thermal mass. What I would do is just add 4 inchs of housing insulation boards to all six surfaces.
What you are looking for is a current sensing power strip. I have one on my desktop that automatically turns off my monitors when the PC turns off.
Thank you
Tell ya what, man…this is an awesome series of videos! I love that you’re following the science.
Thank you for watching
Another great educational video.
I would try putting a copper or aluminum sheet over the ice makers to increase the coldness temperature over the ice makers 🤔. I don't know if you can get some styrofoam that thin that would seal up in there but I would think it would get it colder right where the ice makers are while the fan is blowing air.
I checked and there is zero room available above the ice makers, I definitely wanted to do that.
Enjoy these videos can't wait to see what tweaks you come up with
Congratulations on getting to the 10 pounds of ice:) It sure is crazy how this whole ice machine has taken a life of its own:) can’t wait to see the next one:) tfs:)
Thank you for watching
Build a duct on the same wall as the ice makers with the fan inside the duct just as they do with a regular refrigerator could probably even take one out of an old refrigerator
I think the tubes air is being restricted by the ice blocking the end of the black tube. If you had a double wall design were the first wall ideally made perforated PVC pipe and an elbow, and stood up at the perfect height to point between the ice makers. The second wall would be made by the fan and the perforated black pipe. The black pipe would be cut off about 2 to 3 inches from the bottom. This would limit the air restrictions, pull the coldest air from the bottom of the freezer, and better aim the air flow. Remember this air will immediately be mixed with the warmer air at the top of the freezer, so it will not be cold enough to stop ice production.
The first day of testing had no ice in front of it, the second day produced similar results. I did a little more testing after this video and air velocity seems to be the focal point.
What if you used aluminum for the intake of the fan or "duct work", which is fairly cheep. If you have a shroud that ducts the fans cold air to the ice makers it could still be out of the way. I don't think the thermal transfer would be fast enough to cause stuck cubes as it dumps out pretty quick when the cubes are done.
That's a thought
Great video - no suggestions this time Bud. - time for patience to see what you come up with! Good luck 🍀
The 2.0 might do better if you have a larger freezer thus increasing your thermal Mass and give you room for your corrugated conduit for airflow and still have enough room to maneuver around inside the freezer
It would, but I have a specific spot this is going in a air conditioned room a little later on. I need the small size to fit.
I built the a bracket with a bend just about the compressor level with 2 fans blowing back up to the to the ice makers. We use at least 10lbs of a a day if not more and by the next morning it has replaced that 10 plus a little more. And by the weekend if we don't go fishing it way ahead of us. And mine is in a open shop like your non insulated and we live in southeast texas.
I actually ran another test today and blew away this record, I'll share soon. Seems as if there is a lot more potential
@@TKCL Keep going Kelly !
12lbs ! 12lbs ! 12lbs ! 12lbs ! 12lbs ! 12lbs !
Think using a water cooler (like from a pc) looping around the bottom to the ice would work a ton better than attempting the fan from the bottom. Issue is, it needs to stop when it has to dump the ice. I would be more than happy to build a board for you, with several temperature sensors, easily handle the relays, but personal would just switch to pwm fans, and instead of cutting the power, just tell the fans to stop or slow down. I have done this for my HVAC equipment to monitor all of their temperature points, humidity, amp draws. Not sure where in florida you are, but in ocala here
Thank you very much for the offer, I think I'm going to keep it simple at a bunch of viewers requests. I'm up near Tallahassee
The ice maker in my whirlpool fridge has a built in centrifugal fan with an on/off switch labeled "Ice Plus".
A bilge fan to circulate bottom to top with smooth ducting will probably work better for that purpose.
I've looked at that model sadly the fans are 100 bucks each, that's way too expensive for me.
@@TKCL I've been trying to find the same model for a reasonable price for a while. No luck yet.
My suggestion is to make a false wall on your left side end from front to back approximately 1” away and cap the top leaving the bottom approximately 6-8 inches off the bottom. Cut a hole and Mount the fan at the top. My theory is to pull air across the whole surface of the wall that has the coils in it and should produce colder air as that surface is the coldest Instead of trying to pull it through a tube.
I would just get a piece of galvanized sheet for ductwork from Home Depot and cut 2” wider than your end wall and bend a 1” lip on 2 sides, top to bottom and across the top leaving the bottom open and put it with The bent tabs against the wall.
Do the fans run 24/7 at max rpm? Are they still kicking?
Instead of trying to have the one fan pull air from the bottom AND blow air across the top, you can put smaller 40-60mm fans at the bottom to blow air up to the big fan.
Yes 24/7 365, zero issues. I wasn't so sure they would hold up.
Thermosistor I may have spelled it wrong but you don't seem like a Grammer cop. Those resistors are ideal for this but you need to attached them to bottom where heating element is and use them as your on off switch. Just need to find the working range you need.
I did that last year with a temperature controlled outlet switch. Version 2.0 shows that build
you could use a small single board computer called a Raspberry Pi ($35) to monitor the ice-maker turning on/off, and control a relay to power the fans off/on.
Thank you
A smart relay could do what you are asking, but would be in the 150$ range. And you would have to know a little about programing. Win LGC is the software that gets bundled with idec's relay. It is very easy to learn and use. I'm not sure about Allen Bradley uses.
I purchased a smart controller that looks at temperature for 30 bucks, I think it will do what I need.
I tried insulating the top of my.chest freezer with some soft foam... and I got a gallon of condensation under the foam. Lol so it worked, but the unintended consequence was fatal.
Lol I recently used a thick blanket and it made only a slight difference.
@@TKCL it's crayzee how something "so simple" just isn't! I am really getting a lot of chuckles out of your testing and trying to guess the results.
Thanks!
Loving the videos bud! Can’t wait for the 2.0
Thank you for watching
Congratulations on your 10 lb goal
One more really simple test you might try before building 2.0
Is spinning the ice makers 180 degrees with the gear box motors against the right side of the freezer.
Then back to your simple 1 high power fan or the 2 original fans blowing more directly on the trays without ducting
I think you are very close to capacity
Without adding a 3rd ice maker or finding a different brand freezer capable of way below zero temperatures in your hot environment.
I commented before on setting it to 10 below to increase production
I still think it would perhaps with a better freezer.
You have clearly run that one for all it's worth. And I agree with you it's pending compressor failure after seeing your 10 below results
It simply won't do it
Awesome video 👍
Rotating the ice machines will expose the water inlet lines which could cause freezing or ice chips to form. Ice chips will then cause blockage.
You may be right about the 10 below will work in a more stable ambient room temperature. All of my freezers are set to -10.
I think a false floor with some holes in it will allow for a better air flow while pushing up colder air and making the entire box more stable may do the trick. I do think that he could very well get 6 lbs from each machine.
The one thing that I do not think any one has ask is the cube size. Does adjusting the cube size smaller produce ice faster or does making it larger make more ice. As I really do not know how it knows when or if it should produce ice.
@@kameljoe21 good point on the water tube inlet
From what I have read the ice trip's to eject the finished cubes when tray hits 13 below
Small cubes may well increase the cycles. But I suspect the net weight of the produced ice would likely be very close small and more frequent or large and less frequent
I intrigued with the results of all these tests
Many of them with surprising results
@@acew280 I am sure there is some scinece stuff that could tell you the results. Though I suspect that when it cycle it heats up to release the ice. Though I wonder if this release is done by a timer or if it is done my load sensor in the arms. Really if we knew more about how an ice machine works then we might be able to see and understand how they function and if there is a way to speed up the process by adding in air flow etc.
@@kameljoe21 all good points 👍
Your vent pipe idea is good but it needs to be metal. Plastic doesn't conduct temperature. Metal does. Place the air inlet up about 14-18 inches from the bottom. Have the metal duct be in a 'U' shape with the outlet, facing the ice makers. I'ld change the fan to be on the inlet side, blowing air through the metal pipe instead of sucking/pulling the air through the metal pipe. It's easier to push than to pull air. With the air inlet up off the bottom, it won't be capable of being blocked by ice.
I’ve never seen what exact power strip you’re talking about, but I know for standby generators there are “load shedding “ devices
Instead of PVC or tubing, I would suggest making a grate that stands off the bottom and placing a fan under it to move the cold air off the bottom of the freezer. It would make a much simpler build. The keep that big fan in the same original configuration. A grate could be made from stainless steel grills or even lexan with holes drilled in it.
I agree and think that the ice that falls on the freezer floor is cutting down thermal flow to the closest part of the freezer.
Hey Andrew, don't know if you watch Kens Karpenty on TH-cam or not, he builds garages mainly but he's been posting news on lumber prices when they go up or down, he posted an video this afternoon that 5/8 plywood drop $10's a sheet to $42's from $52's a sheet last week. believe he's in Vermont. He stocked piled lumber last year when it was cheaper to keep his prices low for all his planned jobs up till the fall of this year. O 2x4 by 8 prices dropped about 40 cents an stick too.
I have been watching him when I can. Thanks
@@TKCL Ok Andrew, figured you might watch since he kinda builds his garages/apartments from the concrete up like you are doing. Now RR Buildings do the pole barn buildings or the 2 companies out of Texas to that build combination house/garages Texas Barndominiums or Texas Best construction. Guessing you watch both of those to for ideas. Good luck on the version 2.0 ice maker.
I've watched some RR too and a little Matt Risinger. Sadly I just don't have a lot of time for watching TH-cam since I'm always making videos and editing.
@@TKCL True with making & editing your content bring time consuming but maybe you will have time on an rainy day once finished with your content for TH-cam.
Put the fan up by the ice makers and use a screen mesh to protect the fan.
I would like to see a comparison of ice production between a unit that has extra insulation on the top and/or the back of the unit.
2.0 should be a 18-20 cubic foot freezer. It should have 2 ice makers at each end. You should try to make a gasket system between the top of the freezer and the door so you don't have to hack the freezer up.
It will have a collar, I've already purchased the materials. It must be the same size because it's got a new home in my air conditioned room as soon as my house is built and I clear my shop out.
Check into the Vevor ice makers.. $320 makes 90lbs a day with 20lb holding then use the chest freezer for storage 😁 love the videos by the way
I got a 40lb a day table top and bag that when needed. I've got the freezer running so well now I've started shutting off the ice makers. It's out running me
Love your ice machine tests, not sure why. My wife thinks I’m crazy. Keep up the good work
Lol thanks for watching
Buddy, if you crazy...We all are ! This is great entertainment and a much needed distraction from Covid-19 !
Put a baffle under fan.
Will bring cold air from the bottom up.
hi there been watching your ice videos lots of info. well done . well i ran out of ice and had to start my ice machine . not as good of making videos as you but made a few .on the start up and finish . we made about 300 of ice bagged it and put it in the deep freezer . the machine makes around 400 in 24 hours but i can't store that much . i am going to put them on in a day or 2 . thanks for all the info john
That's a lot of ice! I'd love to have a machine like that. They are very expensive here, even used.
@@TKCL i got mine on the way to a scrap yard for 40 bucks , but it took a day to get it working , thanks john
Awesome!
Screen over the fan?
Aim the fan so the it’s on a 45 to keep a circular flow
Spray foam out outside of the whole freezer to add insulation?
You have to be careful with the insulation, three sides of that freezer are hot and need to shed heat. The only two spots you can insulate is the lid and back, maybe the bottom.
I love your modifications you're pushing it to the Limit, and I hope you get back to your sheeting on the hard side of the pole barn.👌🌡️
Been working on the house everyday
Just knit picking but they are called thermometers. Thermometers tell temperature. Thermostats are temperature controlled switches. Love the content.
To continue being pedantic: it's nit picking. Nits are louse eggs or young lice.
@@wombat1222 Thanks for letting me know. I thought it came from old ladies picking knots out of their quilts. Now I know. Learn something new every day
@@jaybrown7177 happy to help. Glad you took it in the spirit intended. I reread my reply and realized it could have been interpreted as me being a dick. I'm a font of useless information.
Great job! I have noticed those style ice cubes that you have last way longer than the cubes from my commercial ice machine in my yeti cup.
They do last a very long time
Commercial ice machines make low density ice where as home Ice makers make dense ice.
Your next build needs to dispense fromt he bottom so fresh ice stays and old ice is consumed while you leave thermal mass.
Nice work!
Okay I have a suggestion. Get 1U server fans. They are smaller so if airflow works add more they are efficient plus they push/pull air fairly well compared to their size but I’d rather see that in the 2.0 though.
Actually I can mail you 6 or 7 of them, I was going to use em as a project build but honestly they have sat for a few years lol
I appreciate that, but I've already got a couple of brand new fans and accessories for a design I'm working on. Those diffuser attachments are critical for me.
@@TKCLno problem and ya those results are impressive. I’m excited to see 2.0! 😄
I thought when you first put the ice maker in the first freezer it said it would not make ice when it was below 10 degrees. But that's true it may be dipping too cold to make ice, and only making it during the day when it's warmer in the shop. I'm not sure if that's what they say but when you read the sign on the ice maker I actually backed it up a couple of times and to me it sounds like it doesn't make ice when it's colder than it 10 degrees
It does say 10 degrees, however with the fan pushing air around it, it makes ice in varying temperatures.
@@TKCL ambient temps? Its awfully close to that sheet metal wall. I think i read somewhere hot water actually freezes faster than cold water.
I have no idea. **Waiting on version 2
I tested the hot water theory in a previous episode, didn't work for me. I have been struggling to find another freezer, heading back to town this week.
You should use lg snap release icemakers which do not use heaters
Are you referring to the inkbird temperature controller for the device that kills power/adds power to the different elements?
Not sure what I am looking for, just need a device (fans) to power down when the ice makers power up for heating/releasing of the ice cubes.
@@TKCL check this out...it may not be exactly what you are looking for though. inkbird.com/collections/temperature-controller/products/itc-308
I've seen that, and it might actually work.
I think I would create a false wall on the left side of the freezer with some plexiglass. Cut 2 square shaped openings to fit two high powered fans at the top of the false wall. Leave a 3" gap at the bottom of the false wall, and use some lighting grate to prevent ice from going under the plexiglass. Now you're drawing air from under the ice to the top and pushing it over the ice makers.
Cool idea!
@@TKCL I was thinking of something similar but instead of an entire wall try finding someone with a 3D printer and print a piece that will attach to the back of the fan and have them make it seal the back of fan off and attach a 2” flexible tube run it to the corner then to the bottom with a small chicken wire box on the end to keep ice from blocking tube that way you keep as much space as possible for ice storage while the tube attached to the fan acts as a vacuum for the cold air at the bottom
Yeah that would work really well. I though of some expanded or perforated metal floor with a pipe pushing air down which would allow the cost air to rise up. Though You may be correct that you will need to pull the air rather than push. Pulling it will allow the warmer air to pass thru all of the ice.
@@kameljoe21 what do you mean pulling will allow warm air over ice pulling aka vacuuming the cold air from the bottom and pushing it over the ice trays to keep the top of cooler colder and it would create a circulation through out because of the vacuuming from bottom and pushing out front of fan in a clockwise motion
@@nicholasearly8665 I was thinking that if you are pushing the air in to and under the ice you will or could create a warm pocket. Pulling the air thru the ice would allow the warmer air to chill as it comes up creating the coldest air.
Either way in the comments below or above Kelly said that he tried another method of the fan and it works even better. So we may get a short video update about it soon.
I love you channel. I wanted to buy a freezer just to make the ice maker.
Thank you for watching
as fascinating as your videos are there is a reason a commercial ice machine works the way it does. to increase production 10fold for what you are getting, I work on them all the time, for the time and effort you have put into this you just need to go to an auction and purchase an ice machine head or an entire ice machine and figure out how to work on it yourself and make it work. I have a commercial ice machine I saved from the trash 30 years ago that still works great and I just purchased 2 off a guy headed to the scrapyard the other day when I was dropping an NFG A/C unit off. fixed one an hour after I got it home and just sold it for well more than I paid the scrapper for it, A chest freezer has 1/10th or less of the BTU capacity of a commercial ice machine, they are designed to keep already frozen food cold, Not make ice all day, Fascinating what you are doing here but you are at the max of what you will ever see with production I dont care how many fans, mods, tricks you try to do, can only move so many btus with a freezer like you have. HMU, i can give you pointers on looking for a commercial ice machine, Mine makes 800 LBS a day, thats what they were designed for!!!
Thats 800Lbs of ice a day not 80!!! quit messing around with a regular freezer and home ice makers. the mcdonalds and chic fil a's dont make ice the way you are trying to do cause it doesnt work, they buy a commercial machine cause it makes a batch of ice every 12.5 minutes and its probably they same weight as what you make in a 24 hr cycle. a 5000 btu compressor is only 5000 btus no matter what you do to it all day long every day.
Good luck raising the lip did that first like a freezer a tor and it let in too much outside temp in and the ice makers would not work. It was 2" thick with insulation and let way too much heat. If you do this set your is maker deeper into the freezer or they won't kick on. good luck brother
Dang I hate to hear that!
@@TKCL You can tell it won't work because the frost on the inside of the freezer walls were stopping just below the ice makers proving that outside air was coming in. Another thing I did was glue a 1" pink board from home depot to the top, which I think helps insulate the top more.
Have you thought about lowering the ice makers a few inches? By dropping them down and getting them out of the warmer air on top you might reduce the time it takes for them to kick on after opening the lid. If the temperature is more constant lower down and colder then the need to bring cold air up is not needed. Not bored or tired of seeing these vids. Been awhile since you posted on the other channel, ain't it getting close to dove season?
I have, but prefer to keep the room/capacity by not lowering the. Sadly our dove season does not start until the end of September.
I love the "ice videos", & that's how I got to your channel, but, more house. I dig the ice ones, but you have run it to its end. Either crush the idea of peltiers, or crush the idea of commercial makers. We all know now that "2 ice makers" is a limited producer. I still appreciate that. Because I was wondering how far it could go. We are done with it. I never knew about your self-made house before this, and now I watch that channel. More house.
Thank you, a lot more house videos coming! With that said, I might have made a discovery yesterday, the ice machines have a lot more in them.
ICE ICE BABY ! Stay your course...
Use some square wire under the ice makers at an angle then install fans under them
I have wondered, can you lower your ice makers at all to allow them to be lower in the cold air? Even a couple of inches might make a difference in temp at ice makers. Also will your ice maker remain in the shed all the time, or move to a better area at your barno? Some better ambient temps for the maker to exist in would do wonders I expect.
I want to keep capacity available by not lowering them. Eventually this is going in an air conditioned room, so I expect production to increase more
@@TKCL excellent. I gave away a small freezer that works. Your project would have made copy yours if I had it.
One more question, when your product exceeds demand do you have storage?
Not right now I don't, I'll just trip the ice makers off
Ok let's see if I can explain this without using a drawing; imagine the icemakers being unseen, in a box, same location, with the fan attached to the box blowing in, and the ice falling out of a chute (3x8" maybe?) that utilizes a swinging door/flap, and the fan having a cut-off when the lid opens. This way the ice makers would not be as susceptible to warm air coming into the chest. OR.. even relocating both icemakers to the back wall of the chest in a line so the ice falls forward into the chest, but still inside a plastic box with a flapper door that the ice falls out of. Still incorporating the fan. I hope I'm explaining this well enough, it's tough without drawing it out. Do you kinda understand what I mean by these boxes? I know restaurant icemakers are fashioned in this manner but the boxes are stainless. Just an idea. :)
You are already thinking like me and some ideas for the next build
If you put a bucket of ice in front of your fan it will cool room for you! Try it !😍
I'm building something a little more advanced in the future
What brand model digital thermometer did you go with didnt see it in your amazon store?
Govee, I need to add that
Thanks for what you do. I do wish the table ice maker would give you a promotion code so we could show that you sent us to them.
That link is embedded and shows I sent you. Thanks