Carver Owners Forum

Well guys that's just what I did with the 18 year old Icerette I had. Took it out last fall, took it to the repair shop, sunk $500.00 into it. Took it home, hooked it up in the basement ran like a clock all winter. Put it in the boat in April and one week after launch the damn thing wouldn't keep the ice froze. Ended up developing a leak in the housing I was told was unrepairable. Thus the $300.00 Edgestar. I wouldn't have put that much in it but some people do not understand limits of repair when I dropped it off. Mike

Mike, gotta say I agree with replacing that ice maker with the fridge.We have one on the bridge and while having ice is great, just not sure how clean the ice would be and just a pain to keep up.Like the fridge idea much better, the way I see it , you get the thing with the boat for free when it is that old anyway and a new unit either fridge or ice maker will probably be more efficient and user friendly....just my opinion... :beer good:

Edit.......I wrote fridge but after realized the edgestar is an ice maker , I would still replace with fridge.

A refrigeration repair is a different animal. Once you break into the system, there are no guaranties IMO, and depending on the cost to repair, I would likely go new. However in this case the refrigeration side seems to work fine, and given that the parts are already in hand, I agree it's worth a fix. Given the unit's age, might it fail a month later? Of course, but it might last anther 5-10 years. Even a new unit can fail before its designed duty cycle, which seems to be the case all too often with today's builds!

The replace, repair, and switch to a refrigerator options are out there, and now a decision needs to be made.

Would like to add something else to this, I believe if you are going to replace any appliances on a boat, you should try to get marine approved to keep all your grounding issues how they should be, dead shorts can be deadly in some cases.

Edit........The above remains the same, only adding this link which explains this much better than I can...

http://www.passagemaker.com/articles/te ... nsformers/

Now I am confused, if I should fix or replace anyway, I aggree the ice is probably not going to be clean enough. And I don't have a need for it. Refrigerator is a good idea, specially cheap kind. Main refrigerator is kaput anyway, have not had time to look into that issue yet. I have that also here under another posting. That I like to get fixed, or fix myself if I could. so bridge refrigerator is definitely a good idea. would that edge star survive at the bridge (outdoor environment), no rain or anything but heat/cold, etc.?

I don't use my ice maker for drinks but we keep a cooler on board and that's what the drinks go into as I prefer reaching into that than opening up the fridge all the time while on the hook. That way, I'm not draining the batteries by trying to keep the fridge cold from opening it often. The ice from the ice maker is used for the cooler. I have a small fridge built into the same cockpit cabinet though so it's the best of both worlds. When we're on an extended trip and ice isn't as critical as food, we use it as an additional freezer by shutting off ice production until we use up the frozen food that's in there. Then it's back to ice production to top up the cooler again. We just don't find that the freezer space in the main fridge is big enough for our needs on an extended outing. As usual, it boils down to your boating habits.

why be confused? You spent $50 on the new ice mold this is nothing. I use my ice maker and water holding tank as it was made for I don't worry about my ice being clean enough or my water either. Never had a problem with this or my rv water tanks If that concerns you there's ways to clean the tank or install a filter. If you don't want a ice maker then discard it and move on. I have offered a cost effective repair that I completed on mine this year. I want ice a nd I don't want to carry a cooler and go buy it so to me it's worth having it others maybe not but it comes down to you if you want a fridge or icemaker

g36 wrote:Qr Bbpost why be confused? You spent $50 on the new ice mold this is nothing. I use my ice maker and water holding tank as it was made for I don't worry about my ice being clean enough or my water either. Never had a problem with this or my rv water tanks If that concerns you there's ways to clean the tank or install a filter. If you don't want a ice maker then discard it and move on. I have offered a cost effective repair that I completed on mine this year. I want ice a nd I don't want to carry a cooler and go buy it so to me it's worth having it others maybe not but it comes down to you if you want a fridge or ice maker

I will fix it, since I bought the part, and replace the broken line. just to keep original equipment, if it works, great, if not i'll decide on next step. Thanks to all for all info, I'll move on on the ice maker subject, to other problems at hand

Replacing the ice maker with a fridge is a good option and maybe even a more practical option. And edgestar makes fridges too. It's all about which one you will use more I guess. And Bud, I don't understand your point marine type replacement. Both units are ac units and are plugged into a gfi system, what's the problem? It just ticks me off, for what I paid to try and repair the icerette I could have bought 2 Edgestar units and for the price of and icerette I could have bought 4 Edgestar units. Oh well to each his own I guess! Mike

Electrically, household and marine units are the same and there shouldn't be an electrical safety concern as long as they are standards compliant. There may be subtle differences from some less expensive ice makers like stainless mounting flanges, fasteners, and higher quality compressors. Unlike household builds, a marine unit should be fastened down where most household units lack this type of mounting ability. Marine units also tend to have door latches to prevent the unit from swinging open in rough seas, are usually built with an anti-corrosion package, and utilize UV resistant components.

Not cutting up the EdgeStar unit here, they are known for some quality commercial builds, but I wouldn't get their portable ice maker, too many poor reviews, but where portable ice makers are concerned, the same applies to just about every brand, they're too flimsy. For some, the Edgestar unit mentioned has it's place because of the price point. Just putting some facts out there. Mike, you'll be our central intelligence on this model/make. I hope it lasts. If it does, that'll be a great find for the money. Keep us posted.