How Ice Makers Work? The Benefits of a Danby.

Is anyone out there old enough to remember the days when people had ice delivered to their home? Trucks would pull up and the driver would use a pair of large tongs to take a block of ice from the back of the van. The ice would go into your “icebox” (a now forgotten name for the earliest types of refrigerators) to keep everything cool. It also served as the ice used in drinks at parties, with the host and hostess work on having to chip away at the block with an ice pick. Not the most convenient (or safe!) way to offer your guests a cool and thirst-quenching beverage!

As refrigerators became electric and evolved in sophistication, people no longer needed this primitive cooling method. Some refrigerators even started offering “freezer” sections, but these were often no bigger than the size of two ice cube trays. The trays could provide a dozen cubes of ice, but if they stayed in the freezer too long the cubes would shrink. The ice could also develop a strange taste that would sometimes still come through in your drink.

Freezer compartments soon got bigger, which meant you could stick more ice cube trays inside, but what if you had a number of people over? It is easy to run out of ice, especially during the warmer months when everyone is enjoying a beverage out on the patio or deck. You could always make a run to the store and buy a bag of ice, but wouldn’t it be more convenient to simply have a better way of making ice at home? Some high-end refrigerators include ice making capability, but your best bet in this area is a standalone ice maker, which does almost everything for you.

The first step is to add the appropriate amount of water into the unit. From that point on, the machine takes over. The water pours into a metal ice cube mold and the unit begins the cooling process. An internal thermostat detects when the ice has frozen.

The unit then ingeniously saves you the trouble of having to break the cubes out of the tray, through the application of heat. Not a lot, of course, but just enough for the ice to come free. An ejector blade moves it out of the mold and the blade cuts the ice into cubes, which collect into a container and are ready for you to access with the provided scoop. The unit detects when the process is finished, but remains partially active in order to keep any remaining ice in solid form.

Modern residential ice makers can produce as much as 25 pounds of cubes a day, while also storing another two pounds if the 25 should somehow not be enough. There is no need for waiting around either: units will signal when done and there is even a self-cleaning function (wouldn’t it be wonderful if all appliances had this option?). Contemporary ice makers are also surprisingly quiet considering that one of their functions is cutting ice. The unit simply goes about its business and then alerts you when your cubes are ready for removal.

Small, convenient, attractive, and energy efficient, Danby ice makers are a wonderful convenience for families and party enthusiasts alike. For larger capacity ice makers, check out our Silhouette ice maker!

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