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How much ice per hour do you need?
Updated
Listings give pounds per 24 hours. You pour drinks by the hour. Enter your people and drinks, and the calculator gives the pounds of ice per hour you need, then checks each pick's hourly rate against it. If a machine falls short, it tells you how long to run it ahead of time.
Ice maker size calculator (pounds per hour)
An estimate. Ounces of ice per drink are our assumption, so pick the line closest to your glass. Each machine's hourly rate is its 24 hour listing number divided by 24, which is a best case with no melting. The hot room cut is the drop GE publishes for the Opal between its two ratings (38 and 32 lb per day). We apply it to every pick as a guess, since the other makers print only one number.
Why we divide by 24
A 24 hour number only works out if the machine runs all day and somebody keeps carrying the ice away. At a party you have a few hours. So the number that matters is pounds per hour. GE prints it for the Opal: 1.6 lb per hour, or up to 38 lb per day. (We use 38 / 24, which is 1.58, in our tables.) The other makers leave you to do the division. A "26 lb" machine makes about 1.08 lb an hour.
The federal test for portable ice makers starts with an empty bin and a reservoir filled with 70 F water. GE's listing gives the Opal 32 lb per day under DOE conditions of 90 F air and 70 F water, against 38 lb in a 70 F room with 60 F water. That is a 16 percent drop, and it is where the calculator's hot room setting comes from. GE's support page also says a warm spot or an enclosed cabinet can cut ice production.
Worked examples
| Who is drinking | Ice per hour | Picks that keep up on their own |
|---|---|---|
| Two people, one drink an hour each, 6 oz of ice | 0.75 lb | GE Profile Opal 2.0 Ultra, Frigidaire EFIC452-SS clear, Euhomy IM013 nugget, Frigidaire EFIC117-SS, Euhomy IM001 with handle and Igloo IGLICEB26HNBK |
| Two heavy ice users with packed tumblers, 8 oz of ice | 1 lb | GE Profile Opal 2.0 Ultra, Frigidaire EFIC452-SS clear, Euhomy IM013 nugget, Frigidaire EFIC117-SS, Euhomy IM001 with handle and Igloo IGLICEB26HNBK |
| Family of four, one drink an hour each, 6 oz of ice | 1.5 lb | GE Profile Opal 2.0 Ultra and Frigidaire EFIC452-SS clear |
| Party of 8, one and a half drinks an hour each, 6 oz of ice | 4.5 lb | None. The fastest pick, Frigidaire EFIC452-SS clear, would need about 5.1 hours of head start for a 3 hour party |
| Party of 15, same drinks | 8.44 lb | None. The fastest pick, Frigidaire EFIC452-SS clear, would need about 12.2 hours of head start for a 3 hour party |
Take the party of 8. Eight people x 1.5 drinks x 6 oz is 72 oz of ice an hour, which is 4.5 lb. No countertop machine here makes that. The fastest, the Frigidaire EFIC452-SS, makes 1.67 lb an hour. Over 3 hours you need 13.5 lb and it makes 5 lb. The gap is 8.5 lb, which is about 5.1 hours of running ahead of time, with you bagging each full basket into the freezer. For a crowd, a bag of store ice in a cooler is the simpler plan, and the machine tops it up.
- Two people0.75 lb per hour
- Two heavy ice users1 lb per hour
- Family of four1.5 lb per hour
- Party of 84.5 lb per hour
- Party of 158.44 lb per hour
- GE Profile Opal 2.0 Ultra1.58 lb per hour
- Frigidaire EFIC452-SS clear1.67 lb per hour
- Euhomy IM013 nugget1.46 lb per hour
- Frigidaire EFIC117-SS1.08 lb per hour
- Euhomy IM001 with handle1.08 lb per hour
- Igloo IGLICEB26HNBK1.08 lb per hour
The first round is a basket question
The hourly rate tells you if a machine keeps up. The basket tells you if it can serve everyone at once. Four glasses with 6 oz of ice each need 1.5 lb. A full basket on GE Profile Opal 2.0 Ultra, Frigidaire EFIC452-SS clear and Frigidaire EFIC117-SS covers that. The other 3 picks hold 1.25 to 1.3 lb, so the fourth glass waits for the next batch. Eight glasses need 3 lb, and only the Opal (3 lb, per GE) holds that much. More on basket size against the 24 hour number.