‘Tis the season when many of you are busy putting together little holiday soirees for your peeps and you obviously want to sleigh the competition! (You know you smiled… just a little.) One of the biggest stars of your show? The refrigerator ice maker! This is when you really need that unit to step up, be the party diva and put on a big production! We thought it might be useful and maybe a little fun to share the optimal ice cube output for planning your stable of holiday liquid cheer for your buddies. Grab your sciency goggles and let’s step into R&D mode.
We started with that old tried and true Use & Care Guide for the unit we had on hand. For the standard crescent moon shaped cubes we found we should get an average of 3 pounds of ice in 24 hours. Good to know, but what do we do with that information and exactly how many cubes make up this 3 pounds, you ask? Let’s math it out!
First, we took our ice bin out of the refrigerator, so now we’re thinking outside the ice box. Using a scale, we measured the weight of the empty bin, which was just over 2 pounds. We then took the crescent cubes and started counting. Side note: Either count fast or wear rubber gloves… your fingers will thank you. It took 96 cubes, by our count, to make 3 pounds of ice, per the scale. So, if you have a 6 cube ice maker, that should come out to 16 harvest cycles of ice in 24 hours, or 1 harvest cycle every 1.5 hours on average. Sounds about right, right? And if you have an 8 cube ice maker, that works out to about 128 cubes, or 4 pounds of ice, based on our theory, in 24 hours.
Then it occurred to us how much we LOVE our 32 ounce tumblers (i.e. Yeti, RTic, etc.) and decided to further our research. For all of us on the go each day, how many cubes does our beloved tumbler hold if we were to fill it to the top (allowing the lid to still fit comfortably)? We got 32 cubes into that baby, which is about 1 pound of ice. If your family uses ice like this every day? Well, that’s only about 3 cups worth of ice from a 6 cuber, or 4 full cups with the 8 cuber, in a 24 hour period….. yeah… we’ll sit here for a bit while some of you have an Aha! moment. We get a lot of service complaints about ice makers not making enough ice. Bigger cups = heavier usage. By the way, if your tumbler is working properly, you really don’t need to fill it up. A nice little layer of ice in the bottom will keep your drink cool all day long!
We took our test a step further and used the 32 ounce cup with the flex trey smaller cubes. This came to 90 cubes (still 1 pound of ice) which gave us almost 5 cups full over 24 hours. Keep in mind these numbers are based off the ice maker we used, so your results may vary a bit. And your Christmas tree shaped ice cubes will throw in a different factor altogether!
If you’re having some issues in general with your ice maker and it’s acting the diva in all the wrong ways, here’s a link to a quick little blog we put together several months ago with some troubleshooting tips: https://guinco.com/ice-maker-not-making-ice/
If you require a more professional touch, please call us and we’ll get one of our highly trained and qualified technicians right out to lend a hand!
Now just for fun, we all know in today’s world that brunch is the most important meal / gathering of the weekend, especially during the holidays. With that declaration in mind, here are a couple of holiday drink recipes that should get your festive sparkle going! Feel free to use all those ice cubes you’ve harvested and hoarded for your get together.
Holiday Mimosas: Take one bottle of champagne, ¾ cup cranberry / blood orange or pomegranate juice (dealers choice… or live on the edge and use all 3), rosemary sprigs and sugared cranberries (very easy to make) for garnish. Traditionalists add the juice first, then fill the remainder of the glass with champagne (obviously this is a matter of personal bubbly taste)! Then garnish with your rosemary sprig and festive sugared cranberries. And no, your beautiful mimosa will not taste of rosemary. Truly, no ice needed in this drink if you’ve chilled your champagne, so we kinda cheated on this one, but come one! Who doesn’t like a mimosa!
Pomegranate Sangria: Always a sure-to-please the crowd beverage and yes, it does require those ice cubes. This one’s a bit more time intensive, so start this one plenty ahead of go time. You need 1 bottle of fruity red wine, 2 cups pomegranate juice, ½ cup brandy, ½ cup Triple Sec, ¼ cup simple syrup (or equal amounts sugar and water, heated until the sugar dissolves and then cools), ¼ cup pomegranate seeds, 1 large orange (halved and thinly sliced), 1 green apple (cored, halved and thinly sliced), 1 cup red grapes (halved). And now? Grab a large pitcher, put it all together, stir it all about, refrigerate for at least 4 hours (or up to 48 before serving) and that’s what it’s all about! Turn yourself about, grab a glass filled with carefully counted ice cubes and do the Holiday Hokey Pokey!
If you need service on any appliance, please give us a shout. Thank you for letting our family help yours!
Happy Holidays from the Guinco family!
