Once in a while, there are signs up in the neighborhood, warning people that there is sewer work being done, and the water is contaminated. And sure enough on these days the water is brown or rust-colored. But I started thinking … isn’t this the same water that goes into my refrigerator’s automatic ice maker? And the water that is contaminated today will become next week’s ice cubes. Sure, there’s some sort of filtration device on the water tube, but I don’t trust it to deal with the kind of discolored crud I see in my toilet on those days. And sure, I could examine every single ice cube for telltale discoloration, but I think it’d be safer just to go back to old-fashioned ice trays. Now I’m not some sort of germ-phobe who loses sleep over every little bacteria, but I don’t like the idea of contaminating my drinks with polluted ice cubes.
Well first off, at least where I live, we don’t get our fresh water out of the sewer. Two different systems, not connected.
Secondly what you are probably seeing is either rust from the inside of the pipes, or some sediment that was knocked loose from the inside of the pipes due to wrk on the fresh water system. Both of these will be captured by any type of filter be it a whole house unit, or the one in your fridge.
Now if the water department said your water was not safe to drink (big difference) then I would consider shutting my ice maker off until it was safe again.
We get warnings about discolored water due to dislodged rust when they are flushing the fire hydrants. It’s not a health concern, but they do warn us to be careful when washing clothes to avoid getting rust stains. I’ve never actually seen brown water, but if I did I’d turn off my ice cube maker also, and throw out any brown ice cubes I found.
I believe you will find that ice makers use a great deal of electrical power, as well. I bought a fridge last month and compared the energy usage of the various machines.
Why would that be? All that is added is an electric motor to push the cubes out of the tray, and a solenoid to let new water in. Neither of these require much energy.
When I asked about the difference between energery ratings of similar models by the same manufacturer, the salesperson told me it was the ice maker. I can’t remember at which store that was now, (I visited six), but I think it was Sears—where I bought my new fridge.
Isn’t an ice maker a freezer inside the freezer? With some mechanical device to push the ice into the basket?
He could have lied, or I might have misunderstood. If I’m wrong, I’d like to know.
speaking for my fridge, it is just a unit inside the freezer in the upper corner. I could see an increase in energy usage if it is a unit that delivers ice through the door (Mine does not) due to less insulation at the ice door.
My WAG: It isn’t the ice maker itself that pulls the extra energy. It is the power required to regularly freeze additional material. I’d guess that people use more ice if they have an ice maker, and so they end up having to freeze more water, and do it all the time.
I hope someone who actually knows will be along.
This is true.
There’s also a tray heater to loosen the cubes. But the additional energy involved in creating the cubes must be small when compared with the energy required to freeze the water.
FWIW, I’m on a private well with a decent amount of iron present in the water. The whole house filter takes care of the iron, and just to be a bit more careful, I have an inline filter feeding the icemaker. No skanky cubes in the last 10 years, knock wood.