FRIGIDAIRE EFIC452-SS 40 Lbs Extra Large Clear Maker, Stainless Steel, Makes Square Ice

Love this icemaker, I have one at my other house 3-4 years old always ice when I need some I let it run and fill the tray then dump the ice in a gallon ziplock bag and toss in the freezer, wou can hear the water pump but not bad the only noise is when the ice drops , clear ice much better than other systems that make bullet shaped white ice that waters down your soda , great ice , easy to use

Review is for the Frigidaire EFIC452-SSRED XL Maker, Makes 40 Lbs. of Clear Square Ice Cubes A Day So I just received this today....we have been using a Frigidaire brand "bullet" style ice maker and it just can't keep up with our ice consumption, this....despite a fridge/freezer with two ice makers....go figure. Got this, Red one....rinsed it out, cleaned everything, and filled all the way with water. I figured, since I had to wait at least one hour for the oil in the compressor to settle, I would give it a good cleaning, and run water through it. Put the end over the sink, removed the drain plug and ... NOTHING. No water is draining. NOTHING AT ALL, despite the reservoir being completely full of water. Must be clogged, or the tube from the reservoir must be blocked or pinched. Checked the manual. Nothing to do except take out the drain plug. (there is a screw on cap, then a silicone "plug"...yep I removed it) So, what to do. I figured it must be a twisted or blocked tube, SO I TOOK THE WHOLE BACK METAL COVER OFF, so I could take a look at the tubes and see if there was a block. Its not hard to take off the metal cover....10 screws and then shimmy it off. Be careful. The metal is thin and sharp. Looked around....NO water in any of the tubes, despite it being full. Checked the drain "filter" in the reservoir and took it out, just in case. Nope, no water coming out. Checked all the tubes. Not blocked. GUESS WHAT IT WAS?? I plugged in the ice maker, just in case....NOTHING is said in the manual. The pump started working right away, and VOILA! water started running out the back drain, which was still open. Apparently to fully drain this, you must have it plugged in...(I didn't turn it on, just plugged it in) I believe the pump will close the lines so it can't drain, once it is shut off. NOTHING IN THE MANUAL TELLS YOU THIS!!..So if this happens to you, don't return it because it won't drain. Just plug it in, and it will start draining after the plug is taken out. Hope this little trick helps you. Now onto the ICE. First batch set on +4 took like over 20 minutes, and it makes pretty thick ice at this setting. Changed it to 0 and it took about 15 minutes. We use chilled, filtered water in our fridge, since using cold water makes ice faster, so the machine doesn't need to chill it down as much. The way this ice machine works is the water from the reservoir is constantly dripped over the square metal grid, which is chilled by the ice maker. This means that the all the water in the machine is constantly "cycled" over this grid, bringing the temp down on all the water. Might as well start with chilled water to help the process. Even on a setting of 0 the ice coming out of this machine is thick and clear for the most part. Love it so far. Its not "loud" but its constant "on" like a mini fridge, until it cycles when the ice is ready. Because of the thickness of the sheet of ice that dumps out, its quite loud when it dumps. I love that it dumps in a sheet. This makes it super easy to bag it up in sheets for storage to use later. This ice is SOLID, and since its clear, it doesn't have hardly any air in it, unlike the bullet style ice makers. This thing is going to get a lot of use, so will see how long it lasts. The price is about double what you would pay for the bullet ones, but so far I think its worth it. Time will tell. *Update* 10/6/22 - well...its been a few days of almost constant use. The ice that this makes is almost clear....for the most part it is, and its SOLID ice, not full of air and cloudy. The bullet style ice makers, make ice with a lot of air in the ice, so that ice doesn't last too long, melts fast. This ice makers ice lasts a good long time, probably double the amount of time for the same "amount" of ice than the bullet ones. The only down sides I can see with this ice maker is...1. that loud noise when the ice "drops" out of the grids. Its pretty loud when it lands in the "bucket" when there is little to no ice in there. Once you get a couple of drops of ice in there, then its almost silent when it drops. 2. You could view this as a negative and or positive. The ice drops most times in a sheet, that you then need to break up. I don't mind this....makes for easy storage. To break it up, we put it in a zip lock bag and then just bash it. It breaks right away, and I don't mind doing this extra step, since the ice lasts so long, and you can get long strands of ice too that fit nicely in your flask or large cup etc. This machine is a little larger than the bullet type, so keep that in mind. I tried +4, 0 and -4 for ice settings, and didn't notice any difference in the ice made, so now just leave it on a default setting of 0. Plug it in, fill with chilled water, and hit the power button and thats it. You don't need to use chilled water, and often times I will put some ice in the water, just to keep it colder in the beginning, to speed up the first batch, which seems to take the longest. Recommended. We have lots of ice now, and with this running, can stock up. *UPDATE* - Love this ice maker. First batch takes a while to chill down the water, but the amount of solid ice you get out of this is a big WIN. Solid ice "cube sheets", but very easy to break up.The ice lasts a good long time in drinks, since the ice doesn't contain much air, since its clear. Just get this. I don't think you will be disappointed!! I still get startled when the ice drops....LOL! *UPDATE 12/12/22* Have had this a while now, and use this almost daily. This ice maker is a WIN! The ice lasts a good long time, and even if you let it run until the bin is full, not that much ice melts in the bin. We do this and then bag it, check the water - add whats needed and continue on making ice. Couple of TIPS- While the ice maker cycles all the water in the machine from the top reservoir where you add fresh water, drips over the grid, then drops into the bottom holding bin to be sucked up and cycled over the grid again, this ice maker will not pull water and empty the bottom holding bin. If you forget to empty the ice from the bottom, and all that ice melts into the bottom holding bin, I have found that it will stay full of water. So don't panic, just start scooping the water from the bottom bin, into the top bin manually to lower the level to under the Ice bin, then continue to make ice. Haven't had any issues with this ice maker yet. *time for another update* 10/26/24...wow its been over 2 years of use and still going strong. This machine makes a lot of ice, and we use it almost daily. I have been using filtered water always, but still clean it about every 6 months, if I notice the water leaving residue. Cleans up very easily with this product: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BCJQ5SZX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 This stuff is a win! Easy to use, I dump it in and let it sit a while, then just run the machine like normal, letting the water solution circulate and make ice. I make ice for a couple batches, and keep running water through the machine...once the ice becomes clear again, then I fill up the reservoir and empty from the drain plug. I do this a couple of times, then all done. Of course this type of ice maker is loud when the ice drops, but other than that, it has lasted very well for us in almost constant operation.

I had high hopes for this ice maker as a replacement for my freezer’s broken ice maker, but my experience has been far from ideal. Here’s a breakdown of the issues I encountered: 1. **Inconsistent Performance** – It does make ice… when it works. 2. **Excessive Moisture** – The ice comes out very wet. 3. **Constant Monitoring Required** – You either have to wait for ice to accumulate before transferring it to the freezer or move small batches when the bin gets full. At least twice if you fill thw water well. 4. **Freezer Dependency** – Since the ice is so wet, I have to solidify it in the freezer. I use metal containers (hotel pans) specifically for this purpose. 5. **Tedious Once solidified, the ice needs to be broken apart. I use a metal meat tenderizer for the task, but if done immediately after freezing, the chunks stick together and become difficult to separate. 6. **Problematic Ice Cube Settings** – The thick setting is too thick, while the thinner setting produces partial slabs. The "0" setting is somewhat effective, but it still requires hammering each batch. 7. **Lack of Cleaning Functionality** – Surprisingly, there’s no dedicated cleaning function—just instructions to wipe things down, which seems inadequate. 8. **Build Quality Concerns** – On its first use, the button panel started popping up, exposing the unit’s inner components. While I could press it back into place, this doesn’t inspire confidence in its durability. 9. **Deteriorating Performance** – After about ten uses, the machine began making unsettling noises and eventually stopped producing ice altogether. 10. **Inefficiency** – The entire process—from ice formation to freezing, transferring, and breaking—takes far too long. I could easily fill ice trays twenty times over in the time it takes to manage this machine. Ultimately, this ice maker demands too much effort for too little payoff. If reliability, ease of use, and efficiency matter to you, this might not be the best solution.

My wife was getting hip surgery and was told that she needed to use ice on her hip for at least 3 weeks following her operation. My fridge icemaker was just not going to be able to keep up with the demand, so I started reviewing ice makers. This Fridgidaire icemaker was reviewed well on Amazon, and advertised that it made clear ice. Most importantly, this unit advertised that it could make 40 lbs of clear ice in a day, which is much more than many of the cheaper ice makers. Since I figured it would be nice to use this to make ice in a home bar after she was done with it, I bought this unit. This unit works by dribbling water over a vertical metal grid that looks like an ice cube tray. The metal is cooled and the water freezes as it pours over the grid. The longer you let the water flow, the more completely the ice cube forms within the grid. You can adjust the thickness of the ice within the grid by a setting on the touchscreen. I set mine to maximum to get solid, clear cubes. When the freezing is done, the water stops flowing and the ice cubes are pushed as a "block of cubes" into a bin. The Good: - If you use filtered water, the ice is indeed clear and doesn't have those annoying hollow "holes" in the ice that I associate with cheap ice makers - The product looks great. I really like the red and black coloring, and it looks good, not cheap. - It will make 40 lbs of ice in a day if you are diligent about emptying the ice cube bin frequently. - The ice maker makes about the same amount of noise as a dorm fridge. There is certainly a fairly loud clunk each time a sheet of ice falls into the tray, but the overall ice-,making process was less loud than I expected. The Bad: - The ice cube bin holds maybe 4 or 5 "sheets" of ice before it fills up and the machine stops. Since the bin is not cooled, the ice starts to immediately melt unless it is taken out and placed in a freezer or cooler. - That means about every hour or so, you must go into the machine and remove the ice and put it somewhere cold if you want to max out on the ice production. It would have been much nicer if the holding bin kept the ice cold. The ugly - If you fill the unit with water and let it run overnight, you will wake up to 4 or 5 sheets of mostly melted ice in the tray. - The ice machine works well, but is a bit difficult to drain completely during cleaning. I worry that you could easily leave some water behind which might lead to mold. Overall Grade: I give this a B+ overall, I used the heck out of this thing for almost two months. I bought some ice machine descaler and cleaner, and cleaned it once during my ice-making marathon. Cleaning and descaling was a breeze. I would have given this a perfect A+ if the ice holding tray area could keep the ice from melting.

10/2025- UPDATED 5 year review!! (Probably the last unless it hits 10 years) Bumping to five stars as well due to longevity. Updated review of the update. I may have messed up my latest update so I guess I have to start over. Here we go. I’m one month shy of FIVE years, but due to the recent dramatic drop in price, I felt inclined to chime in. My experience is probably not the norm, considering all the horror stories I hear. But here we are. I recently experienced a scare after cleaning the unit and it acting strange. Left it unplugged for a couple of hours and it went right back to making ice! If I had to do it all again, only bottled water. My filtered tap doesn’t cut it. Cleaning is still a pain. Bought a cleaning kit and the brush pulled out some horrific stuff. Seriously, clean this thing like it’s a full time job! This thing just keeps on making the ice! I think that whatever machine you get, buy the insurance. Remember, my first machine leaked, and this one appeared used. Good, or bad, this ice maker has brought me more joy than just about anything else I own. Well, that’s all folks. Stay frosty! UPDATED 2 1/2 year review (7-23) I've now had my unit for just over 2 1/2 years and still going strong. It's used pretty much every day with a rare day off. One of the things I wanted to correct from my earlier review (that i realized shortly after and had a 'duh' moment) is that I was wanting a way to only make X amount of ice. I had been just adding X amount of water to achieve that and right after leaving the review realized I just kept over looking that timer button. DOH! Now, on to an update: It's still a pain to clean. I occasionally think that the bullet style makers would be better as the Ice sheets need to be broken up if using smaller glasses or cups. The thicker you make the ice the harder it is to break up, especially while still in the machine. Took awhile to figure out, but it seems the coating on the metal part that forms the cubes is flaking off and has to be cleaned out. Occasionally it needs to be unplugged to 'reset' as it will not respond every so often after clearing ice when it shows full. You also need to have it plugged in to fully drain all water in the reservoir. But these things are trivial, I only mention them so others have a full understanding and can compare accordingly. Overall, I still enjoy this machine very much. The minor annoyances are nothing compared to having fresh cold ice relatively quickly. I especially consider myself lucky when I see so many others have their units fail frequently, which is something that would make me consider a much cheaper unit. Also, consider getting a larger scoop that the one that comes with it. Also, remember the scoop is almost useless when the ice is still in thick sheet form, so maybe consider getting a pair of tongs to go with it. ------------------ I have now had this for 7 months and found a more than a few pros and cons. I'll get the company, and not the machine, related stuff out of the way right now. First unit I was sent leaked water from some spot and at first I wasn't sure if this was condensation or what. I returned the first unit because whether or not that was a defect I wasn't going to use a machine that leaked all over the counter no matter what. Second machine arrived and NO leaking at all. So the first unit was in fact defective. However, second unit was obviously a USED machine! I kept the second machine (maybe a poor choice) because it at least did not leak, and the 'used' factor was only noticeable really due to the water spots and a bit of grime in the reservoir. Nothing major, just a good cleaning before any real use, was required. Let's start with the pros: Clear ice (keep that machine clean though) Sheets of ice that last (melting is slow) Adjustable time to make thicker sheets (cubes) I run this a few hours every day. 7 months, every, single, day. Cons: Most noticeable is the cleaning factor. I have smallish hands for a guy and I still can't reach areas well enough to give this thing a deep clean. That's really it for cons I suppose. There are some things I can nit pick if anyone cares. Read on if that's the case. Included scoop is useless. This thing makes 'sheets' of ice that laugh in the face of this minuscule scoop thingy. (not a big deal, but if this kind of thing is important to you, maybe just buy one of those bullet ice machines) Other people seem to know how much ice this can make with X amount of water. I, however do not. So I would love an option to select X amount of sheets (this thing makes sheets of ice remember) to be made. Description says it runs on 120watts. Really? I didn't test this with a Kill-o-Watt yet, but I did try and use it with two different portable battery packs that could not handle the initial load. So this thing must spike well over 300watts (seriously, 120watts ??) and only consumes the stated 120 when it's in the 'hey, about to dump this sheet of ice out' stage, or they simply meant it runs on 120v. I'll need to test this for off grid use. Overall this is a great machine. I'm listening to it in the 'I'm about to dump this sheet of ice out' stage right now as I type. I did encounter a defective initial machine, then the 'here, have a used one' after that, but I am still happy with my purchase. I don't remember the exact reason I chose this over the 'bullet' style machines, but I think it was based on output(?). However, I think I would have been happy either way. Those bullet machines put out individual cubes, which would make the included scoop in this machine actually useful! This machine puts out 'sheets' of ice that you can break up if storing in your freezer or whatever. Personally, I use them in my tumblers. One sheet fits well when broken in half. Solid sheets seem to last longer when used in a cooler for other stuff. I think this all comes down to personal preference but honestly you could simply go with which ever unit was cheaper and be just as happy. Hope this helps someone reach a decision. Once I get my solar set up in place and see how this machine fits in I'll update my review.

When the supermarket started charging $3 for a 7# bag of clear ice, I decided to give one of these inexpensive clear-ice makers a try. After some research, I settled on this Frigidaire ... and glad I did. In truth, I only use about five pounds of ice each week, so every four weeks I set up the ice-maker and let it freeze about 20-22 pounds of ice (which fills up the shelf in my freezer allocated for ice storage). That is 5 gallon-sized plastic zipper bags. If you want it to work quickly, use chilled water (I put a two-gallon water jug in the fridge a few days before I plan to make ice, and as I use that water, I refill it and place it in the freezer until the ice-maker needs more water). And use either distilled water or RO water (which is what I use) if you want flawless clear ice with no tastes or flavors. After each use, I unplug the ice-maker, put it next to the kitchen sink, pull the drain plug and empty it of all remaining water. Then I carefully dry out every inch of the interior, putting special emphasis on the freezing tray and filler pipe. Then the ice-maker is stored with the lid propped open with the (otherwise useless) plastic ice scoop. In four months, I have not had any clogs or even a hint of mold. It is like the day I received it (only cleaner). A word about noise: Ice-makers are not known for silence. Anyone whose hotel room was next door to the ice-maker knows this already. And this is not a heavy-duty appliance. The clutch on the compressor slips occasionally and makes an awful racket, but usually quits after a few minutes. It doesn't really affect the ice making. Bottom line: This ice-maker makes high-quality clear ice cubes that are about ¾-inch square. Because they are quick frozen, they are softer than slow-frozen ice (think ice-cube trays that take a whole day to freeze). They're great in your drinks, and relatively easy on your teeth if you are an ice-crunching fiend (as I am). If you don't mind being a tad fastidious in its upkeep, it should make you lots of wonderful clear ice for very little cost. Highly recommend!

A lot of people write reviews not long after purchasing a product, so you don’t really know if the item held up over time. I’m here to tell you that in general, countertop ice makers don’t last. I bought this ice maker two years ago. It worked great at first. Within the first year the backlight on the LCD panel stopped working so it became hard to read. Then the unit mostly worked but sometimes stopped making ice for no reason, requiring me to turn it off and on again, or fiddle with the float switch in the reservoir. Now exactly two years later, it died altogether. This is my FOURTH ice maker in five years. Two died afree about one year. The third died in six months. This one took two years to fully stop working. I’ve bought different brands, and models using both of the common methods for making ice. This particular one is branded “Frigidaire” but I’m quite sure that some manufacturer is just licensing the name from Frigidaire. One was Best Buy’s house brand and the others were from unknown names. They don’t last. Don’t expect them to. Maybe buy the extended warranty. All types of ice makers are difficult to clean, and they do get gross inside. Eventually the water gets slimy and the tank smells like an aquarium. Even the ones which are “self cleaning” need to be cleaned, if you’re using them constantly. They need to be emptied and the tank and other parts need to be cleaned with a dish sponge or similar. Most of the time it’s hard to access a lot of the parts which need cleaning. So be aware of what you’re getting into.

Pros: Very quiet- it’s quieter than my mini fridge. Yes, you hear it when it drops finished ice into the tray, but it doesn’t make us jump out of our seat. Quality of ice - we use distilled water because we live in an area with very hard water and don’t want to deal with mineral build up in the unit. It makes clear, solid ice. Sheet of ice - this is the part that made me hesitant to get this unit. However, the sheet breaks up very easily with a metal scoop (I bought one after a review commenting on the plastic scoop that comes with the unit), and I don’t have to break it with my hands. The sheet also gives me an option to have “bigger” ice, which is great when I don’t want to dilute my drink too much too quickly. Con: Doesn’t keep ice frozen: the unit does not keep the ice in a freezer temperature, so the ice melts slowly in the unit. The water from melted ice gets reused to keep more ice, so it’s not wasted. During the daytime when the ambient temperature was in mid 70’s, the unit kept running and making more ice every couple of hours even though I wasn’t using any ice. This morning I checked the ice basket, and it’s not full and ice is sitting in water (picture a cooler with ice at the end of the day). I’m not sure why it hasn’t made more ice with that water so I’ll need to look into it and update this review if necessary. I’ll also experiment with its timer function and see what it does. Poor Manual: the user guide doesn’t say a whole lot and not really useful.