wingless' New Ice Cube Recipe

[wingless]

It was initially not clear to me why the ice cubes formed in the top tray of this four tray stack were pristine, while all the ice cubes formed in all the lower trays had fractures.

 

My slow brain finally realized that it was from water expanding while freezing, but the ice forming in the lower trays could not push up the mass of the upper trays, so those cubes would have fractures.

 

My solution was to put trays w/ water into the freezer w/o stacking upper trays on top for at least several hours, until the top of the cubes had hardened.

 

Now my cubes are all properly formed w/o fractures.

[Eric - TIA]

Interesting.  I bought one of those rubber ice cube trays that have larger ice cubes.  I like it, but even though I am using RO water, it's still not crystal clear.  Not a big deal for me, but just thought it would be cool to have a couple of those crystal clear ice cubes you see in the photoshop pictures.

[wingless]

A small vacuum chamber, w/ the ice cube tray within the chamber, placed in the freezer, would evacuate the small air bubbles suspended within the ice cube water prior to freezing, greatly increasing the clarity.

 

My suggestion would be an aluminum (or at least partially aluminum) vacuum chamber to improve the thermal conductivity between inside and outside.

 

Note that one of the three big thermal transfer methods is eliminated by this setup. The convection is gone within the vacuum chamber, leaving only conduction and radiation to freeze your clear ice cubes.

[Eric - TIA]

My wife would kill me if I started getting that involved and spend money on ice cubes, lol.

[wingless]

100% keep the wife happy!

 

No science experiment exemption available?

 

Long ago we built an altitude chamber for work, w/ a vacuum pump and vacuum tank (like a reverse air compressor) w/ a computer controlled regulator / gauge, so we could set the "altitude". It worked great, w/ the vacuum pump kicking on and off to maintain the vacuum reservoir while the regulator maintained the chamber setpoint.

 

It started out w/ all clear plastic until we discovered it didn't work for interior thermal control w/o interior air, so we changed the lid to aluminum, then it worked great.

[Eric - TIA]

That's awesome you built that, that's above my level.  I do like the idea of a science experiment, maybe I can get her to go for that.

[Jronman]

I didn't know there was an art to crystal clear ice cubes. I'm not really an ice cube guy myself. Takes up extra space in my 1 gallon Yeti I use for work. I gotta maximize space to get the most out of my jug in the hot summer temps. I'm not really a fridge temp water guy either. 

[fm2176]

This thread reminds me...I need to start researching refrigerators and decide what sort of ice maker I want.  I tried selling the wife on a standalone ice maker, but she shot that idea down.  For better or worse I keep the freezer packed, so ice trays are out of the question.

 

Another thing I need to get, to get everyone to drink a little more water, is a water cooler.  I had one but gave it to my son when I moved last year, and I miss having it.  The heating element burned out, likely when I ran it out of water, but the refrigerated water was nice.  On a hot day, or when I'm thirsty, nothing beats ice cold water or unsweetened iced tea.  

[Eric - TIA]

Agree all the way, nothing like a cold glass of ice water.  I like the idea of a separate ice make as the one on our fridge is junk.  It always clumps up and nothing comes out.