Frigidaire EFIC452-SSBLACK XL 40 Lbs. Ice Maker Review

Frigidaire EFIC452-SSBLACK XL ice maker can produce up to 40 pounds of ice cubes in 24 hours whereas most countertop ice machines produce only up to 26 so at the first glance it already leaves a good impression, but what happens when you inspect it thoroughly?

Ice production

Unlike most countertop ice machines that produce bullet shaped ice cubes with hollow inside Frigidaire EFIC452-SSBLACK XL makes square shaped ice cubes. What’s the difference? Well the squared ice cubes last a lot longer in your drink than bullet shaped ones with hollow inside so they provide longer lasting cooling effect.

Frigidaire EFIC452-SSBLACK XL makes a batch of 24 ice cubes every ~15 minutes (on default size setting), that’s a total of 96 ice cubes every hour. Ice cube quality is good and they are tasteless like they are supposed to be. If you want them to be perfectly crystal clear you will have to use distilled water as they are close to it but not quite when you use tap water.

Ice cube size is adjustable. You basically increase or decrease batch making time in 1 minute increments. The longer time you set the thicker and bigger ice cubes will be and the opposite is true – shorter batch cycles will produce smaller ice cubes.

One flaw is that ice cubes often come out as a single sheet so you have to break them apart yourself. This doesn’t happen always and they are easy to break apart but it’s still a small inconvenience.

Ice machine itself isn’t refrigerated so ice cubes will slowly melt if left inside the ice basket.

Control panel

Control panel features 4 buttons and LCD display. Two of the buttons are to increase or decrease batch cycle time (which affects ice cube size), one is for turning unit on/off and the last one is for setting up timer. LCD display shows multiple things like temperature, selected ice cube size setting, multiple warnings etc.

Features

Frigidaire EFIC452-SSBLACK XL has timer feature – you can set after how many hours it should stop or start making ice. It also has sensors that detects when water reservoir is empty or ice basket full – in both cases it will pause ice production until you solve the problem. Sometimes ice basket sensor fails to detect that it’s full and thick slab of ice ends up getting stuck in freezing tray.

Water reservoir capacity is 2.3 liters (0.6 gallons) and ice basket can hold about 2.4 lbs of ice cubes (~ 1.1 kg).

Dimensions

Frigidaire EFIC452-SSBLACK XL ice maker machine measures 11.3 inches wide, 14.06 inches deep and 14.76 inches high.

Conclusions

Although not perfect Frigidaire EFIC452-SSBLACK XL is among best portable ice machines you can buy. It can produce more ice than most other ice machines and has timer function which most don’t while retailing at similar pricing.

Frigidaire EFIC452-SSBLACK XL 40 Lbs. Ice Maker Details/Specs:

• Type: Freestanding / Portable / Countertop
• Ice output: up to 40 lbs per 24 hours
• Ice cubes per batch: 24
• Ice cube size options: Many
• Ice bucket capacity: 2.4 lbs of ice cubes (~ 1.1 kg)
• Water reservoir capacity: 2.3 liters (0.6 gallons)
• Dimensions: 14.76″ x 14.06″ x 11.3″ (H x D x W)