Before we get into the nooks and crannies of this machine, please let it be clear I really wanted to give the product a 4 star rating. However, due to the type of cheap plastic chosen for the internal construction, I felt it would be best to go sort of "neutral" on the star rating and give 3 "okay" stars. I'll explain later in this review.The instruction manual is lacking some details and is wrong on other details, so you might want to read this review carefully.First things first... The blue button on the right of the control panel turns the unit on and off. I'm only telling you that, because those with poor eyesight may have difficulty reading the faint red text on a bright blue button. I'm in that camp too. A green LED indicator on the far right of the control panel will remain steady when the power is ON, but blink slowly if the power is OFF [in other words "standby"].If you're looking for a home appliance countertop bottled water ice machine for a family of 4 that will keep up with an ice demand, then you've come to the right place. This machine is certainly capable of doing that. It makes bullet ice sizes of small [6 minutes], medium [10 minutes], and large [15 minutes]. It has a very large ice bin which will hold 5.5 pounds of ice. It takes about 3 hours to fill up the bin on the large setting, which means the machine is very well capable of producing 40 pounds of ice per day. Most descriptions I've seen are truthful to that respect. However, I would recommend the medium setting, if you are a habitual ice eater. Yes, I'm a fellow ice cruncher too. The middle blue button selects the bullet ice size. A green LED indicator will move appropriately along the bottom of the control panel to indicate the size you are selecting.The ice water dispensing feature is a secondary function which is on a spring loaded spigot. You press a switch on the control panel for the spigot to extend, but you have to push the spigot back in manually. The first blue button on the left triggers the pump for dispensing water. If you're going to use this machine for both ice and water dispensing, then I would recommend just leaving the spigot extended for quick water access. The machine does not have a drip tray for the spigot, but a folded paper towel works just as good for catching an occasional drip after using it [like I said... "secondary function"]. It takes a while for the ice water temperature to drop, but you can speed up the process by allowing the first 2 batches of ice to drop directly into the ice water reservoir below the ice bin. This also helps the machine make perfect ice by the third batch from first time startup [helpful tip and trick there].There are no audible alarms on this machine, but it does have LED indicators. There is a red LED indicator in the upper left of the control panel that will illuminate steady if the ice bin is full. The machine will go into standby mode when the bin is full. This same light will blink slowly if an ice jam has been detected. Ice jams do occur occasionally, but it usually happens when the small ice size has been selected. Again, I recommend using the medium ice size.There's also an "add water" LED indicator near the bottom-right of the control panel. I don't plan on letting it run out of water, and I certainly don't recommend deliberately allowing it to run out of water. Besides, if the unit gets low on water, then you will definitely know about it, because the pump will make gurgling sounds as it tries to draw on a low water supply. So, Hey, there's your "audible" alarm, LOL. Obviously, the machine will go into standby mode if it does run completely out of water accidentally.On page 4 of the instruction manual [if you want to call it that], there is a weak clue on how to remove the ice bin. If you have large hands and fat fingers, then you're in for a difficult task here. You're supposed to be able to reach your hand into the bin, fold down the stop bracket, and pull the bin out. Well, I couldn't do that either. I had to use a duct tape trick and some slight-of-hand to get that funky stop bracket to fold down far enough to remove the bin. Imagine being in a hurry to clear an ice jam, and you'll probably also imagine breaking that stupid stop bracket completely off. Yeah, needless to say, the stop bracket is no longer on my ice bin. Works better that way anyhow, because now my WHOLE hand can get the ice scoop down in there properly. Apparently, the ice bin clearance was designed by midgets, but I digress.By the time you reach page 5 of the instruction manual, you may come to the conclusion that idiots wrote the manual for idiots. There's actually a diagram of how to install a bottle of water, but don't laugh yet. Believe it or not, this step could be very critical depending on the cap thickness of the bottled water you are using. It's pretty tight, to say the least. You literally have to make sure you are completely square with the machine before dropping the bottle straight down on it. In fact, you may have to give the bottle a small tap down to complete the puncture, that's how tight it is. Unlike other small ice machines, this one will spit at you when the bottle neck reaches the bottom of the collar. So make sure you have a towel handy to wipe up the mess. The reason why it does this is because the machine doesn't have a secondary reservoir below the collar. It only has one reservoir below the ice bin and the water has to travel through tubing to get there. Hence, there's going to be a small splash for every new bottle placed on it since this machine uses a direct gravity fed method. In spite of this itty-bitty design flaw, I actually prefer the gravity method since it eliminates needless pumps along the water path.On page 7 of the instruction manual it speaks of 2 filters behind the ice bin, under the bottle collar, connected to the water tubing, accessed by removing a clipper. Read this next statement carefully... THERE'S NO SUCH THING!... There's NO clipper, it's a zip tie. Not only is there not 2 filters, but there are NO filters, it's just a tube connection. That's okay though, because why would you need a filter for bottled water? Especially if you're going to use Spring Water? So, I can only assume that previous models may have had such a filter.Ok, now flip back over to page 6 of the instruction manual where you find cleaning recommendations. Notice it is "strongly recommended to clean it thoroughly before use." They're NOT kidding! Make sure you do so specifically for the interior. Every black plastic surface needs to be scrubbed down, because of the type of black plastic they used for construction, which his heavily petroleum-based and it leeches something awful. In fact, it may smell like diesel fuel in there to you. You may have to scrub it down 3 times before getting the odor out of there. This odor also taints the taste of water and ice. I don't mind "a new machine smell", but whoever decided to use that black plastic to house drinking water needs their head examined. It may also take up to 10 gallons of water to flush it all out.But, don't freak out or panic. There's an easy solution to cleaning the diesel out of there for good. After scrubbing it down with weak soapy warm water and draining the machine, Your best friends will be ordinary tap water, vinegar, and lemon juice for the rest of it's life...1. Mix 1 cup of white vinegar and 1 cup of real lemon juice to 1 gallon of water.2. Pour directly into the reservoir under the ice bin and scrub down all black surfaces including the area under the ice maker elevator [you'll see it], and don't forget the ice bin too.3. Allow the ice maker to make large ice until it runs out of that 1 gallon of water.4. Dump the ice, and drain any remaining water.5. Pour 1 gallon of filtered or bottled water directly into reservoir.6. Allow ice maker to make large ice with that 1 gallon of clean water in order to flush it.7. Dump ice and drain machine again.8. Repeat steps 1 thru 7.Then from then on per every 5 gallons of bottled water until the odor/taste is gone, put 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and 1 tablespoon of real lemon juice in the reservoir. Allow machine to run 3 cycles before drinking any water. It's not going to hurt you and you can barely tell it's there. In fact, you're supposed to use these same cleaning procedures every 3 months for ANY home appliance ice/water dispenser, except you only do it ONCE. We're simply tackling a special exception monster here.Overall, it's a good machine. I just hope they make some improvements for the next model and use better plastic too.Hope this helps. Enjoy your purchase.P.S. - One other thing I forgot to mention. If this machine begins to jam too much on Medium ice, then take out the ice bin and check the white tube running from the bottle source to the elbow connection on the right. If this tube is curved inward toward the elevator, then it can cause ice to bounce backwards and create a chained jam over to the left side of the elevator. To remedy this problem you'll have to twist the large tube connection at the bottom of the bottle collar towards YOU so the tube will curve away from the elevator. You may have to remove the zip tie to do this, but Walmart carries the same small zip ties to replace it with. It's an easy fix, but it also affects how you move the ice bin in and out. So, if you have to fix this problem, then remember to always move the ice bin at a forward down angle to avoid racking it up against the tubing all the time. Yes, this another design flaw they need to fix.UPDATE - I found another glitch. During warmer weather the air pressure in the bottle increases slightly and causes a little water to purge around the collar. It only happens when there's about 1/4 of the water remaining and the increased air pressure is trying to push the water out. The valve in the water reservoir closes when the level is at max as designed, therefore the water pressure has nowhere else to go but up through the collar. It's not a whole lot of water, but it's enough to be irritating. It finally stops doing it when the pressure equalizes in the bottle. I haven't got my air conditioner running yet, but when I do, I hope it stops doing that. Yes, another design flaw.UPDATE # 2 - Air pressure problem is eliminated by air conditioning. I keep my thermostat set to 75 degrees F.UPDATE # 3 - On Sept. 1, 2014 the ice shovel malfunctioned (the white bucket that fills with water and dumps the ice). It behaves like a gear has been damaged. I prefer to repair things myself, so I'm planning to disassemble the unit and find out which part I need. While I'm in there, I'll let the review readers know if the unit has a low port for coolant recharging (always a good thing to know). I'll add another update as soon as I can, so stay tuned if you haven't made a purchase decision yet, or if you experience the same malfunction.UPDATE # 4 - On Sept. 15, 2014 the ice shovel repair was completed. Apparently an undetectable ice jam had occurred which caused a plastic female shaft to shatter. The plastic female shaft is split-keyed for the metal male drive shaft of the motor to slip into and turn it. Technically there are NO gears, everything is direct drive and relies on micro switches to let the motor know when to stop turning. Since the plastic female shaft is permanently part of the ice shovel tray the only way to repair it is to order another ice shovel tray. The good news is the part only costs $11.00 including shipping. You have to contact...CHARD INTERNATIONAL LLCEmail =
[email protected] = 888-815-4252 8am-5pm CSTAsk for an "ice tray with sled" for HZB-15/BF (product # IM-15SS).I did all of my correspondence through Email and Customer Service was an excellent experience. No problems whatsoever.Making the repair was time consuming, but overall it's pretty easy to do. If anybody needs help with disassembly, just post a comment and I'll reply with instructions.Oh yeah, I looked for a low port for future coolant recharging and it does not have one. However, there's plenty of room inside for a tap. Refrigerant and pressure specs are on the back label. Warning: Refrigeration and safety knowledge is required!Final Comments:- I wish the ice shovel tray was all metal with plastic coating for the reservoir.- I wish there was more clearance for the water tubing above the main storage drawer.- I wish the ice tray dumped onto a permanent sled, instead of the sled being attached to the tray.- I wish the water would cycle for cooling first from a cold start.- I wish the bottle collar was wider and deeper in order to help prevent splashing with a new bottle.- I wish I would have invested in a commercial ice machine, but this one still does what I want it to do for now.This concludes my full review on this product.If you need a potable ice/water dispenser, get this item. Reasonable price, portable, great for small gatherings and easy to use. I have no problem so far having used it everyday for a month. I recommend this product.The only issue I have is the top deck where the water bottle sits on seems a little bit thin so be careful when you place a 5 gallon water bottle on the top. Don’t “throw” it on there as I think you could break it but other then that this ice maker is awesome.This does make ice, for sure, and the water is cold out of the dispenser, but overall it is pretty cheaply made, the ice bucket isn’t insulated at all, and made out of thin plastic, so the ice inside is pretty soupy. Where he water jug is placed on top also constantly leaks, so there is always a puddle on the floor beneath it. Overall not worth the money, unfortunately.In spite of the mixed reviews, I thought we would give this unit a try. Since it was either try this or buy one for 2k! Our town is having a severe nitrate problem in their wells. We are under notification not to drink the water or make ice out of it. Buying ice gets old really quickly.As has been suggested by other reviews, we ran about a gallon of vinegar through the unit before we used it. It took another five gallons before the water quit have a strange taste. The ice cubes were always great.It is not the quietest appliance, but I have never seen an ice maker that was. We keep it on the Service Porch. It makes less noise and is less annoying than the cat water fountain! The noise is more like the older refrigerators that had ice makers in them.I serves its purpose well, I have no idea how long it will last. But we are very grateful to have it! I know if I bought a whole bunch of them, I could probably sell them on the street corner in our town for twice the price!We love this ice maker. You have to let it set for an hour like any refrigeration product before using. It does need a lot of space. It was making ice with in 15 minutes once we started it. It continually makes ices as long as it has water.The ice bucket is awekwars if you just want to scoop out some ice. The handle is in the way. It also does not have a good seated position, the ice bucket.Works great, good ice capacities. The only issue is when the jug is low on water it’s no longer heavy enough to keep the water from coming out the top. A 5lbs weight on the jug fixes this however. Great otherwise.
