GE Opal Nugget Ice Maker Gen 2 - Part 7

Thanks everyone for your interest in these!
Part 2 of 2
Sorry for the delays ... a lot has happened with my family due to the pandemic and I just haven't had the time or mental fortitude to be concerned about the ice maker. I've finally decided to just do a basic cleaning to show you guys the process and discuss how I'm feeling about the Gen 2 after 8 months of having it. NOTE: I've done no maintenance on the machine since I got it back in December. No cleaning. No nothing.
Playlist (Parts 1-7) : • GE Opal Nugget Ice Mak...

[@frickenfixit723]

Awesome videos! Thank you so very much for taking the time to share these. I have a First Build Opal Gen 0 unit from the original kickstarter campaign. I was in the first group to receive units before they made small modifications to the system. The noise you are describing as getting louder and louder reminds me of my original unit. What it turned out to be was actually the begining of mineral deposits forming within the unit. It original came about as a louder grumbling sound that eventually evolved into grinding noise that finally evolved into a squeak and lastly a shrill that just made us cringe whenever we turned the unit on. We ended up RMA'ing the unit and getting a brand new one. The guys at 1B told us that it was due to mineral deposit buildup in the ice accumulation area that the auger was scrapning as it pushed the ice up the machine to be 'nuggetized'. They sent us a replacement unit. My girlfriend loves this machine and we've had our unit for about 6 years now. Zero issues but she's moved on to using distilled water. Due to her nugget ice addiction I ended up installed a reverse osmosis system to create filtered water. If you are curious to see how things are looking inside of your unit, what I could recommend is getting a TDS tester on amazon. (it's less than 20$) and testing your water for total dissolved solids. I heard you mention spring water in your video, you may want to consider changing to distilled water to prevent these buildups from occuring. You can of course descale your machine from time to time but with all due respect, Not introducing minerals into your machine will go a longer way than all the descalings you end up doing. If you decide to pick up a TDS tester, give it a shot with various waters from your tap, your spring water, you can even do a cleaning cycle (with basic water) and do a before and after test of the water in the tank to see if what is going in is reflective of what is coming out. In my most recent testing, putting in 4 PPM RO Water resulted in 26 PPM readings of the tank after flushing through the system. This can kinda help you guage how much 'gunk' is coming out. From my testing, My house tap was 98 PPM, through my berkey filter it came out to 79 PPM. Through the RO system it was 4 PPM and after the post carbon and ph filters it went back up to 42 PPM. The lower the better. Distilled water is 0 PPM. Try testing your spring water and see how much mineral it has :). Again, I have had my unit for six years. The ice is still crystal clear but damn I really need to open that sucker up and see what kind of experiments I got going on in there! Lastly, if you ever decide to get a RO filtration system keep in mind, you want to pull your nugget ice water directly from the RO filter. Not the post filters as many of these RO stage filters re-introduce minerals into the water for better 'taste' and mouth feel. You can easily solve for this equation by either 1. Opting for a cheaper like a 4 stage RO with no post filters or 2. Getting the RO system that meets your families wants/needs and then adding a 10$ freezer ice kit expansion tubing set that will have you tap into filter immediately after the RO stage. Then you can run this line over to your machine and just turn the valve and squirt water into your chamber while still providing your family the taste and mineral benefits of the post RO stages. Sorry I know long post but I thought I owed it to you given how much wealth of knowledge you've given me by taking as much time as you did to record all of this. Thank you again! Maybe I can whip up a small video to share with you to better explain all of these. Keep up the great work and looking forward to your next installment! I am digging the sleek design of that Gen 2!

[@ElaineBarlow]

Would love to see you create a video on this!

[@ElaineBarlow]

Regarding all of your info. Thank you so so much for taking the time to post all this. I think myself and many other people who own these ice makers appreciate as much knowledge as we can get. At the same time, I know that the amount of extra work that has to go into the PROPER maintenance is a lot of work. I think the reality of what needs to be done would turn most people off from owning one. I'm trying to just provide simple tips that people can do to help maintain their units.

[@NDMatt317]

Great video. I tore my Gen 1.0 apart and had all of the mold build up in the tank that you described. Went to the trouble of actually removing the holding tank (super easy to do), taking off all the hoses, and thoroughly cleaning literally everything. Got it all back together, ran several cleaning cycles, and thought I had it beat.....fast forward three days.....THREE FLIPPING DAYS....and all of my issues came back....repeated the process and tore it down/cleaned completely (2nd time in less than a week)....got it all back together, ran the cleaning cycles...everything was looking much better by the 1 week mark after the second experience....then the machine started making a continuous hellacious bad grinding noise. Shut it down, took the tray out...took it out to the garage and turned it on again (with the tray out)....then started noticing metal shavings in the bottom of the bin. Next thing for this is a full autopsy--planning on taking everything single element out of the machine and investigating where the metal shavings are coming from....and then throwing it in the garbage...right where it belongs. To say that I am disappointed is a massive understatement. Literally ZERO customer support/assistance from GE...I am on the fence about buying another machine from GE....I'll send you a twitter DM with the sound my GEN 1.0 was making and a few pictures I took of the holding tank....keep in mind the pictures I'm going to send you are from LESS THAN A WEEK after I initially tore it down and thoroughly cleaned everything.

[@ElaineBarlow]

The Gen 1s were all trash. Honestly ... I have no idea how they got away with selling those for so long. NOTHING but problems. I have had ZERO problems with the Gen 2 and I'm glad I purchased it.

[@NDMatt317]

@@ElaineBarlow how long have you had your GEN 2? I’m VERY nervous about purchasing another GE product after this experience.

[@SaraLNewman]

Thank you for the time and effort you’ve provided in your videos. You helped me make my decision to buy the 2.0 ❤

[@ElaineBarlow]

Glad to have helped. I hope you will enjoy yours. I'll be making an updated video on cleaning soon.

[@tlstew8225]

I have been chomping at the bit waiting on you🧡❤️😍 I was too embarrassed to send my pics ☺️ I will be getting G2 soon!

[@ElaineBarlow]

Thanks for your patience ♥️

[@kakahrot]

These have all been very helpful so glad the 2.0 is on sale on Amazon rn for about same if not lower price…thanks sincerely (not sure about cat on counter but I’m not a animal person so ;))

[@AmandaLane]

Thank you for these videos. I have the Gen 2 for quite some time now. Well over a year and I clean it regularly. But I noticed other stuff still in the water after a while so I started major cleaning it and in trying to pop the top off, it wouldn't budge when it should and I didn't want to break it so I looked up videos and found yours. We have a lot of calcium build up using fridge filtered water so I buy bottled and it lessened but it still got some in the hose and so yeah. Your videos have been super helpful and now I'm on a mission to disassemble what is needed to fully clean. I like the clip you used to hold your hose cleaner.

[@ElaineBarlow]

Thanks so much for taking the time to write. I'm really so glad that my videos have been so helpful to people! You have no idea how happy it makes me. I felt like I learned so much just dealing with the hell of my Gen 1, I really just wanted to pass some things along. Our water where we live is so so bad right out of the tap. Very hard water and I mean it also eats though the sink itself so we got a reverse osmosis filter (www.waterdropfilter.com/collections/undersink-ro-systems) and that helps but I still would never drink that water straight from the tap ever. I have used the RO water for the ice machine and also Poland Spring too. Oh and that clip is just one of those chip clips. I couldn't find anything else to hold it with LOL (www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083F4L2G7/) We actually use them for everything around the house and they're magnetic which is nice too.

[@AmandaLane]

@@ElaineBarlow thanks so much for the additional information. We only use bottle spring water for ours. I'd love a filtration system though that helps remove even more but for now I'll be fine. Just saving money not going to sonic every day.

[@felixculpa281]

Good Job Elaine!!!! cudos for a well done and appreciated review

[@ElaineBarlow]

Wow thank you so much for your kind words!! I'm so surprised by the response to my videos. I'm just rambling about stuff lol, no professional or anything. I just wanted to be able to help people in my own way and I'm just so glad I was able to do some good for some people with ice machines. ♥

[@felixculpa281]

What I love is that you are not professional and are doing a review like a regular intelligent person talking to other regular folks. I just got a version 1 this week and based on your videos, I returned it and bought 2 version 2 machines one for each house. Again thank you for the time and effort

[@ElaineBarlow]

@@felixculpa281 Rick thank you so much for your response. I'm really glad that I can be of help. You really got a Gen 2? I hope it works out for you! I'm so glad to have been a help! ♥

[@MTGApollo]

Thanks for the update girl, I hope your doing better!💗💗💗💗💗

[@ElaineBarlow]

You're so very kind. Things are still not so great over here for my family but we're doing the best we can. Just trying to survive one day at a time. ♥

[@jacobhernandez822]

Man where do you live so I can drop my gen 2 off for cleaning. 🤣🤣🤣 this cleaning situation is rufffffffffff.

[@ElaineBarlow]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Gen 2 is easy to clean if you maintain it well. I haven't spent more than 5 or 10 minutes on it since I've had it LOL. Having an ice machine generally SUCKS though I won't lie. You have to REEEAALLY love your ice to deal with it.

[@Chris-zj6pf]

Only problem I have with Gen 1 are the hoses in the machine last time I clean it out hoses had thick chunks along the hole hose and only way I could get those chunks out was to smash the hose with my fingers since then it running perfectly

[@mackz98]

Love your videos, thank you so much 💜

[@ElaineBarlow]

You're so kind! Thank you so much for watching!

[@KeithStedman]

Have you experienced harder ice? My machine doesn't squeal anymore but it produces harder ice which is not nearly as pleasent as the chewable ice. We use distilled water.

[@dl2197]

Its okay to say its a good unit after a junky OPAL V1. Hoe often do we clean our Ice from refrigerator units never.

[@ElaineBarlow]

Not sure why you post this stuff. You seem to have some kind of hostility that you need to release. Please do it elsewhere thanks.

[@fuzziebunnie]

Elaine, have you thougth about using a borescope to check the internal water container to save yourself grief in opening that container? they run $15 or so.

[@ElaineBarlow]

Opening the unit takes about 30 seconds. It's not difficult. The problem is how the internal water area is situated similar to the Gen 1 it takes a bit of work to get it off. But I don't consider it a big deal. There is actually more to clean inside the actual unit. Owners need to be comfortable taking the lid off and even taking other components apart to clean them.

[@jesusjones3014]

My only disagreement with you is about bleach, bleach is a fine to use and safe cleaner of used as directed. It will definitely help us older gen users keep algae and such at bay, from building up and cleaned out. Then running vinegar after to descale the unit then regular water for a few cleaning cycles and there will be no bleach or vinegar left to worry about. And just FYI a very small amount of bleach can disinfect water to drink as well as its used in much higher concentrations for pools and you know that's going into your kids mouth. Again used as directed and cleaned out is fine and works well, but I'll also look into the cleaners you mention.

[@garyrendano4717]

how come you dont use those filters that u can put in there. all you have is that little screen. page 11 of gen 1 manual

[@ElaineBarlow]

They are useless and at this point ... if you watched the video at all ... I literally JUST received the ice maker and didn't have one yet. But in general they are useless and I use R.O or spring water in mine so I don't need a filter.

[@tactical-bucket]

POP THAT BAD BOY OPEN

[@ElaineBarlow]

SOON.

[@tlstew8225]

Hey Elaine🧡

[@annfirkins3296]

Please put the Amazon site for ordering the bore brush for cleaning the tubes.

[@ElaineBarlow]

I've linked this a few times in multiple videos either in the description or in similar comments.

[@karenrosenhagen4270]

Where did you get the brush fir the hoses

[@ElaineBarlow]

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08F7TT8PY/

[@joannbrinton]

I just cleaned mine out all the way and the water reservoir was disgusting!! So much slime and mold. I use distilled water in it all the time- there was brown in my ice holder and underneath it in the walls as well. I’ve put it back together and water is streaming into the ice container so I’ve done something wrong. Any ideas?

[@ElaineBarlow]

Gen 1? No idea. Those are a mess. There are videos of people who have taken them completely apart though. Just do some searches you'll find people way more knowledgeable than me about the Gen 1s ... I threw mine away long ago.

[@Chris-zj6pf]

That hose cleaner is not going to do much cause most of the build up are the hoses inside open it take a look

[@ElaineBarlow]

I am not talking about the Gen 1 AT ALL in these videos so ... I dunno what to say here.

[@gstoner8432]

So still no motor whining in your unit yet?

[@Zcahm]

Iwould like to have a video of the sound. Is there any way you could send one to me

[@ElaineBarlow]

Did you watch the video? I absolutely mention the sound its making in both parts 6 and 7. I also have video of the sound.