As the outdoor temperature rises, so does your ice consumption, or perhaps you’re about to need a large quantity of ice, but your freezer just won’t cooperate.
Don’t panic! We’ve got you covered with these 3 amazing tips to speed up ice-making. Read on and take notes!
1 Use Hot Water
Use Hot Water
It may sound counterintuitive, but using hot water to make ice can actually expedite the freezing process in your freezer.
This phenomenon is known as the Mpemba effect – named after a Tanzanian student who observed that hot milk-sugar mixtures for ice cream froze faster than cold ones.
His physics teacher dismissed the idea, but Mpemba convinced a university lecturer to test it, and the results were published in a scientific journal in 1969.
While the Mpemba effect doesn’t always occur, it’s definitely worth a try!
2 Use Distilled Water
This method is simple: place your bottles in the freezer for about 2 hours.
Then, carefully remove them and give the bottles a sharp knock on a table or counter—instant ice!
Alternatively, you can partially fill a bowl with regular ice cubes and pour the distilled water over them to make a full bowl of ice.
According to expert Thompson, distilled water lacks impurities such as dust or microorganisms, which means there’s nothing for ice crystals to form around. Therefore, the water can reach temperatures below freezing without solidifying. Applying a shock, such as knocking the bottle, provides the necessary catalyst for ice formation.
3 Use Aluminum Foil
Aluminum foil is an excellent heat conductor. Wrapping your ice tray with foil will help create colder temperatures faster, resulting in quicker ice formation.
Here’s how: first, wrap the ice tray with foil, then fill it with water and place it in the freezer. After a couple of hours, you’ll have a fully frozen ice tray.
For a fun experiment, place an unwrapped ice tray in the freezer alongside the wrapped one. After two hours, compare the results—you’ll find that the wrapped tray will be completely frozen!
Typically, when your freezer is taking a long time to make ice, it means it’s struggling to maintain a low enough temperature. This issue usually stems from how we set up and use our freezers, and there are a few common reasons:
– Your freezer is set to a low power setting: All freezers have adjustable power settings to cater to different needs. However, you may have accidentally left your freezer on a low setting without realizing it. Check your freezer’s settings and adjust the power to a higher level if necessary.
– You’ve recently added a large amount of food: When you add a significant quantity of food to your freezer, the internal temperature rises, and it takes a while for the freezer to cool down the new items and return to its original temperature. Therefore, if you need ice urgently, avoid filling your freezer with lots of food.
We hope that these tips will help you make ice faster when you’re in a pinch. Additionally, speeding up ice production can also save you a significant amount of money on electricity during hot weather. Good luck!
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