Comments on: Diamond-shaped ice-mold

By: Xopher

Xopher — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Missing ‘d’ in the title.

By: AirPillo

AirPillo — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ice tends to slowly sublimate in the freezer (notice how an ice tray that’s sat around for a while seems to have shrunken cubes in it) so you’d wind up with weird shrunken and rounded-edged diamond ice cubes. Probably a lot less pretty looking.

By: DougDinsdale

DougDinsdale — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Solution: Get a really big freezer, and buy a thousand of these things. It writes itself. Heyâ€”bathtubs full of over-sized ice-diamonds don’t come cheap.

By: wobblesthegoose

wobblesthegoose — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sure, I woke up in a bathtub full of ice cubes with my kidney missing. But the ice cubes were shaped liked diamonds. Tres Clas-say

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Half of Sork’s trick is wrong:
Filling the container with water is useless, and the ice they contain will only give back the cold that they took from the heat pump in the first place, so they don’t save any energy whatsoever.

Just use empty containers instead. (but do close them)

By: IamInnocent

IamInnocent — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Who is your lover, a polar mom?

By: jackie31337

jackie31337 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

True, but it doesn’t happen THAT fast, so I think you could probably freeze one, pop it in another container, and freeze a few more before you lose much ice to sublimation. Probably not enough to fill a bathtub, but certainly enough for the ice bucket.

By: wrecked_em

wrecked_em — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

#2, it doesn’t sublimate, it melts. Your freezer’s “frost-free” function is doing that.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

is there a UK supplier.

By: Lars

Lars — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve gifted this ‘Cool Jewels’ from this manufacturer on occassion:

http://www.worldwidefred.com/cooljewels.htm

By: dculberson

dculberson — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I have a non-frost-free (or is that a “frosty?”) freezer at work, and the ice cubes still shrink as they sit. I use very little ice, so it’s actually resulted in empty ice cube trays before. I do believe they’re sublimating.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I actually once bought something similar to this. The results are disappointing. Like all ice cubes, they come out a bit cloudy, which ruins the effect. When they are put in water, like all ice cubes, they crack a bit. The result is a glass of ice water that looks just like a glass of ice water. There is no similarity to icy jewels at all.

By: keef

keef — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I bought this a few months ago and enjoy an ice diamond in my glass of scotch on occasion.

For non-cracked, clear ice:
1. Use filtered water
2. Boil your water for a few minutes
3. If you fill the entire mold with water, it will crack when it freezes. Make sure to leave some room for expansion.

By: Sork

Sork — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The cubes melt a little every time you open the door and let warm moist air in. The unoccupied volume of air in the freezer will determine how much energy is needed to freeze dry the moisture in the air.

I have an energy conservation (electric bill saving) trick for you if you haven’t got a full freezer. Take plastic containers from ice cream or such and fill with water and put on the lids, and stack them on the top shelf, as many as you need. When they freeze you will not only have reduced the volume of air but also reduce the energy needed from the electric pump as it is taken from the ice blocks.

By: S2

S2 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Don't forget to employ the simple instructable to give your diamonds clarity. (And reading the comment debate over the Mpemba effect can help pass the time while your diamonds solidify ;-)

By: Sork

Sork — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’m not sure about your uselessness, perhaps in theory.

Ice is a much better accumulator than air and it will even out the ups and downs in the temperature. It will help convecting the air inside after the door closes. It will help keeping the freezer cold during power-outs. It takes less energy to refreeze the ice than chilling the empty container.

It will of course take energy to freeze the ice in the first place (energy in = energy out) but if you think in monthly power bills you will see a saving in the long run.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The cool jewels would help take care of the “one-at-a-time problem”! The Fred & Friends design people come up with one of the best assortment of products EVER. See: Cakewich!

http://www.worldwidefred.com/cakewich.htm

By: Tony Giles

Tony Giles — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

To enjoy crystal-clear “diamonds” without flaws, boil your water for a couple of minutes and cool without agitating before freezing. This will remove the dissolved air that causes bubbles to appear in ice.