On the subject of ice makers/dispensers-at my house in the city, when the cub was a child, we had the ice maker/dispenser hooked up all the time-and the water is so hard in this area that we cleaned and repaired it every couple of months because of the lime deposits. I cleaned it again when I sold the house, and it became someone else’s headache to deal with.
I do not like/have water softeners because of the sodium and other trace chemicals they employ to soften the water-I use a reverse osmosis filter for the water here, and a low-iodine purifier, but that is all.
My dad had an ice maker in the fridge once. You’re right, they use such a tiny line that it clogs easily. We have hard water.