Ice Maker Water Filters, Reduce Maintenance Costs

Keeping your commercial ice maker clean is a proven method to reduce maintenance and service costs.  Having an ice machine on a regular cleaning schedule will help, but part of your plan should include an ice maker water filter.  Properly treating water before it enters your ice maker will help limit the amount of scale build up, thus lowering cleaning times and saving on preventative maintenance costs.

A proper ice machine water filter system will not only filter out particulates, but also treat the water for scale.  The best water filters will include a chemical called siliphos, which is a chemical that reduces scale, without affecting water taste or odor.

In addition, ice machine water filters, like those made by Arctic Pure, also reduce chlorine, taste, and odor.  This treatment of the water will make your drinks taste better and keep customers happy.

Be sure to purchase a filter that contains siliphos, filters particulates down to 1 micron, and has enough capacity to treat the water consumption needs of your maker.  Improperly sizing your water filter system will lead to costly early change outs and poor performance.  Please see the filter systems below to properly size an Arctic Pure Water Filter System for your commercial ice machine.

AR10000 For 0-600lb Per Day Production Ice Machines

AR20000 For 600-1000lb Per Day Production Ice Machines

AR40000 For 1000 + lb Production Ice Machines

Manitowoc Parts

Looking for Manitowoc parts at a low price, with reliable shipping options?  Look no further than Ice Maker Parts Shop, which specializes in Manitowoc parts and exceptional customer service.

Ice Maker Parts Shop is able to sell Manitowoc parts at a low price and ship the same day in most cases, because that's all they focus on.  With years of experience in the restaurant equipment industry, specifically ice makers, they know how important your ice maker is to your business.  That's why all parts on their website are in stock, ready to ship the same day, if ordered before 3:00 CST.

To keep things simple, only the most common components are listed for sale.  This allows for a cleaner and simpler user experience.  Every item found at Ice Maker Parts Shop can be installed by almost anyone, no refrigeration license required.

Let's look at the most common Manitowoc parts available:

76-2781-3 Ice Thickness Probe - Just $45.89
115v Manitowoc Pump - Just $216.38
115v Water Inlet Valve - Just $53.94
115v Water Dump Valve - Just $53.13

This is just a small sample of Manitowoc parts available at Ice Maker Parts Shop.  There are many more ice maker parts available on site or by request.  Simply email sales@icemakerpartsshop.com to get a custom quote and special discounts on bulk orders.

Ice Maker Service Warning #1

Never, ever use anything to pry ice off of the evaporator!

If your ice machine is having trouble harvesting and you must remove the ice to diagnose, use warm water.  In most cases you should simply shut the machine down and wait for the ice to melt off.

To properly diagnose a Manitowoc ice maker it is important to monitor each individual cycle.  Depending on the time the ice machine takes to freeze and whether or not the harvest cycle is initiated is very important.  But remember, never force the ice off ocf the evaporator or you may damage the freezing plates.  If the plates become scratched or damaged the ice maker may never harvest properly.

Manitowoc Wins Overall Best In Class Award

Manitowoc Ice won the Overall Best In Class award from the Foodservice Equipment & Supplies Magazine.  The award was based on the ice makers ability to adapt to current industry environments and reliability.  This is the 11th year in a row that Manitowoc Ice has taken the Overall Best In Class award.

The Manitowoc I Series ice machine was released in 2011, rolling out updated S Series throughout the year.  In March of 2011, the first 300lb and 400lb cubers were coming into local distributors and now, almost every Manitowoc ice maker is updated to the I Series model.  Currently, only the largest 48" ice makers remain in the previous S Model and are expected to be updated sometime in the 1st quarter of 2012.

Manitowoc I Series ice machines boast a number of updates to improve efficiency and reliability.  The Manitowoc control board has been updated to add new features like logging error codes, running in fail safe mode, and remote diagnosing.  In addition, features like a new ice thickness probe, that utilize sonar technology instead of continuity, set the I Series apart from it's predecessors.

2012 promises to be another successful year for the Manitowoc company and for Manitowoc Ice brand ice makers.  Look to IceMakerPartsShop.com for Manitowoc parts and service technician handbooks to help in repairing your ice maker.

Can You Change The Ice Cube Size?

No.  Unfortunately most modern commercial ice makers do not allow for a change in ice cube size through any kind of setting.  The ice machine purchased will come making a specific sized and stylized cube.  While there are cube size differences, there is no easy way to convert the ice maker to another.

The ice cube size is determined by the evaporator on the ice maker.  The evaporator is the plating where the ice actually forms and is then harvested.  There are many different ice types, but typical cubes are all made the same way, by freezing cascading water over an evaporator.

Therefore to change the ice cube size you must change out the evaporator, which is not a cost effective method, nor is it even always possible.  If you are in need of a different size ice cube, simply purchase another ice machine.

When purchasing a new ice machine, consider the size and style of ice that you will need.  Modern commercial ice makers are capable of producing a wide range of ice types, from wet and soft pellets, to hard and large squares.  Choose wisely, because the ice size you choose, will be all that maker is capable of producing.

Manitowoc Ice Types

Before You Buy A Dump Valve

Before you buy a dump valve for a Manitowoc ice machine, make sure to verify the voltage.  While model numbers are 99% effective at giving you the information you need to find out the voltage, some machines can be special ordered in non common voltages.

Did you know that you can order a 300lb Manitowoc cuber in 208-230v?  It would be very rare, but these machines do exist, so it never hurts to check your voltage before ordering.  This same rule would apply to components like water pumps and inlet valves.

Diagnosing A Safety Limit

Manitowoc ice machines are programmed to shut down under situations that could potentially damage the machine, these are called Safety Limits.  Depending on the model of ice machine that you have, it could contain 2 to 4 different safety limits.  However, all safety limits can generally be broken down into 2 categories.

The first type of safety limit shuts the ice maker down when it's been in the freeze cycle too long and the second is when it stays in the harvest cycle too long.  If either limit is reached, it's an indication that the ice machine is not working properly and needs to be locked out.  It will remain shut down until someone resets the maker, either through the toggle switch or by resetting the power.

Why would a Manitowoc Ice Machine shut down on a long harvest safety limit?

The #1 reason a Manitowoc will shut down on a harvest safety limit is because it's dirty.  A dirty evaporator will hold onto the ice, making it slowly melt away until there is no ice to break the bin switch.  Which leads to the second most common reason for a failed harvest safety limit, bad bin switch.

When Ice falls from the evaporator it opens the water curtain, which breaks the proximity of the bin switch.  If the switch is bad it will not read that the ice has fallen, thus terminating the harvest cycle.  Typically, after 3 consecutive cycles of long harvests, the machine will lock out.

Why would a Manitowoc Ice Machine shut down on a long freeze cycle?

This safety limit is a little more difficult to diagnose than a long harvest, however is most commonly associated with a water problem.  If there is not enough water in the trough or able to be pumped over the evaporator, then it cannot make contact with the ice thickness probe.  The ice thickness probe is what would terminate the freeze cycle and initiate a harvest.

Places to look would be a faulty water inlet valve or a dump valve that is stuck open, causing the ice maker to lose all it's water down the drain, before it can freeze.  However, never underestimate a good cleaning, clogged distributor holes or a clogged up pump can also lead to a long freeze time, thus shutting down your Manitowoc ice machine.  In addition, make sure your water level probe is not dirty, causing it to misread, scale build up on the probe will tell the board that it's full of water.

Most common parts replaced on a Manitowoc Ice Machine:

Ice Thickness Probe
Water Level Probe