if the average person saw the inside of a commercial ice machine they'd loose their cookies

@rickyreynolds17

6 ай бұрын

I picked an ex pub one up many years ago to use at home for summer parties - after looking inside it for cleaning it I vomited and ended up taking it to a scrap yard. People are disgusting yo

@SmallKittyPaw

6 ай бұрын

If average person would took a stroll around fastfood kitchen they'd loose their cookies. There's much more nasty stuff there than some calcium and maybe mold

@glennschlorf1285

6 ай бұрын

Yummy

@SOU6900

6 ай бұрын

​@SmallKittyPaw Sadly I can agree to this. I use to work at Hardee's as the biscuit maker. I can't count the number of mornings I've tossed biscuit pans in the sink first thing because closing shift left chicken tender residue on them when they washed and up them with my clean ones. Once or twice I've even had to wash said pans first thing in the morning because they took all my pans and just put them on the sink without cleaning them. Don't even get me started on the ice machine lol.

@TravisDoesGames

6 ай бұрын

@@rickyreynolds17ice machines are disgusting

HVAC tip of the day: always order your drinks without ice.

@HappilyHomicidalHooligan

6 ай бұрын

Oh GOD Yes!!! I also try not to order anything served from the dispenser nozzles for the same reason...if it doesn't come in a bottle or can, I don't drink it in a restaurant, coffee being the exception as those are usually properly cleaned daily and if they're not, they get hot enough to kill most bugs...

@coreybabcock2023

6 ай бұрын

I always do so I can maximize my value

I can tell you that in my area, _any_ system covered in water like an ice machine _will_ end up coated in minerals. My cat's _water bowl_ ends up that way. Extremely high mineral content, at least on this part of the Gulf Coast. One of our water heaters, decades ago, had a foot of minerals in it. It half filled a 5 gallon bucket, and turned into concrete.

I used to carry a box of Ice bags from Uline,tgat way you could bag it up and put in the freezer!

I live in NYC. In the offices they have coffee pantries with ice machines. When the pandemic happened, people just walked away. Some of the units were turned off. Ill let your imagination work out what they were like. Especially when they reopened and just turned the units on and served the ice. They are so lucky they didn't have.any law suits.

Time for my annual Tommy Lee at the VFW hall Mani training session

Good point about the drain pan repair not using NSF-rated materials. A picky health inspector would have a fit if they had seen that hack job. Even if it had been a better repair job, whatever they used as a patch could either harbor bacteria or leach chemicals, and the use of a cloth-based tape like duct tape/Gorilla tape could host all sorts of microscopic organisms. For those wondering, NSF - National Sanitation Foundation - is a regulatory body that has been around since 1944 to set minimum sanitation standards for the US. Many, if not all, restaurant chains REQUIRE the use of NSF-approved products in every aspect of the industry - cleaning chemicals, single-use gloves, countertops, food storage containers, literally almost everything. Products are constantly checked that they meet strict standards, hence why NSF-rated products cost significantly more than their consumer-level equivalents.

@RT-qd8yl

Ай бұрын

Yep, this is why I think refrigeration techs working in foodservice should have additional training in food safety and HACCP

My company charges 600 to clean an IM. They ask why so much. Oh, because we also fix anything that goes wrong. For example, after an IM cleaning by the cleaning company, who do you call. Probably because they caused it. Especially you pay for the care that we take as opposed to the minimum wages cleaner.

Bearded clam lol. I'm hoping there's a sharable back story for Curious H.V.A.C Guys tasteful label lol.

Chris, instead of using thermostat wire to clean those tubes, why not buy some long pipe cleaners to use...I believe they can be bought in 12-18 inch long sections and that would be lots for those tubes and the bristles would get a LOT more gunk out without scratching anything...

Also, I've removed hard scale like that. Manually with a wide screwdriver or a smaller chisel. but proper water filtration for that area and you will not have to worry about build up again.

@HVACRVIDEOS

6 ай бұрын

I will discuss this on my Livestream this evening 1/8/24 @ 5:PM (pacific) on KZread come on over and check it out kzread.infoe1BpQF8fjis

I think a Lot of people realize that they’re Not going to Find Clean Restaurant Kitchens, Bathrooms, Dining Rooms, etc. Hepatitis in Food Prep Concerns Us.🤔

Ive seen this problem before, the water fill valve is not getting power because the relay on the board has failed. The unit runs out of water and bam, long harvest error. I've repaired these boards many times. That flow noise on the cool vapor valve is definitely sounding like the strainer is partially blocked.

Your merch should have a tee-shirt that has the word "Technician" and has a picture of a wood-chipper below it. 🤣 Old reefer guy told me to always tell somebody that who asked you what you did for a living.

The ice thickness probe listens to the ice cracking not the water,Just FYI Great videos man😊

I really enjoy your vlogs as I do ice machine service here in the Houston TX area. You're a wealth of information! thanks for sharing!

@halverde6373

6 ай бұрын

My pity for you. TACLB-C 004153, Retired.

thank you for this diagnosis my friend. soo dificult to get manitowac on the line lol

I’ve watched almost every one of your videos, and have really enjoyed them. If I needed work done, I would definitely want someone exactly like you.

I wish you could do more ice machines, they are your best content imo

Thanks for your knowledge

Buena tarde Chris, espero hayas disfrutado del año viejo y tengas un año nuevo lleno de cosas buenas y positivas. Eres un buen ser humano y sabes como manejar los problemas que otros dejan en las máquinas de hielo, es admirable tu forma de ser de verdad te felicito plenamente, cuídate mucho. Saludos y abrazos a todo tú equipo deseándoles un excelente año 2024. Desde Coacalco Edo de México. Gracias por tu sencillez.

Chris, thank you so much for your videos. I'm kind f cable guy. During the New Year's weekend at work, we defrost household 3 refrigerators (in chain shedule) as part of a general cleaning of the food room. During my shift, I sent the refrigerator to defrost and a day later my colleague started it again. When I opened this refrigerator next day, all the drawers in the freezer compartment were frozen in ice and would not open. A colleague did not maintain this one properly and did not check it for the remaining water (it was a lot left). This was a big problem, since the very next day the main staff arrives and a refrigerator was needed. Thanks to your videos, I understood what to do. In about an hour I dealt with all the ice using just 3 cups of hot water. 1 Hour vs 36 hours was critical for me, as all the rotten tomatoes were going to fly on me if the freezer was not ready.

Super interesting. Thanks.

I recently just came across cross an almost identical problem on a dual evaporator ice machine. Wound up changing the harvest valve and it fixed the problem. Partially plugged harvest valves are difficult to catch too.

Thanks for another great video Chris. These machines look like they need a lot of continuous maintenance.

@halverde6373

6 ай бұрын

Depending on the water supply, planned maintenance is between 30 days to once per year.

I thought of this channel recently when I had some ice water at a restaurant that tasted heavily of chlorine. First time I've ever had to send a glass of water back to the kitchen...

Great video. 💪🛠️🫡

Just noticed the old dial a harge charging cylinder in the background didn't have digital scales and electronic leak detectors used halide torches retired now but I enjoy your videos and your work ethic

That is a great video, lots to learn about ice machines, I am a long time refrigeration operator (for ice arenas) and a NeWB in HVAC. Adapting my knowledge into these smaller units is an interesting learning path. Questions: How long was it between your tech identifying the broken drain pan and when you were able to come back to do the diagnostic process? A follow up, the process for your testing and verification, how long did that take? I assume that was a full day, between start up, and when you were finished, it’d be interesting to get an idea of how long that is between start up and harvest… I’m not familiar with ice machines but I can imagine one crossing my path at some point.

@andrewgilbreath1331

6 ай бұрын

Ice machine cycle times usually 10-20 minutes depending on the machine from start up to harvest, some can take as long as 30 minutes Side note Ice machines are sized by pounds produced per 24hr day you might see a 200lb per day machine on a 400lb storage bin, so it is maintaining ice levels rather than trying to keep up with what they use during the rush periods. As for part turn around times with my company we usually see 2-5 days on ordered parts and same day on locally sourced parts.

15:23 I know several people who have swapped out bleach for cleaning (30%) vinegar because it's less noxious.

Guy who broke the pan didn't want to pay for the new pan and the work time to replace it. Very simple.

Jeez. And I thought load sensor hoses on washing machines were gummed up. That air pump hose was gross!

Soaking all the calcified parts in Pickling (7% Acetic Acid by volume) or Cleaning (10% Acetic Acid) Vinegar overnight might also break up and dissolve the calcium and is food safe... It stinks to high heaven (ESPECIALLY the Cleaning Vinegar) but might work...I know it takes the mineral buildup out of my faucet screens and shower head when the crud blocks the water flow...but it does take a LONG soak to completely dissolve the buildup...

I’ve been head first into refrigeration.. past year, ice machines can kick your butt

When our company decided to do more refrigeration work along with our commercial RTU service and maintenance, I made a decision after the first 3 ice machines that I had for service calls, that I was never going to consume ice in a restaurant setting ever again.

They weren’t thinking…that’s the issue! Just wow I’m am blown away…perhaps, to err is human…!

I have a Home Depot cement mixing tub I take with me on my cart for cleaning ice machines. fill it with some hot water and put about 6oz of Nickel-Safe Ice Machine Cleaner in it. Pull all the parts I can and let them soak and scrub them down, and of most of the time the calcium will come off with a soft nylon brush. All burn off the ice and wipe down the bin with bleach and wash it off. but for adding bleach for cleaning the evaporator coils I don't think that would be wise. you might have done that on the old Q-Model Manitowoc ice machines. I worry it might be to corrosive for the evaporator coils in the new Manitowoc Indigo ice machine's.

@RT-qd8yl

Ай бұрын

I do this with a 5gal bucket. I thought everyone did 🤔

Great troubleshooting as always. Following the sequence of operations gets you to the root cause of the problem. Great video as always Chris

@halverde6373

6 ай бұрын

Except when the problem is intermittent. Those suck.

@jasonjohnsonHVAC

6 ай бұрын

@@halverde6373 yup....fighting something like that right now on a job. When im there it runs great for hours on end, but randomly trips every once in awhile.

@halverde6373

6 ай бұрын

@@jasonjohnsonHVAC Those are nightmares.

@halverde6373

6 ай бұрын

@@jasonjohnsonHVAC worst case is you have to begin changing parts. I hated having to do that. Offer a complete replacement. Nothing runs forever today. I fixed a belt drive Tecumseh compressor decades ago, installed in 1928! They were bullet proof back then.

@halverde6373

6 ай бұрын

#1, check all electrical connectors. ALL of them. Good luck!@@jasonjohnsonHVAC

I would check to see if some of the fins/slats on that evap. coil have not came loose and separated making ice harvest slow

It's very easy to break these things when it gets stuck and you pull on it by force.

the microphone switch lol. awesome video

Good video

The ice machine calculates the distance to the ice surface by using the time of flight. Since the speed of sound in air is known (approximately 343 meters per second at 20°C or 68°F), the distance can be calculated using the formula: Distance = (Speed of Sound) × (Time of Flight) / 2. The division by 2 is because the sound wave travels to the ice and back, so the time is halved to get the one-way distance.

Watching Chris service Ice Machines is why I NEVER take ice in my drinks when I'm out. They can be truly disgusting on the inside, as this video shows. Question: Is it not possible to use water with just a few parts vinegar to clean the calcium out of the machine? It only needs to be a weak solution to work. I use a very weak solution (not more that 20%, actually around 5-10%) to descale my coffee machine. It doesn't harm the components, it's very easy to flush and non-toxic to either humans or the environment. Or is any vinegar at all going to harm the machine because of the acetic acid? What about citric acid? Or Bicarbonate of Soda?

@HVACRVIDEOS

6 ай бұрын

I still get ice everywhere I go, even Subway… what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger

@DelticEngine

6 ай бұрын

@@HVACRVIDEOS Fair enough. The other reason I don't get ice is the drink is already watered down enough as it is and is already chilled. In some places, I may as well just buy water! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger...until it doesn't...

I was hoping for a poopsicle💩

I have seen your videos and it’s just so good to see someone take pride in their work. I have learned a lot, but also wanted to ask. Do you ever bump into Scotsman Ice Machines out in the west coast?

@torinbrown8196

6 ай бұрын

USN ships use them a lot on the West Coast.

For me unlikely Bleach Traces in my Ice are waaaaay better than anything that can grow otherwise… Is the Water not softened before it’s fed into these Machines?

What about something like “sterisheen” cleaner that’s used on soft serves for removing milkstone. It’s NSF and chlorine based… I never thought about using that on ice machines cuz it would make plastics brittle over time. Thoughts?

I’m a service dude, I don’t use commercial ice machines.

Vinegar also does a pretty nice job, and its totally safe. (Minus the horrendous smell but thats a different topic :D .)

There are aquarium brushes that are all sizes to clean tubing and filters0

Ever considered using a manometer to measure the air pump pressure? This would eliminate the pump as the cause of a low/no pressure issue. Also, why not replace the tubing rather than trying to clean it?

@HappilyHomicidalHooligan

6 ай бұрын

Probably because the short section connected to the evaporator is an absolute BITCH to connect without taking everything apart... That would be my guess...

The saddest part about this is compared to some other brands Manitowoc are pretty easy to disassemble completely and deep clean, they're a good machine 😢 On the plastic with the calcium though could you use a glycolic/phosphoric acid mix like Foamy Q&A? We use that for calcium deposits in dishwashers and it's magnificent.

Remind me to say “no ice” when I order a drink.

When is part 7 of the house project coming?

Probably a greenhorn cleaning tech that made a mistake and tried to patch it up the best he could and just kept quiet. I think we all have made things like this in our history, no big deal, but for a newbie in the business it's easy to get that as a bad mark on the history to break stuff on the first job.

Too bad its not policy for health inspectors to demand these things to be open and inspected because it will force these companies to comply with health regulations or be shutdown

Question for anyone who knows. How often should these commercial icemakers be cleaned? Where I worked previously they were using municipal water and cleaned the icemakers once every six months, which seemed like a very long time to me.

@lian5147

6 ай бұрын

I recommend ice bin dumped and cleaned every 2 weeks. And a full clean every 2 months to maintain cleanliness for DOH appearances

Isn’t harvest initiation gauged off of the ice thickness sensor once the cascading water makes contact for 7 seconds? It’s located right there on your right side evaporator coil. I don’t know about a microphone

@HVACRVIDEOS

6 ай бұрын

The old machines had a metal sensor that when the water would touch it it would ground out a wire and put the unit into harvest. The Indigo model machines look at the sound the water makes as it gets closer to the microphone when the ice starts freezing.

Aren’t those mics actually listening for the second harmonic of the 50/60Hz AC power? Seems that’s how it works, and it makes sense since the motors and other equipment there will generate ample hum for the purpose. But can’t find any mention of how they work from the manufacturer. Edit: One might ask why not just use the 50/60Hz directly, and that would be that there will be powerful magnetic fields from the AC in the machine that will swamp out the signal from the mic. In principal the harmonic components in the magnet fields from the motors running and such should be much less compared to what is generated acoustically.

@HVACRVIDEOS

6 ай бұрын

They listen to the water bouncing off the cubes that is why they respond when you tap on them, I will discuss this on my Livestream this evening 1/8/24 @ 5:PM (pacific) on KZread come on over and check it out kzread.infoe1BpQF8fjis

Did you end up looking at the dump valve? With a machine this dirty, I have no doubt the dump valve had buildup in it and was letting water bypass. That’s also why you ran out of water.

If you remember i would comment about these machines cause we had them at cicis pizza and they was nasty pink slimy shit all over i would use hot water and very weak bleach solution to clean them back then it's been around 6 years now since i did that

Hey Chris, what calcium remover cleaner do you use to clean it all the hard water stuff?

question, not about ice machine but home heat, that aux heat comes on instantly now. i can manually set it to er heat which would be dumb, but now its coming on anyways, even with temp outside in the 40's. should i try cleaning the condensor out or maybe get a new thermostat, im trying to save money by doing it myself. i understand it could be low on freon, i only have the car 3 way cooling gauges. any thouights /\

Seem like those hoses should always be changed vs cleaned ?

Could you use dry ice to clean it?, it would leave the machine unscathed.

Fast food restaurants are the worst maintained ice machine

Is there not a potential for bacterial issues..the gunk in that tube must have bacteria

look, you gotta hand it to them, they may have destroyed it but they certainly cleaned it. I mean they clearly missed cleaning some spots and they then added non-sterile duct tape, but nobody said they can't be ice-machine-cleaners-and-destroyers right? The contract didn't explicitly say you can't crack the drip pan... (I am of course kidding, I think "don't break it" is probably something you don't really need to say to somebody...)

Was the sudden lack of water a one time thing or a recurring symptom?

@MrWessiide

6 ай бұрын

He should've checked the dump valve make sure it isn't leaking by

“That stuff is permanent, you’re not getting all that stuff off” My boss: get it spotless and fully cleaned in 4 hours Me: 😢

@Eledore

6 ай бұрын

And that is how we found a second hand machine (for parts) that looked like someone took a angle grinder to it.

647 thumbs up

Extra protein lol

Manitowoc has been horrible with parts for the past few years.

That repair may have been a late night temporarily fix that the company didn't want to repair it right. It happens all the time in our industry. We quote what needs done, but they dont approve it because its "working."

@adamdnewman

6 ай бұрын

In restaurants temporary fix always become permanent.

👍💪🇺🇸❄️

Why didn't you read the refrigerant line temperatures during harvest and compare the left and right side?

Why not use stubbies?

Bleach I’d used to turn raw water into potable water I don’t see an issue with it

@johnhaller5851

6 ай бұрын

The big problem is having bleach in a restaurant is that it may get used in food preparation. Diluted bleach is still what's recommended to sanitize tables, but full strength could be mixed up with something else. Maybe if it's only in the janitorial closet it's OK. There are too many newcomers in a kitchen who may otherwise mix the bleach into the salad thinking it's vinegar. It's hard to idiot-proof a kitchen when there is always a bigger idiot. But, keeping things that aren't food segregated from food helps.

@dashcamandy2242

6 ай бұрын

@@johnhaller5851 Fun Fact: The coffee-and-donut chain that America runs on, only allows use of bleach for the restrooms - Comet with Bleach. At least until the District Manager complains that plastic pitchers are stained a dingy brown (that customers can see), then I'm told "Do whatever you have to, but make those pitchers white again."

@drodriguez394

6 ай бұрын

@@johnhaller5851 listen man. The bleach doesn’t live at the restaurant. The technician brings the bleach uses it, then leaves with it Like Ice machine cleaner. Your missing the point. This is not about weather the restaurant is competent enough to keep bleach in the store or not. It’s more about the tech can’t use it in an ice machine (ice is a food) because it’s not food safe. I’m pointing out that we use it to purify drinking water. I’m saying if it’s safe in water your drink, why not the ice you eat?

Flex Tape is a good TEMPORARY repair until the next scheduled maintenance service call . The main problem is it isn't a Hoshizaki!

@JW-me2po

6 ай бұрын

Hoshi is definitely the best machine.

@ReeleKool

6 ай бұрын

Done a lot of HG valves on Hoshi and man don't forget to change h2o filters on em Ice bridge and cracked welds

@glennschlorf1285

6 ай бұрын

​@@JW-me2powho says? I WOULD RATHER have a manitowoc over any Hoshaki

@Augdogfrogslog

6 ай бұрын

Hoshizaki make paper evaporator

@ReeleKool

6 ай бұрын

@@Augdogfrogslog I watched a cheap customer with quad filter manifolds with KM 2600 tear apart the evaporators in under 38 months

I see Rust and Black Mold, that ice is not edible and should be discarded.

Garbage ass danfoss hot gass valves