PROPER WATER TREATMENT FOR COMMERCIAL ICE MACHINES

There are two distinct types of commercial ice machines, the first is a cubed ice machine that is occasionally referred to as a “fractional ice maker” because it uses a fraction of the water expended to produce ice cubes. The standard equipment uses a refrigeration circuit with an evaporator that is either vertical or upside down. The evaporator is the component where heat from the water is transferred to the refrigerant that is circulated by the compressor. As the heat is removed from the water, it begins to freeze onto the surface of the evaporator. Because the evaporator design of these cubed ice systems are vertical or upside down, and the water is being continuously circulated, physics dictate that the pure water will freeze first while the water circulating becomes more and more heavily saturated with the total mineral content that was introduced at the beginning of the freeze cycle.

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At the end of this freeze cycle a “harvest” is initiated to collect the ice from the evaporator and allow it to drop into the storage bin. This heavily mineralized water that has been circulating from the water sump across the ice forming on the evaporator, is pumped down the drain and discarded prior to the start of the next ice making cycle or batch.

For this reason, commercial cube ice machines can handle a higher mineral content within the water that is used to make ice cubes, but the life cycle of this expensive equipment can be cut short if we ignore water treatment. Commercial ice machines are susceptible to corrosion, scaling, and contamination if the incoming water is not properly treated.