It is necessary for every one of you to understand how the commercial ice makers work or make ice and their working procedure so you have more understating when you need commercial ice maker repair. It will help you learn more about the ice machines, find out the common issues, fix them at home and save on repair and maintenance costs. Following details will help you in this regard.

Working of a Commercial Ice Maker

Water Path

The commercial ice machines work differently than household ice makers. First thing to know about their process is how water enters. There is an inlet pipe in the commercial ice makers which is used for water. Moreover, the inlet also has a filter which removes all the minerals so that clean and neat ice can be made.

Heat Absorption and Transformation

When water is poured in the inlet pipe, it passes through an ice mold where the evaporator is attached. The mold also acts as an evaporator to absorb the heat so that ice can be made. As heat is absorbed, the water becomes extremely cold and turns into ice.

Collection Process

With this, the ice is ready. However, there are few more steps that are important before the ice comes out. The ice thus made is flash hated but it does not melt at all. Here the ice falls into the ice bin where it is collected. It is also important to know that ice should be collected immediately from the ice bin otherwise the bin will be filled and the ice maker will stop working.

The Type of Ice Commercial Ice Makers Make

Many of you may be wondering whether the ice made in commercial ice makers is similar to the home ice freezers or refrigerators make. It must be pointed out that commercial ice makers make much colder ice than do the home refrigerators. This ice lasts longer and is thick as well.

The commercial ice makers use cold water from inside out which is not the case when it comes to a normal freezer which uses packets of water to cold at a time. Moreover, the commercial ice makers leave no cracks in the ice which can break them. This way the ice remains clear, hard and thick.

Mechanics Behind the Commercial Ice Machine

In the first section, we discussed the process of ice making in the commercial ice makers without going into details. Here the mechanics or steps and the technical details of how a commercial ice maker works will be discussed.

You need to know that the commercial ice makers have more powerful refrigeration and compressors. They make use of the refrigeration process to make ice. The refrigerator of the machine uses a refrigerant which changes its state. As the refrigerant passes through the compressor, it increases temperature. This leads to release of condensed gas through the condenser.

It then changes into liquid and passes through the evaporator chamber. The liquid is again turned into gas and the heat is absorbed during evaporation. It is the process that causes the cooling effect in the commercial ice makers. When the water falls the ice trays, the evaporator cools it immediately.

The water trays in the ice maker are connected to heat exchanging pipes. It is the refrigeration process that chills the water trays. It should also be noted that ice makers pump water slowly which is necessary for the machine to gradually cool the water and turn it into ice. This is the reason we get ice cubes of a particular shape and fixed size. If the water is pumped all at once, the ice made thus will be cloudy.

Difference Between a Commercial Ice Maker and Refrigerator

With everything discussed about the process of ice making in commercial ice machines, it is imperative to draw a comparison between how a restaurant refrigerator and a commercial ice maker work.

The main difference is that a refrigerator is not primarily for ice making. It refrigerates food and helps make ice as well. On the contrary, a commercial ice maker is designed typically for ice making. Moreover, it also runs on low temperature whereas the ice making machines used high temperature. Dispenser is another difference between the commercial ice makers and home refrigerators.

Lastly, when you need repair for your commercial ice maker or refrigerator, make sure you hire expert commercial refrigerator services Northern VA.