My Old Mechanical Kold-Draft

[Heavyevans]

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/6133/0524091817.th.jpg (http://img41.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0524091817.jpg)
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/2349/0524091846.th.jpg (http://img41.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0524091846.jpg)


I pulled this out of a Denny's around 1990 during my reefer days. It was hooked up to a multiplex condenser.

I pulled the condenser assembly from a Scotsman flaker and made my own remote condenser.

It's located at a friend's body shop. We all use it on a daily basis. It's still pumping R-12.

I thought the rest of you old timers might like to see it and reminisce on how much fun these machines are.

[EugeneTheJeep]

I used to work on quite a few of them, a mechanical wonder. I found the older ones with the water tank that snapped up on a spring were alot more reliable then the ones with the thermistors. Is Kold Draft still around. It was actually how the Hoshisaki was conceived. Japanese photographer went to a KD seminar and took a bunch of pics. Works pretty much on the same principal, harvest initiated by low water level.

I might have a few old parts in my truck if you need them, a couple of springs, and maybe a switch?

[icemeister]

My father sold a lot of those back in the late 1960's and early 1970's.

They worked great, but were certainly a tribute to Rube Goldberg as well.:D

[shaka]

I have a brand new water pump in my storage..

[Freezeking2000]

http://www.kold-draft.com/products/cubers-and-bins/

[selfemployed]

Worked on some in the 70's. Got a product promotion letter from the new owners a couple of months ago.

[HVAC9900]

That brings back memories,haven't seen one in a long time. They were a time killer to work on.Had to try to look busy during cycles,if there wasn't anything else to work on.

[24X7ProjMgr]

At least you don't have a stacked setup and can get to the rear spring without a hand-surgeon and psychiatrist handy...

[itsiceman]

They were a time killer to work on.Had to try to look busy during cycles,if there wasn't anything else to work on.That hasn't changed ;)

Gotta love those huge cube machines LOL

They got two service manuals
91 and before and 92 and after :cool:

The new ones are quieter or I'm going deafer :p

[K_Neil]

Been a long time. Early /mid 80's since I've seen one.
Ice machines are like women- it doesn't pay to win the argument, just take your time and act like they won. A bit of babysitting always helps too.

[DoctorIce]

If Kold-Draft hadn't gone chapter 11 I'd still be selling them instead of fixing
everybody's machine. The line is a lot smaller and they have a couple of design flaws but if you worked on them in the 70's you wouldn't be lost on the new ones. With no Ross-Temp, Cornelius or Crystal Tips you need the odd Kold-Draft to keep you awake. I do the local warranty work for Kold-Draft but
the sales have been very low so I haven't been busy with them.

[monkeyman#1]

Remember them well. Double stacks with the rear spring were definitely a pain. Loved it when the resevoir stuck to the ice plate.:eek:

[K_Neil]

Found my K/D bible. Just like new, got it just before I switched towns after my journyman kicked in. I get a kick out of the trouble shooting page. Extra thick paper with little metal pointers riveted on so they can move to indicate what the switching device makes or breaks contact with on the wiring diagram.
Don't start thinking I'm going crazy but it's late and I'll have to figger out how to send pictures to make more sense and I don't have the expertise to do it tonite.

[rjw_hvac_tech]

But I might be a little biased ...they are just on the other side of town

[Heavyevans]

Thanks for all the offers on parts. The machine originally had three heads.

Two were mechanical which the owner gave me and the third was electronic which they kept for another store.

I have used the parts from both of the machines I got to keep it running.

I also have a customer at a local hospital that gave me his Kold Draft parts inventory after he changed out his last Kold Draft machine.

[QTEMP]

Ahhh, yes, the good old mousetrap Kold Draft icemakers. When you got them to work, they worked great. Don't forhet the 5 quarters in the weight sump trick to adjust the spring tension on the weight switch...works like a charm

[andrewd33]

Damn, That reminds me of being a kid back in the 70s and 80s. My dad always owned restaurants and I worked when I was a kid. One of his bar patrons when I was a busboy got me into the HVAC field. We had the old Kold draft with one unit stacked ontop of the other with one bin. they were so big. I also worked at a hotel with the old Whirlpools with the heater piano cords. That was a summer job at the jersey shore back ini 1982. They kept the ice machines outside under a roof sloped off the side of the building. ( in an oceanfront hotel)

[k-fridge]

It was partially thanks to Kold-Drafts that I made a name for myself in refrigeration. I works on thousands of them.

Too m any moving parts, but they had a real beauty to them. A full frame, the cleanest, hardest ice in the industry, and I bet they still produce more ice per BTU refrigeration than the machines out today.

They also made one of the best flakers ever built.

[andrewd33]

As energy costs escalate there will be more attention to this. Compare the kW / lb of ice of a vogt Tube ice to any hoshizaki Manitowoc or Scottsman and you see if you are using large quantities of ice how much more efficient they are. Unfortunately there are no small capacity tube ice makers available in US.

[rayr]

Ahhh, yes, the good old mousetrap Kold Draft icemakers. When you got them to work, they worked great. Don't forhet the 5 quarters in the weight sump trick to adjust the spring tension on the weight switch...works like a charm

My old manuals say 6 quaters!

[itsiceman]

They also made one of the best flakers ever built. Ice Crusher ???

or a real flaker ???

I remember the crushers :cool:

you could send stumps down there like Fargo :eek:

[Grayline]

anyone remember the Bins by Kold Draft with the drains built into the sides (rusty mess)

[jtrefrig]

watching them harvest was like watching a train hit a car stuck on the tracks. worked well when u got em right though. have yet to see a new one. had one hotel i know the engineer took off my change on the tanks. 5 units down. under contract they got galvanized washers cant buy sodas with them. jbb

[Grayline]

I have a customer who is looking for a Cuber that makes large cubes.any other Machines out there besides the KD?

[Octopus]

That machine is missing the keg and tap drilled into the side.

[baub]

Anyone remember the old Kold-Draft bottle coolers? Had a curved sliding top like an old roll top desk. From the late 40's and 50's.

[icemeister]

Anyone remember the old Kold-Draft bottle coolers? Had a curved sliding top like an old roll top desk. From the late 40's and 50's.

The last one I've seen was about ten years ago at a local cowboy bar.

(I'll bet you didn't know Florida has cowboys. ;))

[Mishap64]

One of my customers was using mechanical one til about 6 months ago. Took a lot of tricks keeping that thing going.

[refer guy]

over in the OC and LA areas i have only seen three of those so far, once you understand how they work their not bad machines at all, one think i did notice like someone said is that their sheets of ice are more solid.

[rscamaro]

I also worked on them a long time ago but not so many as alot of you guys have.

I was working on a PM the other day an saw an even older style ice maker that I haven't seen in almost 20 years. The last one I worked on was a GE model. I don't remember what brand this was other than it wasn't GE. It makes a single sheet of ice about 16"x16" then runs a defrost and drops the plate of ice onto a set of wires which are heated. Most ingeniusly simple thing I've ever had the pleasure of working on. I'll have to take pictures the next time I'm on that site. I rember one of my first service jobs was restringing the heater wire on the GE unit.

...Ron

[baub]

I don't remember what brand this was other than it wasn't GE. It makes a single sheet of ice about 16"x16" then runs a defrost and drops the plate of ice onto a set of wires which are heated.

...Ron

Either a Frigidare or Whirlpool.

[rscamaro]

Either a Frigidare or Whirlpool.

I think that those names would have stuck in my head. Oh well, I won't be back to that site until June. I might get lucky and it will still be there.

...Ron

[HeyBob]

I tossed my service manuals for them a few months ago, haven't seen one in years!

[jonbailey19808]

Kold Draft is still making them. I visited there factory in July of last year. Most of the design is mainly unchanged.

[Grayline]

Anyone out there Know of a cuber that makes a larger cube than Manitowoc Hoshi or scotsman? Scared of the kold draft :anyone:

[itsiceman]

Not KD size but you can choke on a Manitowoc "R" cube if you can get it

1 1/8" x 1 1/8" x 7/8"

[Grayline]

I have looked everywhere and asked my Manitowoc Rep hes never heard of a "R" machine have you any details?

[itsiceman]

R stands for Regular cube
Not sure if you can get one in the US or not but you could probably buy the parts and make your own out of an old machine :patriot: