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Had a call for a Scotsman machine in the back room of a restaurant. It was filthy! Asked the woman in charge when the last cleaning was performed. Her answer was every couple of months they cleaned it. Startup date was 1997. Asked her who didi the cleaning, and she said she did it. When I asked her how she cleaned she said she turned the control board from freeze to clean and let it run for a half hour, then turned it back to freeze. Hmmm.
Agree with what others are saying, depends on enviroment, water, amout of ice used and what system has for slim, mold prevention. Yeast will turn a machine into slim in no time at all. Some machines use auto additve devices to help with this. Manitowacs Aucs is an example of this. I will not use ice when getting a beverage from a certain sub sandwitch shop, I have seen there ice maker:-)
does anyone have a good link or pdf instructions to cleaning? I have the pdf instruction manuel for the ones I am going to be working on but looking for some more info. Also Do you clean the drain tubes with a brush ?
Thanks
As others have said, water quality, filter changes, and nearby conditions / food prep are hugely important in how an ice machine performs and needs to be serviced.
Check the manuf. spec on cleaning, many have "clean" cycles, which will allow the descaling agent you introduce to continually circulate through the system until you change the cycle. While the descaling agent is running, blow out the condenser coil, clean fan, check covers, drainage, etc... Make sure bin is empty and sanitized, usually flexible bristle brush both drains, or combo drain with sanitizer and after purge, let the flush carry out. Rinse thoroughly. Always discard first two harvests of ice after cleaning. The newer bins with 'AgION' or equivalent are showing very good resistance and have been super easy to clean.
Each one is different, due to water conditions and environment, I have some that look immaculate after a few months of service and some that look terrible after a month of service. You have to judge it and act accordingly, I am in agreement of every 6 months minimum.