evap plating

[Jack8080]

Little while back I had an ice machine that would produce ice inconsistently. One of my bosses came in and we replaced the TXV, the ice thickness sensor, and the hot gas bypass solenoid. The guy was getting very frustrated with what was going on and finally replaced the refrigerant in it. It ran alright for a week and then started the same problem. We finally called one of the senior mechanics to come and take a look at it. His diagnosis - the plating on the evap had been worn down. He started interrogating me what I used to clean it. I had always used the ice machine cleaner and sanitizer that we were instructed to use. However, I remembered a previous mechanic at the loaction saying something about using "CLR" to get all the real nasty stuff off. So this senior mechanic flipped out when I mentioned this to him. He told me that's what ruined it (after he calmed down of course). His solution was to spray food grade silicone on the evap every once in a while to keep it "slick". It seemed to work cause we didn't have much issues after that. So has anyone ever encoutered a similar problem and if so what was your remedy?

[cyro]

New machine or replace the evap. nothing else left to say.

[mjm88]

if we have a machine with evap platimg worn off we spray it with food grade silicone till we can get a new machine installed

[Meerkat82]

I assume it is a manitowoc since you said it has an ice thickness probe. You should always use a nickel safe cleaner. Replace the evap coil or change the head.

[lovecoldair]

Agreed with nickel safe .....The food grade silicone? it may work for a bit but im not sure i would want to be drinking that in my drinks......

[Jack8080]

@meerkat yeah its a manitowoc
@lovecoldair I don't know how safe it is to be drinking that ice but I wasn't able to taste the difference, when I asked our the senior mechanic he just rolled his eyes and said it would be alright.
ive been told to spray it for a good year after this happened. It worked well. I don't work at that location anymore but I know that they would rather stock up on silicone than replace that machine.

[lovecoldair]

Ok next time you see him , Hand him a bottle of it and say ok drink up....Personally when i work on a machine ii treat it like my wife and kids were going to be eating there. I wont say its harmfull nut i personally wont take the chance with anything people are consuming...On a side not ill bet WD 40 would work too for a while but i wouldnt recommend injesting that either

[stonewallred]

I work on ice machines.
Which means unless I am at a restaurant that I have serviced the ice machine, I drink coffee with my meals.

Bad plates, change plates.

[tuba]

I just came across an old Ice o Matic that I had recently serviced a few months ago. I was shocked to see that one of the horizontal plates had separtated and was sticking out about 3/4 inch - this in turned did not allow the ice to drop, turned off the machine on bin full, and froze the harvest assist pin in the out position.

I thawed the plate, pushed it back in, reset the assist motor and watched the machine make great ice again. I told the customer to start looking for a new machine - I could not say how long it would last the it stopped again. I had thought I had seen almost everything till I saw this.

[mustangpaul]

on the ice o matic you can pull that bad grid out. The machine will make larger ice on that section but would still work, i've done it. You can pound the grid back in but risk the callback if it separates again so I just yank the bad grid out to keep the ice machine going. If you save the customer from the high cost of replaceing the evap or having to buy a new machine they will love you.

[MAC AIR]

Agreed with nickel safe .....The food grade silicone? it may work for a bit but im not sure i would want to be drinking that in my drinks......

What kind of silicone spray exactly....I am just asking because I have a customer that has an older unit that he uses at a snack bar no money to replace the unit. It makes ice perfect and he wants to get some more life out of it. I went to grainger looking for some food grade silicone. They have it but it is rated h1, which means that if it accidentally comes in contact with food you should be ok. However I don't believe that would include spraying it directly on evap of ice maker. I guess there is some food grade products that can be used but it needs a h3 rating meaning you can eat it.

[Bobbycold]

Many of the larger Manitowocs have evaps replacements. I don't know if I would use the spray for long, personally.

[2sac]

What kind of silicone spray exactly....I am just asking because I have a customer that has an older unit that he uses at a snack bar no money to replace the unit. It makes ice perfect and he wants to get some more life out of it. I went to grainger looking for some food grade silicone. They have it but it is rated h1, which means that if it accidentally comes in contact with food you should be ok. However I don't believe that would include spraying it directly on evap of ice maker. I guess there is some food grade products that can be used but it needs a h3 rating meaning you can eat it.

You can get food grade silicone online anywhere you can buy meat processing equipment. Comes in a paste and a spray. I've never used it on an IM. Repair or replace the unit.