Scotsman low production or no ice at all

[tech#1001]

Ice maker Undercounter, Scotsman M# SC170A-1A, (thai kitchen),
I was called to service this ice maker and i was told a couple other techs have tried to fix the problem, so it's seems that everything started around april this year, this is the history i could understand from the owner:
company #1, clean conderser and replaced float valve
company #2 after a few months clean conderser replaced ice thickness control, and still the same problem. which is no ice or low production.
This is what i noticed while i was there, conderser clean, water system components clean, ice maker goes throw the cycle normally until for some reason, the system goes into defrost when the ice is very small or goes into defrost(harvest)normally but there is not enough heat to remove the ice in addition to that system at some point(s)during the day shots off, Sometimes it will run normally for about two loads and then start acting again, It is a small hot kitchen i know that also could be a factor, Any thought would be really appreciated, thanks in advance

[btack]

I would check the evaporated plate first. That style of plate is notorious. Make sure none of the horizontal plates are loose or sticking outpaat the vertical ones. If that checks try and shine a flash light on the plate to check the weld where the plate touches the back plate.

If that checks out what are your pressures?

[johndief]

The ice needs to come off the evaporator in a sheet. If the bridge is not thick enough cubes can break off and hold the bin door open even though the bin is not full of ice. I can take hours for that one cube to melt keeping the machine off that whole time. I have seen this many times. It sounds to me that you need to see why the ice thickness is not the same all the time.you have a tstat that starts a timer those are the two things that control thickness. There is a light on the board that tells you when the tstat closes it could be erratic. Your charge can also be bad or your txv.

[tech#1001]

My pressures are low side starts around 30 psi and goes down to about 24 psi
my pressures on the high side are around 310 psi and goes steady on freezing,(normal cycle)
during harvest pressures are around 200 psi both, anyways, I got there the owner told me he already spend close to $600 for repairs but since everybody is familiar with the kitchen desing he wants to get it fix, so after cheking pressures, checking evap plate,properly level unit, and running a few scenarios, i noticed that one of the legs of the reservoir was broken so the reservoir was losing water because it was not properly attached to the base of the evapotor, so I got a piece of wire, made a new hole next to the broken little leg, and attached it to the reservoir and hang it from a screw that i place at the back of the evap coil, level it, clean condenser, clean water system and components, and after an hour it drop 2 times, perfect loads, I am picking up a new reservoir tomorrow, i called 4 hours after , Ice making is producing ice, hope this solve the problem , thank you very much for your comments and opinions, i will let you guys know if that was the final touch

[btack]

I don't really like those pressures never Seen the low side hit 200 not on 404 for sure. Scotsman says 300-210 on the high side I like 225 and 25 on the low. Hopefully all is good for you. A leaky sump will cause the the float to constantly add water and result in thin or no ice.
Hopefully all is fixed good luck my friend

[arnoldbta]

Interesting. Please update and let us know if fixing the reservoir solved the problem. Curious to see if this was the only problem.

[tech#1001]

Gents, I am sorry for not taking the time to reply regarding the problem with the Scotsman, next day showed up, cooks crew told me they had to turned it on once but it was making ice,I replaced new resorvoir , so i hang around till i saw a couple of good drops and told the owner unit working fine to let me know if shots off so i could showed up intstantly and find what else was the problem, a day went by, i showed up around 2 pm, Ice maker almost to the top,I called this morning, chef told me ice bin is very close to full capacity, so i guess it's time to show up with the bill and wish them a happy new year, thanks folks for your opinions

[tech#1001]

HAPPY NEW YEARS; btack,johndief, arnoldbta, and eveybody hvacr community

[meoberry]

I don't really like those pressures never Seen the low side hit 200 not on 404 for sure. Scotsman says 300-210 on the high side I like 225 and 25 on the low. Hopefully all is good for you. A leaky sump will cause the the float to constantly add water and result in thin or no ice.
Hopefully all is fixed good luck my friend

I am with you. If water is leaking out of pan and warm water coming into pan. Pressures should be higher than normal not lower.