I'm looking to buy a used one,I'm way far from you, but what is the actual wattage and,this will sound odd,but are there any sugar-free syrups available from the sno cone line?
I used this exact type of machine for years. I also figured out how to make the BEST ice. I used those red Solo cups for ice molds. I would freeze my ice in the cups. Once frozen the ice needs to be removed from the cups. Run water over the cups. The block of ice will release and fall from the cups. Now put all of your blocks back into the freezer. You want them as cold as possible. I used a big bowl to catch the ice, and then stored in a chest cooler that went into a freezer. When ready to make your ice get out your cold blocks. The first few blocks I ran I tossed into my soda cooler. The first few runs just brings the machine down to temperature. You'll see. As you first add the ice there is some melting and dripping that happens and the ice is a little chunky. Once the machine gets down to temperature the ice quality starts becoming more like an Italian ice. Very few chunks. And I would store all of my shaved ice in one of those big chest coolers. Then the entire cooler went into a small deep freezer. As I sold snow cones I would just have to open the freezer and using my snow cone dipper make a cone. I used to have an Ice Cream truck years ago. I only made snow cone ice 2-3 times a week.
These will not make the shaved ice like a Louisiana Snow machines. I've tried a few machines and it's not the machines it's the ice. You need a machine the shaves block ice. Any machine that's I. The 200$ range will not do what your wanting.