Good job on monitowoc ice making machine. To tune up refrigeration cicle in harvest mode presure and ice making mode presure. Also foundation level of the ice machine helping to dump the ice in to bin. I like the ways you describe old model of Chevy and new model of survey
I have an old servend ice machine I saved from the dumpster at the gas station about 15 years ago, it sits in my shop and makes ice for camping and parties and such, it was doing the same thing when I got it cause we have horrible water out here where my shop is at, I used CLR, (i know carnal sin on nickel evaps) but its been going strong ever since, I use my hotsy machine to power wash the evaporator twice a year and it just wont buy the farm, I emptied the 500 Lb bin the night before camping and My dad got pissed said there wouldnt be enough ice for camping but it was full by morning, I love your videos Jim, watching makes me think about other stuff that I wouldnt normaly think about, keep it up bud!!
Great job!!! I just love your patience, your concern for the customer, and how you walk us through what you are doing. Keep up the good work! I know that this is an old video, but which refrigerant would be the best substitute for R-12 in an old, ancient Manitowoc self-contained ice cuber? Thanks.
Wow, those things are truly a pain in the neck. Glad we have Jim to show us the machine operation and tricks someone can only learn with years of experience.
Slow harvests on those old machines are usually due to the evap needing resealed around the plastic. Manitowoc used to sell a kit for it but, dry the evap ( by turning off water pump and putting in harvest a few min then seal with hi temp RTV works great!
I know what a bitch those things can be Believe it or not I found that if it is over charged or undercharged the ice slab in harvest will tend to go to the left or to the right and take too long to fall and also the fins in the evaporator if they are loose that also will cause that problem in harvesting thanks for the video Jim
the right rear leg has sunk into the wooden floor about an inch and the machine is lower on the right side, I'll have to jack the bin up and put a piece of flat steel under that foot, thanks
The problem is most likely the refrigerant, al those new blends have difficult glides in temperature. This will cause different temperatures in the evaporator during defrost. I am glad that I dont work on these machines very often. Thanks for the vid very educational!
I check for evap plates slipped and a mirror to look for serpentine separation on back of evap. I have also jacked up back legs of bin to help slab slip off. Ice machines sometime require serious patience!
thank you for the Insight on these machines Jim we have one that were constantly playing with it'll run for about a month and then it will harvest right we have to go through it and check it out but some good tips
Thanks for the videos jim, in my view these 2 videos are very informative. I was lucky enough to see the ice thickness probe from a side angle view and it seems to be like 1/4" away from the evap which is too wide in my view. I believe the ice thickness probe is tied in with the C.board and solenoid valve to completed the harvest cycle smoothly. thanks again
Nice job Jim. I work with the temps on the old units, I want to see the evap temp at 0 or -3 when it goes into defrost, and i want the high side temp at least 60, if not i look for an over charge. Hope this helps.
wow, first thought was weak compressor with those long freeze cycles but over 400 head at the end man that's crazy with a cool liquid. next guess is at the end you still have a weak pump and system is grossly overcharged. this machine needs 160F or greater on discharge line or you aren't gonna have enough heat at your pump to transfer to plate. forget the pressures look at temps. I'd pull the charge to get rid of that ice to compressor they never ran like that new and block condenser partially to get a hotter discharge/pump. this hurt to watch. wanted to be there to help. I wanna cry you seem like a very nice guy with incredible patience and a level head. Hope you get to put in the new machine. it's time.
no, the machine takes on a portion of water at the beginning of the cycle, the pure water freezes int I ice, then the remaining water with the cloudy minerals gets dumped at the end of the freeze cycke, thanks
That ice machine certainly kept you busy with pulling tricks out of the bag until you prevailed. Curious, about how many hours did you end up putting into it? I'm guessing the better part of a day easily, given you were up to planC.
good job!! I noticed that the cover was off from the condenser that can cause high head it happens in ice o matics btw... I usally use 408a and 90-95% of nameplate charge.
the hot gas valve was not the problem and adding the heater is ineffective. you have a refrigerant that does not have enough head pressure changing over the refrigerant without changing the TXV is a NO! NO! THE EVAPORATOR PLATE IS BAD!!!
im pretty sure that machine just needed some chemicals run through to clean the build up on that evaporator. and blow air across the condenser coil for the head pressure.
Time to put a bullet through it. ICOR has a refrigerant called One Shot. It replaces R-502, R-404A, R-402A, R-402B, R-408A, R-507A, R-22 in low and med temp. Good with all oils, I have not tried it yet, but might be good to have on the truck? Keep the videos coming, you taught me some good tricks. Thanks and happy holidays.
get a spray bottle with nickel safe cleaner, pull the curtain off and spray the evap and let soak for awhile, the coating of the older machines gets pitted and allows ice to stick to it, just running thru clean mode doesnt get into evap 100% also insulate the hot gas line from the compressor to the evaporator? great video, somtimes sad that customers dont understand what techs have to deal with, they just want to see ice...
+refrigeration tech I put manitowoc cleaner in a spray bottle and sprayed the evap down and let it dissolve the calcium for a while, sometimes I think there is some magnesium build up that the manitowoc cleaner doesn't dissolve, thanks
Bravo Brother ! There is a lot of crooks in the bizz that would have said the compressor was shot & left them with a few estimates & no ICE ... TY for sharing some tricks of the Trade , nice work
