Commercial Ice Machine + Water Filter = Pleased Customer + Fewer Service Calls

What if we told you there’s one simple thing you could do in your foodservice operation that would help you provide a better product, prevent the need for service calls, avoid the potential of sickening customers, and even extend your warranty. It would seem downright crazy not to do it, right?

And yet, the sad fact is a large number of foodservice kitchens don’t use a water filter in conjunction with their commercial ice machines. It’s a decision most often driven by a foolish trade of short-term savings for long-term risk and a concern that having a filter will mean lots of extra maintenance, though the opposite is true.

Water Filtering Removes Deposits & Saves Your Commercial Ice Machine

The advantages of using a water filter with a commercial ice maker don’t just show up in pure ice in your customers’ drinks. They also play out in longer machine life, fewer maintenance calls, greater yields that save you money, and even – at least with one ice machine manufacturer – a longer warranty.

You probably know that municipal water systems like the one your commercial kitchen is likely connected to put a lot of money and science into cleaning their product. So, you might assume there’s no need to clean that water as it comes in; it must be pretty pure, right?

Mostly it is, but there’s still particulate – very tiny bits of potentially problematic particles – that can’t be filtered out by the process at the treatment plant. While that’s not a problem in small amounts, your commercial ice machine will handle maybe tens or hundreds – if you’re lucky – of thousands of gallons of water over its lifetime. Those minerals build up over time on the interior of your system, which can cause big problems.

Those microscopic deposits can grow into a huge problem, forming scale in the machine. When it breaks loose in small bits, it can lodge itself into sensitive parts of the ice maker, potentially forcing a repair or even shutting down the machine. That’s how more than half of all service calls start. That wandering scale can also give a cloudy look, and a foul taste and odor to your ice.

Not just that, but they can promote the growth of fungus, algae, and bacteria in your system. That can really ruin your customer’s experience, not just because the ice ruins their beverages. They may also get a serious and long-term illness from your establishment.

Prevention Means a Water Filtration System for Your Ice Machine

Avoiding that situation requires regular maintenance and cleanings of your system, and use of a water filter. Such a pairing can greatly reduce the amount of particulates in the water running over the evaporator plate in your ice machine. That means a cleaner-tasting and more pure ice product for your customers, in addition to avoiding the problems we already covered.

The manufacturers recommend replacing the filter in your filtration system every six months, which ensures you never work it past its useful life. It could also boost your warranty protection. Ice-O-Matic offers those who purchase and use one of its water filtration systems a 7-year warranty on the evaporator, the key working part of the system. They require that you have some proof that you’ve regularly replaced the filter cartridge, which can include invoices from KaTom for those pieces, if you seek to file a claim.