Troubleshooting Safety Limit #2 on Koolaire Ice Machine July 13 2015, 4 Comments

Koolaire ice machines, that shut down prematurely may be turning off due to a safety limit. This article covers the Safety Limit #2 indicator and items to check to help diagnose your ice maker. This feature helps protect your investment, by shutting down the equipment, to prevent damage to parts like the compressor, control board, or evaporator.

What is Safety Limit #2

Troubleshooting Safety Limit #1 On Koolaire Ice Machine July 08 2015, 5 Comments

Koolaire, like other Manitowoc made ice machines, come with a built in safety limit feature on the control board.  This is a feature that shuts the ice machine down, if certain limits are reached, to protect the ice maker and its individual components. If the machine were not to shut down with these limits, you could potentially damage your compressor, evaporator, or electronic board. Although frustrating when the ice maker goes down, these safety limits protect your investment. This article will discuss the checklist and things you should check if your Koolaire were to shut down on Safety Limit 1.

What Does Safety Limit #1 Mean

Safety Limit #1 is activated whenever the ice machines freeze time exceeds 60 minutes for 3 consecutive cycles. If your ice machine has not made ice with 60 minutes, it's not going to. The typical freeze time should be 12-15 minutes max. Anything taking longer indicates there is a problem, or your ice machine needs to be cleaned. Either way, a shutdown is warranted after 3 cycles in a row.

How To Tell If A Dump Valve Is Bad July 05 2015, 2 Comments

As part of our Troubleshooting Manitowoc Ice Machine Series, we will be visiting the water dump valve, found on almost every Manitowoc ice machine made. These valves are extremely common and only come in 2 different varieties. That's right, every dump valve on every Manitowoc ice machine is only 1 of 2 different parts, either 115v or 208-230v. This brief post will share the best way to diagnose the dump valve.

First, the two different dump valves are Manitowoc OEM part number 000001767 for 115v ice machines and 000001768 for 208-230v ice machines. We keep both ice machine parts in stock and are available for standard and rush order shipping. They are also very easy to change, almost anyone can swap out a dump valve on a Manitowoc or Koolaire ice machine.

Access Manitowoc Indigo History April 29 2015, 6 Comments

One of the most frustrating things about diagnosing an ice machine, is catching the problem when it happens.  A lot of time can be wrapped up in simply watching an ice machine make ice, hoping to catch the exact moment an ice machine part fails.  That’s why Manitowoc included data logging in the Indigo, which allows a technician to read through data history.

To access data history on an Indigo ice machine, press the Checkmark with Data History highlighted.  There is a lot of history stored, so to access all the information be sure to use the Down arrow to scroll through all available dates.  For each date listed, the following information will become available.

Ice Machine Real Time Data April 27 2015, 0 Comments

Real Time Data is the latest feature in the Manitowoc Indigo ice machines.  It allows a technician to more easily troubleshoot a problematic ice maker.  With real-time data, available only on Indigo ice makers, it becomes easier to diagnose and pinpoint a bad ice machine part.  The Real Time Data can be accessed through the Indigo control board interface.

To access this information, press the Checkmark with the real time data highlighted to get the readings.  To view all available data, press the Down arrow and scroll through all the available options.  Below is a listing of available data points, that can be read in real time.