Ice Machine Service Support

How To Diagnose A Manitowoc Ice Machine August 07 2014, 5 Comments

Commercial ice machines can be intimidating, even to experienced service technicians. They can also take a long time to properly diagnose and isolate the problematic ice machine part. I'll cover some basic techniques you can use to troubleshoot your Manitowoc ice machine, before calling out an expensive service tech.

The first step is to understand how a Manitowoc ice maker works. Experts in commercial refrigeration and ice making equipment recommend following a sequence of events. This sequence of events is a layout of exactly what the ice machine should be doing at an exact time in a cycle. For example, newer modular Manitowoc ice machines will purge the water from the trough before beginning a freeze cycle. This should tell you exactly when the dump valve should be energized. Service literature is available for free from the Manitowoc Ice website, where you can find specific service help for your model ice maker.


Manitowoc Ice Warranty Claim Form August 01 2014, 0 Comments

Did you know that most Manitowoc ice machines come with a 3 year parts and labor warranty?  This means that if your commercial ice machine experiences a failure in the first 3 years of purchase, Manitowoc will pay a trained technician to come to your company and fix the ice maker.  More expensive components like the evaporator and compressor will also have an extended warranty, which includes 5 years parts and labor on most evaporators and 5 year parts warranty on the compressors.  This allows you, the customer, to not need a Manitowoc claim form.  All warranty related paper work would be completed by the Factory Authorized Service representative.

So what isn't covered by Manitowoc warranty?

Anything that has to do with cleaning issues would not be covered under the manufacturers warranty.  If you have hard water or scale issues in your area, this can lead to the probes and water related parts to sense incorrectly.  Often times an ice thickness control will think that it's time for harvest, when no ice has formed, causing the machine to shut down on a safety limit 2 after 3 consecutive cycles.  This would be an example of a service issue not covered under warranty.


Manitowoc Indigo Versus Kool-Aire Ice Machine March 04 2014, 4 Comments

Manitowoc has released a new line of budget commercial ice machines labeled Kool-Aire or Koolaire.  This has long been a Manitowoc brand, but was previously only assigned to a small line or reach-in glass door coolers.  The new Kool-aire ice machines are now made by Manitowoc, but at a lower price point than the popular Indigo, and manufactured in Mexico.

Find out what the difference is between the Manitowoc Indigo and Koolaire brand ice machines.  From service, building materials, and warranty we cover it all here.