DIY doesn’t have to be all about the home, what about the business? Restaurants seem to be a volatile business in 2014, so cutting costs and saving money are very important to every owner. Trained service technicians are expensive, but thanks to the internet, common problems and solutions exist to repair ice machines yourself, before calling a local service company.
One of the best ways to fix a commercial ice machine is to have the right tools. The #1 tool to have is a service technician handbook, written specifically for your model ice machine. You can purchase these little handbooks or, in some cases, download the PDF versions for free. Even trained technicians rely on Service Technician Handbooks, or service manuals, and do not visit the job site with one in hand.
What’s in a Service Technician Handbook?
Properly diagnosing an ice machine requires knowing the sequence of events or what ice maker parts are energizing during the freeze and harvest cycles. These books contains these sequences, that allow you to know what should be working at specific intervals. If that component is not working and it’s got voltage, BAM you’ve located the problematic part and can then order the part online.
Installing most common ice machine parts only requires being able to turn a screw driver. The parts that fail regularly are water related or simply plug into the control board through terminals. Refrigeration components, that require a license to change, fail rarely and are even misdiagnosed. Look at cleanliness and water related parts before looking to hook up a set of refrigeration gauges.
Check out this list of things you can find in a service tech handbook:
- wiring diagram
- sequence of operations
- refrigeration pressures
- diagnostic help
- OHM readings
- ice machine part operation
- cleaning instructions
- ice machine production charts
- and more.
Check out this blog post from Ice Maker Parts Shop on how you can download a free KoolAire service technician handbook. This book is free to download and can be viewed in most browsers and on mobile phones, as it comes in PDF format. Save this to your computer for quick reference later and start saving money up front, by fixing nuisance issues yourself. Stop calling the service technician at the first sign of trouble, fix that ice machine yourself and save.
Food Service Pro 