Your customer complains of a strange sound coming from his flaker. The sound is explained as a high pitch squeak or squeal which may vary in tone. "Sort of sounds like the song of a humpback whale."
Also they noticed low production and soft, wet or mushy ice. DCM "cubelets" may stick together or bridge in the bin, causing dispensing problems. The unit could also shut down on the manual gear motor overload. These are all symptoms of a dirty evaporator on a Flaker or DCM product. When scale builds up on the evaporator cylinder, it tends to insulate the freezing surface. This insulation factor impedes heat transfer causing reduced production and poor ice quality. The ice will not freeze as hard and will come out of the extruding head wet. The noise is caused by the scale on the extruding head and the fact that soft wet ice does not extrude easily. This also causes stress in the auger / gear motor system which may increase the gear motor running amperage enough to kick the overload reset. This would only occur in extreme conditions. The cleaning instructions are included on the inside of the front panel. Mix the cleaning solution in a separate container, according to the recommended type and mixture. Use warm water for better results. Drain the water system and pour the cleaning solution into the reservoir. Fill the reservoir until it overflows the stand pipe. The unit should set for 15~20 minutes to allow the acid based cleaner to loosen the scale.

This extra step is not included in the written instructions, however it will improve the cleaning procedure. Lightly pinch off the rubber tube that feeds water to the evaporator using vice grips. Pour additional cleaning solution over the extruding head until the evaporator cylinder is completely full. This will allow cleaner to soak the top of the cylinder and loosen scale formed on the extruding head as well. Once the cleaner has set long enough, remove the vice grips and allow the solution to balance out in the reservoir. The excess will overflow the reservoir standpipe and drain. Check to insure the inlet water line is shut off and start the unit. Make ice with the cleaner.

CAUTION, catch this ice and discard it in a safe place. As the unit runs, the squeaking sound will get louder due to the poor ice quality. Allow the unit to run until it shuts off on the low water safety and inspect the reservoir. If the reservoir is clean, the evaporator is clean. If not, repeat this procedure again. Follow the same procedure when sanitizing the unit using a commercial grade of sanitizer. Nu-Calgon IMS-II sanitizer is available through your local Hoshizaki distributor, along with Hoshizaki Scale Away ice machine cleaner. Once the ice machine is cleaned and sanitized, you will notice increased production and harder, crisper ice. Also the annoying squeaky sound is gone. Throw away the first 10 minutes of ice production to guarantee clean fresh ice for your customer.

More Hoshizaki Tips:

1. TXV Diagnostics

2. SQUEAKY FLAKER

3. ICE STRIPS

4. SIZING ICE MACHINES
   
   

Danny Moore Hoshizaki America, Inc. Volume 107
Editor 618 Hwy. 74 South July 14, 1994
Peachtree City, GA 30269
Care Facsimile: (800) 843-1056