This video is brought to you by Sportland Quality, Integrity and tradition. All right. we're here. Um, because I had another technician come out on this machine and right when he opened it up, he saw this and we're like, that's ridiculous.

The drain pan is cracked. Someone tried to use some Putty or something and some duct tape on both sides. So before we even went any further, we're going to change the drain pan. so I have a new drain pan today.

Uh, we still have a problem with the machine. We got to figure that out too. Like how I'm really curious. like how did they even do that? This is what happens when you don't thoroughly clean your ice machines on a regular basis.

that's permanent. You're only going to get so much of that off because it's just caked on. Granted, this is an older machine, but it shouldn't be that bad. There's also rust back there.

They're from 2017 so they've had a good life. but I'm going to get it back up and running. but they're going to have to replace these guys. I Don't even understand how you get to this level of dumb dumbness.

like it's cracked all the way into here. They had duct tape on both sides. That's so not okay. Just shut the machine down and order a new drain pen.

Took me a day, no problem. Before we put the unit into operation, we're going to run a cleaning cycle real quick with sanitizer because this new drain pan needs to be sanitized before it goes and then we're going to figure out why it went bad, Why the machine is in a harvest I mean a long Harvest and go from there. All right. I Ran the sanitizer through.

it's draining out a let's find a little thing right now I Put it into a freeze mode and then we went to real time data time and temp and we're scrolling through. It's in a freeze mode now. so I Like being realtime data cuz it tells you what part of the cycle it's in, it's in the water Purge of the the beginning cycle. So uh, Temperature Sensors 9191 191 115 That indicates those last two temp sensors are bad.

Um, and those last two are the EVAP sensors. There's one right here and then there's one on the other side. But but in all reality, those don't really matter because with the new programming on these boards, the sensors are just supervisory. At this point, we're just going to put it into a freeze cycle, apply service gauges, watch it make ice, and watch it.

Harvest Ice to see why it gave us a long harvest. The water pump's been running and then all of a sudden it stopped. But there's still water in here and the water pump's still moving. What's happening? Especially after uh long off? Cycles It's slushed up in there, so just give it a few minutes, it'll start circulating again.

This happens on these guys. Some models of machines will inject a little bit of warm water in there to kind of prevent some slush, but this one's just slushing up. That's all. so just give it a few minutes.

Usually don't pay attention to the first cycle unless it's something really obvious and slush happens and I spoke too soon. It's filling with water right now. So yeah, this one does have that feature where it's going to fill with water so that'll break up the slush. It'll warm it up and then like I said, will pay attention more so to the second cycle.

So as far as all the calcium that was on the inside and stuff in order to clean that all the stuff on the inside or even to try it, we have to remove all the ice from the bin and they have a full bin right now so that is a scheduled thing. But again, we need to figure out like the major problems with the machine before we put too much time into it. We had to do a drain pan because it was cracked and leaking. But from this point forward we need to just observe the machine and if we see it feasible to fix the machine which I highly doubt it'll be feasible.

Um, at least with the customer. The way that they like to replace equipment you know, then we'll clean it. but we'll see. So we're just watching the cycle so it looks like it's getting close.

the frequency which is the sound the microphone here is the thickness probe is not very high yet, but we have decent ice on both evaporators so it's looking pretty good. and this is the microphone right here. You can tell because when I tap, it has a delayed reaction. You'll see those guys jump 1 second.

Like I said, it's delayed. So there you go. So it basically listens to the sound of the water bouncing off the ice cubes. And when the water makes a certain sound, it knows that the water's really, really close to the microphone and so that's what it uses to gauge the thickness of the ice.

All right. So we went into a harvest. You can see it went way high. so now we're watching the pressures to see what they do.

Um, during a harvest is the best time to check refrigerant charge on these machines cuz you usually see issues in the Harvest. So what we're looking for to indicate a refrigerant charge issue is a really really low suction. What's it's It's opening cool Vapor valves, but the head pressure is pretty decent. Usually that's really low.

Um, so we're just looking to see if we actually drop on off of this guy. We'll have to go get the book and actually read it to see what the pressures are supposed to be. But let's watch it dump both machine to a harvest about the same time. So you're hearing the other machine dump at the moment so you can see the vacuum being released.

There's an air pump right here that helps to break the vacuum actually. I Don't feel like this air pump's really working very well, but it's doing it. You can see the water moving around behind the sheet, but I'm not seeing that on this one. Oh yeah, I am there It goes.

Usually the right side dumps first and then the left is last, but it kind of looks like the left. Yeah, the left is going right now. I don't really see a refrigeration issue causing that. As far as pressures, those to me look pretty good again.

I Have to get the book, but this side is not even releasing over here. so we need to check to make sure that the cool Vapor valve is actually getting power for this guy. It actually dropped while I was taking the panel off. But let's have a look at this evaporator.

Is it in bad? It doesn't look like it's in bad shape. seems like it's working. it's making ice fast. so I don't think there's any plate separation.

I'm wondering. this is the cool Vapor valve back there and they have a strainer around them I'm wondering if the strainer is plugged up. You can't clean the strainer though. You got to change the whole valve.

But it's very odd that the right side would drop last. Usually it's the right side that drops first and it's the left side that drops last. Could also be Refrigeration issue before I completely condemn the valves I would go ahead and recover the charge and weigh it back in to make sure we have the right charge going. Watch one more cycle and see if it does it again.

it's not quite there yet. We still got a little time, but as far as the pressures go, this is just the Manat Walk book. You get it from Manat Walk. You can download it from their uh website if you can't find the book.

Um, everybody always asks me when I show this book, where do you get it? You get it from a Manat Walk distributor, not from a normal supply house. There's actual Distributors Okay and most of the time you can go directly to whoever the actual distributor is for. Manat Walk in your area and they can get this okay, your normal supply house. If they are not a distributor then they're going to have to order it from the distributor.

You're better off just getting it yourself. Okay, anyways, uh we're about 70 outside so pressures on the high side should be 250 to 235, 55 to 38. which none of those sound crazy to me. I think that's what it was running before.

Currently right now we're still in the freeze and the this is not accurate. This is inside temp and then during Harvest 150 to 170 and 70 to 95. Those look like the pressures that the system had to me. At least we're right on the money.

just a little bit low on the suction pressure. Not too bad. Head pressure is right about where it should be. so let's see what it does in the Harvest and I'm hooked into the Cool Vapor valve to see when it energizes if we have power right there.

so we're just waiting a minute. What the heck is going on here? It ran out of water. Why? oh that's odd. There's no more water flowing.

That's really odd. I Wonder if there's a problem with the water level probe? Like it's not getting enough water? Interesting. Interesting. Okay, we're going to manually put it into Harvest Okay, we're in a harvest mode.

now. that's probably why the pressures were looking kind of low. All right, and again, 140 to 165. Actually, 150 to 170 and 70 to 95.

We do have power to the Cool Vapor valve. Head pressure or suction pressure is rising, which it should. It's a good sign. It's odd though.

it ran out of water, so head pressure is a little bit low. for Harvest 150 to 170. It is common to see low head pressure though suction pressure is a really important one. Um, 150 to 170, 70 to 95 I mean pressures don't look horrendous like they really don't And we're still calling on the cool Vapor valve again though the left one's going to drop first I Can see it starting to separate already and the right one's not.

You know. another thing we need to check to make sure that the air pump. there's an air pump back there. We're going to make sure that that's clean.

Sometimes the filters will get dirty and that can slow down a harvest. But pressure-wise we're still fine. High and low we're We're within reason 150 to 170 705 so left side just fell right side. Now let's see what happens to the pressures.

I Think that cool Vapor valves got a restriction in it. It sounds like it to me. now. granted, it's not a completely open port valve it.

Rel It, you know, lets pressure through at a certain um, pressure differential, but they're usually not that loud. let's see. I mean but also I'm intrigued by why we haven't broken the vacuum. Makes me wonder if that air pump's not working.

These air pumps have a filter on them. And the filter. No. It doesn't seem like it's clogged, but doesn't even really feel like oh, it's moving.

It's moving. Not much though. it's not very strong. It's really not strong at all.

but it's moving sometimes too too these. uh, these lines can get full of water. Is that the case on this one? Oh, check it out. I Think this one's full of water guys.

Sorry, You can't see that. It's like out of focus I Think this guy's got something in it it. looks kind of funny, like it's not breaking the vacuum. Let's investigate that a little bit more.

I turned it off. This air pump's looking a little funny. if you look back here. that line looks like it has something in it.

It's kind of hard for you guys to see, but back in there is a clear vinyl tube and it looks like it's plugged up. I'm going to see if I can get it out to investigate it. So I don't know if this is the only problem, but this tube has got something in it. It's there's a tube going into two spots on the evaporator and it's plugged up.

It's definitely plugged up. It's it's like when you look from this way there's something in there. So I don't think that would cause the entire problem, but we got to get that cleaned out somehow now. I Really don't think this will solve our problem, but look at all the gunk that's coming out of that line.

I Ran a thermostat wire through and uh, it's just plugged up like really bad so that wasn't allowing any air to go through. but again, I don't have confidence this will solve our problem. Okay so you can see I Pushed the thermostat wire through and those big old chunk which completely plugs up that line is coming out so it's restricted with just now. Gunk My gosh, cleaning that thing was ridiculous.

You had to get through these holes. Get that? there's one right there and then the other one's over here somewhere. I Don't know where but get my hands back into there back behind here. it was a nightmare.

but I got it, got it cleaned out again I Don't think that's going to solve our problem, but it might help a little bit and here we go again. pressure should start coming up. We're going to watch to see if we break the vacuum on this side now. So this side the vacuum's breaking.

You can see the you can see it dripping down the water running down the backside. Let's see this side if it's doing it I don't really see it doing it over here. I'm thinking maybe so. left side still dropped first.

right side's going now see how long it takes I think we have a plugged up Harvest valve for sure I don't think it's a refrigeration issue. Oh there goes that vacuum though. it's coming. It's harvesting.

but I don't think it's harvesting enough. Pressures are plenty High All right I'm going to watch another batch. but I'm going to talk to them about the Harvest valves on this guy. Sometimes this stuff just baffles me so that drain pan was broken by the ice machine cleaners.

Okay, they have a dedicated company that comes out and cleans their cleans their ice machines. Okay, all that they do when they clean their ice. Mach Mach is follow the manufacturer's instructions on an ice machine cleaner cleaning and that's simply to push the clean button and pour a bottle of chemical in, then walk away. That's all that they do when they clean these.

So that's why you saw the massive amount of buildup on the top of the um or I guess the yeah, the top of the machine area right there where it was just totally calcified. That's because when they do their cleanings, all they do is pour cleaner in there so the evaporator didn't look as bad. Uh, but the the the sludge and stuff that was in the air pump tube is simply because. uh, lack of cleaning.

That's what it is and it just builds up In the past, uh, we don't really do this anymore because it's you know, frowned upon kind of. But in the past, like we're talking 20 years ago, we used to clean ice machines with bleach and when you cleaned them with bleach, you eliminated any slime buildup. Nowadays you just clean them with ice machine cleaner because you know everybody wants to be proper and NSF approved. Get it? I Totally understand right? But in the past when you cleaned them with bleach, you just made sure that you flushed out the machine properly, You got rid of all the bleach and you were good to go.

The chlorine and the bleach would just completely eliminate all the Slime buildup and everything. Um, but you know everybody frowns upon using bleach these days in restaurants even though you know, whatever. I just do what I'm told. but uh, we ended up going back out there and doing a cleaning on the machine and then I actually ended up sending a tech out there to um, uh, recover the charge and he would then recover the charge.

We found the refrigerant charge was correct and uh, the machine got cleaned up as best as possible. But when the calcium gets that bad, it's Beyond cleaning because the only thing that would take the calcium off of a machine that's that bad on the underside is by using like a brush or something. And you like a wire brush. Really? And you don't want to use wire brushes on ice machines because even though you can't really see it, it creates gouges in the plastic.

and when you create gouges in the plastic, it's a spot for bacteria to Harbor and grow and that just becomes a problem. So you can only do so much. You only want to use soft bristle brushes, towels, that kind of stuff. Um, and this is why it's so important to clean your machines on a regular basis.

Okay, now this machine has not been replaced yet. Uh, they do have a restriction in the Harvest valve. the cool Vapor valve for the right side evaporator, but it's making ice. it's still letting enough gas through that it it wasn't really going off on a safety.

um, we haven't had any service calls since and that was from a while ago. Uh, you know I mentioned to the customer that hey, it's probably time to start changing this machine that was coming up towards the end of the year and you know they were kind of like okay, we're going to wait till the new year so who knows what happens. They may go ahead and order new machines as we're in the new Year now, but you know it is what it is. So uh, but the the the broken drain pan I know there's going to be a bunch of people asking me, well why don't I tell the customer to back charge the drain pan to the ice machine cleaning company I Don't get involved in any of that stuff.

Okay I let the customer figure that stuff out. I'm not going to become a goet saying this person should pay for this. This person to pay for that I'm literally there for this task and I don't get involved in the drama of other companies. You know they should sue them.

They should. That's not my thing I just need to get paid right? So I go out there. The first thing we did we went out to go service the machine. They had a long Harvest we saw the crack drain pan.

My technician called me I said stop what you're doing We'll order the drain pan. and we'll go back. You can't the the company that was there before I don't even know how they broke that drain pan. probably trying to pull it out and they didn't know.

There was two plastic tabs on the side and they were just yanking on it. Who knows. Okay, they probably still have the water pump down in it. whatever.

but um I don't know what they were thinking. they never told the customer what they did. nothing okay, uh and we don't even know like it wasn't like they were there a week before. So I think that happened a while before we got there.

that machine had been operating with duct tape and just some weird thumb gum putty on it. Okay, uh, that's not food safe, that's not sanitary. So that's why the moment we saw the crack drain pan and all that baloney trying to seal it up, we stopped and we said we're not servicing this machine till we order a new drain pan. So that was me walking up saying I got the drain pan.

Now what you know and you saw me go through the process of diagnosing the uh, the the restricted Harvest valve and uh, you know, finding that the Um air pump had a plugged up tube. uh again, just cleanliness issu. so it is what it is but machine still operating. We'll go from there I Really appreciate you making it to the end of the video.

Thank you so very much. Um uh oh. Another thing I wanted to cover too. You know why didn't I clean the machine on the spot because they had a functioning machine like you know I mean it's there.

It's something we would schedule I wasn't there to do a full tear down on those machines. That was something we were going to come back and schedule. have them empty out the ice. Okay, but I tried my best to sanitize the drain pan after I put it in to make sure that it was operating right.

Okay, so I really appreciate you guys it to the end of the video. Thank you so very much. I Got a couple little announcements here. Um, first and foremost: I am going to be at the Ahr trade show coming up in Chicago here at the end of January I am also going to be at the Hvacr training Symposium in Claremont Florida uh, that's what HVAC school and Brian or are putting on at the Ahr trade show.

If you're going to make it to the show, you can definitely follow my social media. I'll be announcing soon, but I'm going to be spending a good amount of my time at the Parker spoiling. Booth I will also be spending a little bit time at the refrigeration Technologies booth and the heatcraft refrigeration Booth Uh, so just follow my social media and I'll be announcing when I'll be there I Believe. As it stands right now, my booth time is going to be Monday and Tuesdays uh I believe Wednesday is going to be my time to walk around the show and kind of see it for myself is kind of what I have planned.

So I don't really think I am going to have any plans on Wednesday but I will be there. uh at the HVAC tactical Awards on Sunday um and then all the way through the week I will be at a couple After parties. Uh, the let's see who's doing the After parties if you're going to make it. if anybody's going to be there, the True Tech Tools HVAC School Energy Conservatory Afterparty I'll be at that and then I think there's another one too.

but again, just follow my social media. I'll uh I'll definitely. Uh, update my schedule and everything as we get closer to the event. Okay, so uh, if you guys are interested in supporting my channel, there's a couple different ways to do so.

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