If you run an establishment with ambient air temperatures greater than eighty degrees fahrenheit or you own a restaurant where the air contains high levels of contaminants then a water cooled.
Water cooled ice machine water consumption.
Some places through out the world wont allow people to have them at all so you can just imagine the amount of water a single ice machine could use.
Water cooled ice machines are designed for use in very specific environments and are commonly used where air cooled machines cannot properly operate.
Annual hours of operation hrs.
A water cooled condenser makes use of water coils to handover the heat from the condenser coils.
Because of this the cost of having a water cooled machine high and in many states it is illegal to operate water cooled equipment without the use of a water tower.
Because of water shortages through out the years the usage of water cooled machines are lowering a lot.
For air cooled ice machines air runs through the condenser coils and is expelled out of the vents on the side or back of the machine.
If your building has a recirculating water system with a cooling tower then you can use that system to re use all that cooling water.
Energy consumption per 100 lbs.
Air cooled ice machines use an electric fan to transfer heat out of the machine while water cooled ice machines use water to rid itself of the heat.
Though many air cooled ice machines are energy efficient and have gained the energy star rating.
Ice harvest rate lbs.
Water cooled machines typically need 5 times more water than an air cooled machine to product the same quantity of ice.
Ice per 24 hrs lbs.
They utilize water to make the ice and also for cooling purposes.
This heated water is then dumped out the secondary drain of the machine.
But a water cooled ice machine requires over 100 gallons of water for every 100 lbs of ice it produces and the excess water has to be dumped into a drain.
An air cooled machine will also emit more heat into the room where it is located.
A waterline discrete from the water used to make ice transports the water into the cabinet.
Some cool ways to save money on ice.
This means water cooled commercial ice machines actually can use up to 20x the amount of water that an air cooled machines will use.
In most cases the additional warm air does not present a problem and the additional energy consumption is minimal.
Replacing water cooled ice machines with air cooled machines will increase energy use but decrease water use.
Air cooled condenser is most definitely the way to go.
