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Ice machine harvest sensor keeps mysteriously falling down.
Hey Guys.
Either my ice machine is possessed or a gremlin is living in it or I’m missing something.
I have a Scotsman Prodigy series ice machine which has now had the harvest sensor fall of 2 times in the last 2 weeks. I’ll open it up since it’s not making ice, first time it was short freeze as it was just hanging there and touching the plate.
This time, it got caught in the curtain and so it thought it was full when it wasn’t.
There are no breaks, the little tabs are not broken, I tried pushing them, rocking them, etc. They are not broken, no visible cracks on where it sits, so how on earth is it managing to come undone?
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14 Replies
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Not being there to see it with this problem is difficult. Also I don’t know how big a machine you have. But let’s give it a try. The bracket that it pivots on has reduced slots at the top for installation of the probe. This is to prevent breaking it during service cycles. And distorting it wider than normal. The pins on the arm are designed to go all the way in and be near flush with the outside after install. So if they are normal and ridgid it should be ok. The only thing I can think of that could knock it out is if the bridge was to thick and you had a powerful harvest assist. See how far it will swing out without binding and popping up. I’ve never seen this with any machine before. Sounds interesting.
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Okay, I’ll give that a go, I tried simulating a harvest by just lifting it but there’s no indication it would fall out, it’s very odd.
I put it back together again, so we’ll see if it does it again, if it does, I’ll have to think further on it, it seems to be really well mounted in there though, doesn’t look it would come out unless physically removed.
Perhaps you are right, maybe a harvest cycle is somehow doing it.
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The prodigy’s are nice, You can tell just by watching the LED’s on the board exactly what is happening in the cycle. Early on in the cycle you’ll see splashing water making the harvest LED flutter. Once it gets near the 6 minuet mark (minimum freeze) you shouldn’t see that as the forming ice smooths out the water flow. If the minimum freeze cycle is complete, you can make it frip by placing your finger into the water as you touch the probe. Or place you finger above the probe so the water wicks out onto the probe. either works. But you may get a false harvest because if the ice isn’t thick enough the harvest assist will just poke a hole through the ice sheet.
As for the sensor coming out, I suspect that it wasn’t fully down into the holes, but just in the channels for installation ease. That I have seen before.
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Hey Fixbear,
Yes, I do love that about them and it makes it easier, once you have a solid understanding of the sequence it does things in, the components those sequences use, it’s a breeze to troubleshoot most of the time.
I went back today as it wouldn’t make more ice, seemed all was well and I pulled out a sheet that was sitting in the door and the bridge was about 1/4-1/2″ thick. LOL!
The sensor was hanging on by just one peg and I guess eventually it managed to harvest, but I have a feeling the ice was too thick which is why it might be pulling the sensor out with it, the adjustment was almost all the way out to the max so I turned it in a bit, it dropped ice and it looks much better, I’ll be watching it for a bit since I’m tired of taking the ceiling apart to get to it, lol.
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So far so good.
Hopefully it’s good now.
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Oh God, it must be on top of a fountain machine. If it was freezing the probe in, then it wasn’t getting a harvest signal. Bad ground or sensor. The sensor should be about 3/16 off the high spot of the evaporator. People tend to adjust them when there is a problem from the water system. If the spray bar is not kept clean and the shaping ledge, the water will flow uneven. Making for a hard to break sheet or thin in one area.
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I should add that the CO’s are very finicky on cleaning and water quality. That’s why they added the clean me light to the “D” controller. You have to disassemble the harvest sensor to properly clean it. Rinse well and air dry with a dryer. Harvest of ice sometimes has a problem with a microscopic coating of minerals on the evaporator. Or etching of the evaporator from the wrong cleaner. Then you’ll see a hole punched through the ice sheet from the harvest assist.
Due to the cost of the evaporator being as much as a new machine, I’ve actually made a tool for a drill to use a cotton wad and polishing compound to restore a plate so it would harvest after it got etched. But boy did it take a long time. At least the plates aren’t nickel like the old CM’s.
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Interesting, good to know.
It’s amazing how many small problems there can be, which then lead to bigger ones.
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I can’t tell you how many of the contour cube machines I’ve had to replace or condemn from someone using the wrong ice machine cleaner. Let alone silver (nickel) flakes in the ice. Sometimes as big as 9 to 10mm.
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Really?
I use Scotsman’s product but I didn’t know it could be so severe.
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The old CM’s and CME’s had a cast aluminum alloy evaporator with copper tubes and a deep nickel platingNot stainless like Ice-O-Matic or Manitowoc. One or two cleanings with NuCalgon or others would eat the bond of the nickel and doom the machine.
On a side, when it comes to the beverage industry. I’ve worked on Cornelius, Koolcraft, Igloo, Zero, Ice-O-Matic, Scotsman, Hoziaki, and Manitowoc. By far the Manitowoc work the best. Except for a bar operation. For that the Hozisaki seems better. When Scotsman had the contour cube before the EPA shut it down, it was Scotsman. The energy efficiency killed them. The same thing that killed the hot wire machines.
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<div>Wow, good to know that Manitowoc is the best now, I’ll keep it in mind.</div>
Funny how having to make things more effecient can just ruin the product.
The machine is still purring away.
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I went to a Scotsman training class today and asked the instructor about this.
Apparently, it’s possible that the sensor doesen’t register the ice and so the ice encases the sensor or part of it in ice and then when it drops, it gets pulled out.
Considering the 3rd time this happened, the wire broke, it kind of made sense that it could’ve done that.
Just wanted to throw that out there.
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I’d wondered about that possibility.
I had a Mani do that because it had the wrong probe installed, which couldn’t be adjusted to have ANY gap.
I scratched my head as to why someone would do that.
Anyway, as the machine ran four minutes, the ice encapsulated the probe, then attempted harvest. It was hung up and wouldn’t fall – thereby leaving the dismal ice sheet dangling while holding the curtain open.
Needless to say that ice production was poor…as well as ice quality.
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