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manitowoc problem IDT1500A
Hello, I have a problem with a manitowoc IDT1500A, sometimes if it does the harvest and sometimes it does not, it makes the ice and after 3.5 min the ice sheet does not fall and it lasts up to 7 minutes without harvesting until it turns off. or the water source starts but does not fall, I put it in manual harvest and if it throws it, what do you think the problem could be.
The evaporator and condenser have been cleaned, it is level, the ice thikness has been changed. att Ule -
15 Replies
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I have not seen a NTX version of the Indigo, But much appears to be the same except the computer and the refrigerant. You mentioned that you changed the ice thickness sensor (ie. Bridge thickness), Did you make it thicker or thinner? Thinner generally does cause a bit of harvest problems. Part of the sheet may hang from the previous freeze. This is often missed on dual evaporators like yours. Are the sheets full and even to the corners, top to bottom, and to each other? What does the sheet of cubes look like in the back? Sharp and square, or rounded corners and edges?
Start by cleaning the machine with Manitowoc Ice machine cleaner at the descale level. Not the machine auto clean. This means removal of the sheet deflector, spray bar, sump, water level sensor, , and ice thickness sensor. It’s defined in your manuals. If you can not find them, you can go directly to Welbilt electronic database here. Go to Minitowoc ice, service manuals, Indigo NXT air water remote, Page 40.
There is a reason that you need to use Manitowoc cleaner. Their evaporators have a special finish for the ease or harvest. The ice machine cleaner is a specially buffered food grade acid designed to not etch the surfaces. What usually causes the harvest problem is the micro build up of calcium minerals on the surface. Giving the ice something to hold on to. A wrong cleaner will also cause a etch of the surface that will make it easy for the ice to grip the plate. You can see this if the machine is shut down and the ice plate is dried.
The computer manual harvest will not harvest a hung sheet. It is designed to harvest for a cleaning. Are you seeing any error codes besides the E02 long harvest?
I hope this isn’t to long for you and that it was helpful. The questions I asked in the first paragraph are very important to the direction we go next. Let me know if this helps.
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Thank you very much for your kind answer, I already cleaned all the parts as well as the evaporator with special liquid for manitowoc, the ice comes out square with a little gap at the top and bottom solid, it is from a single evaporator, the ice sensor is adjusted from the factory , the problem that I have experienced is that sometimes the harvest takes up to 6 min. They do not open either solenoid, and the water begins to run through the evaporator to help it, but as the ice begins to take off, it falls one by one and gets stuck in the dumper. and this makes bin full marked and the machine shuts down. It does 6 full cycles fine and then it starts to get stuck. Thanks for your valuable help
Your machine has 2 evaporators that are side by side fed from 2 TXV’s with a very unique piping system That feeds at the lower 1/3 and exits just above the feed. on both sides of the evaporator. Because of that complexity, a tech has to troubleshoot it step by step with pressure readings and line temperatures. It’s critical to see the sheets at the end of icemaking mode for evenness. You have described the sheet in the forced harvest mode to be falling one or two at a time. That tells me the bridge is to thin. Or there is a lack of flooding of the evaporator to make a full sheet. Or one side is feeding different than the other. Normally one would see this at the lower third or very top.
When you cleaned the ice sensor, did you remove it and scrub the back side with the diluted cleaner? Then rinse and dry. If not it will give a early harvest from surface conductivity. Causing a thin bridge of the ice sheet. It needs to be a full 1/8 inch.
All that being said, I suspect you may have a bit of a low charge. Buy I would want to go through Manitowoc’s Test chart to verify that. Do you hold a EPA license for refrigeration? R410A is a regulated HFC refrigerant that operates at a higher pressure.
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The first paragraph of this post was a reply from “ule”
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Hello
we have run into harvest issues many time Here. Finally Manitowoc admitted there was a problem. In the scenario where the ic maker is having trouble harvesting, but works perfect when you force harvest.
Then instead of multiple return visits, because they will call back….. YOu must replace all combo valves. (harvest valves with harvest pressure regulating valves) It will not work if you do not replace them all. We have spent many return visits on these issues. HEADS UP….Most of these valves are on back order so prepare for some very annoying wait times.
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Eric, I have not heard of that. Sounds like a difficult one. Who was the tech service company? A factory trained tech or a sale’s service company?
We often see some techs just throw parts at a machine instead of going through the painful test program. The high capacity machines can be a bit finical for sure. And why the step by step test procedure is published so important.
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Not sure if the unit you are working on or not has a harvest assist. You might want to look into that . I would also look at the evaporator plates and see if they are separating from the tubes or if dividers are coming loose
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Good point Sparky. I believe that the Harvest assist on that model is air compressor.
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You know i change the ice sensor thingnes 2 times and also the motherboard, the problem lightened for a while but right now it is very bad, sometimes it does not harvest after 6 minutes it turns off and then it turns on and the board gets stuck, it continues to happen that, I don’t know what it is anymore, some times. is a IDT1500A, is air cooled, have only one evaporator
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You accually have a dual feed evaporator. Can you provide a picture of the evaporator just before harvest? We can tell a lot by the ice pattern on the evaporator.
Gas the unit only been cleaned with Manitowoc cleaner per the manual? Once the machine locks out, remove the cover and dry the evaporator. There should be no dusty film on it and shiny. The divider plates should be fully seated against the evaporator. Beyond that, you have to do the full troubleshooting test on it. Both the 1500’s and 1800’s are like that due to the complex refrigerant feeding system. Also make sure that the air compressor is working during harvest.
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ok I will upload a photo, but here the question is that when the ice plate is not released it is because the selenoids do not open, the cold gas does not enter and that is why the ice plate does not take off, the plate looks uniform, or The 2 selenoids open or neither of the two opens, that is why I changed the motherboard, but it has not been solved, it has already been cleaned with manitow special liquid, it is not dirty and it is always joined with fully purified water with a maximum TDS of 40, and it’s level too
thanks for your quick response
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Are you certain that the hot gas solenoid is not opening? Is it getting power to open during harvest? If it is getting power, ohm the coil for continuity. What is the ambient temp the ice machine is in? Is it fully charged? Is the fan cycling working correctly?
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Hello, I have reviewed the points that you tell me, but right now it is very bad, it makes a cycle and it is harvested but it does not release the ice and the water cycle begins to melt a little, the ice falls into pieces and sometimes the plate falls , others get stuck and others do the cycle again and the plate becomes very thick, lately it thaws and lasts a long time. Why it puts on thaws for a long time?
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