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Elmeco FC3 slushee machines
Is anyone seeing high failure rates on these machines? I have multiple customers that have these machines. it’s split down the middle. Half my customers love them, the other half has nothing but issues. One customer had a complete failure after a month. They are running the machine per Elmeco settings. Any feedback is welcome.
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9 Replies
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What type of failure?
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All sorts…. the auger motors fail, they begin to fail by the reduction gear starts to leak, then it gets over EVERYTHING, due to it hitting the condenser fan. The dispensing unit begins to leak, and makes a mess.
Elmeco told one customer… unit is 1 month old, they need different motors and controllers for carbonated fluids… <~ sounds like BS.
And on the other side, I have customers that love them. And they are all getting used similarly. And these customers have been discussing amongst themselves too. No sign of mis-use.
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Different mixes create different loads. And there are a lot of different machines out there. I’ve never come across this brand here. But it sounds. a little under designed. Let me guess, Built in China?
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Let me guess, Built in China?
Italy I think.
Although I’ve never seen nor worked on one of those, I was helping someone awhile back on another forum with his FC2. In his case, the unit had blown its refrigerant charge through what appeared to be a factory installed fusible pipe plug. I’ve never seen one of those on ANY refrigeration equipment that I’ve ever worked on.
Here are the pictures he’d posted of it:
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I haven’t seen fusable plugs in refrigeration in years. They are made for fire relief of the system to prevent explosion of the receiver and danger to firefighting personnel Actually, if you look on most receiver inlet fitting, you’ll see one. Look’s like a small nub on the elbow. At least on Refrigeration Research ones.
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Interesting design. And even more interesting background on the company. But after finally finding some documentation and break-down on them. Not something I would recommend to my customers. With a 1/2 cylinder, gear-case inside the mix, full split tank, and a lot of plastic. I see a lot of service work. The operator would have to have a eye for detail at every sanitation and cleaning. Not something in a generous supply in the food industry. Most operations want speed demons for a work force.
Ecto, what refrigerant was in the one shown, Hope it wasn’t R290.
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404A in his FC2. Given the workload of commercial low temp units, I doubt R290 is used much do to system charge limits. Maybe only in el-cheapo, light duty units.
Many of the new small coolers we’re receiving at our property are running R290.
I’ve also noticed Traulsen using a new (to me) R450A for larger medium-temp applications. Appears R450A will serve to replace R134A due to its much lower GDP (601 vs 1430).
Yet another farce in keeping the manufacturer’s patents alive. Like pharmaceuticals, it’s all about the money.
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Yet another farce in keeping the manufacturer’s patents alive. Like pharmaceuticals, it’s all about the money.
Just like R-12. It was orchestrated by DuPont after building a 2 billion dollar plant in India for R134. Patents ran out on R12. The real ozone problem comes from the high use of chlorine. Water systems and pools are the big users. R12 being heavier than air rarely ever got to the high altitude of Antarctica were it got to negative 234F to break it down.
R12 and R717 are still the most efficient refrigerants.
It’s always about the money.
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OH, the new FC3 is available with R290, but not in the North America due to volume limit.
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