Many cities across the country have water conditions that require additional filtration methods to keep their commercial ice equipment running smoothly. An advanced water treatment system helps treat high-mineral water and is different from installing additional water filtration to your commercial ice maker water filter system.
Which Ice Machines Need an Advanced Water Treatment System?
Your area’s water quality is the biggest factor that will determine whether your ice machine needs an advanced water treatment system. Areas with “hard water,” like Arizona or Kansas, will often require an advanced water treatment system to combat the water supply’s high-minerality.
Ice machines installed on a well water source also benefit greatly from an advanced water system. If you use a well, you likely already have an advanced water treatment installed in some form. If not, it is possible to install a filtration system that can resolve issues specifically for the industrial ice maker. In rare situations, an additional stage may be required to offset some of the impacts of aggressive advanced water treatment systems such as reverse osmosis.
Minerals such as calcium and magnesium exist naturally in the water. These minerals are picked up as the water flows through the soil. These minerals are perfectly safe to drink, but they can wreak havoc on water-using appliances such as coffee machines, faucets, and of course, commercial ice machines.
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Extremely high mineral content will be observable by white, chalky deposits commonly known as scale. If you live in a hard water area, you’ve likely seen scale form on your bathroom showerheads or tiles. In many cases, taste or odor will be affected by high mineral content.
In commercial ice machines, scale forms on vital ice maker components, seizing them up or hindering water flow to the unit. For this reason, Easy Ice conducts a thorough site survey to test the minerality of the water before installing any ice machine. The only way to rid your ice machine of scale deposits is through professional ice machine cleaning. Since professional cleanings are expensive, preventing the scale from forming is the most cost-effective solution.
How Does an Advanced Water Treatment Work in Ice Machines?
For commercial ice machines installed in hard water environments, an advanced water treatment system will greatly extend the machine’s life.
Advanced water systems are not the same as water filters. Filters prevent particles from entering your ice machine. Since minerals have a smaller micron rating than most standard sediment filters can block, treating the water is a better alternative. Advanced water treatment systems change the water’s chemical composition, so these minerals don’t bind together.
For example, we use phosphate cartridges on many of the ice machines we install in hard water environments (we also use other methods). Phosphate cartridges release phosphate into your ice machine’s water supply, which satisfies the ionic bonds calcium and magnesium use to bind together. Simply put, minerals are still present in the water; they just won’t combine to form scale.
Other systems, like water softeners, work on a similar principle. Rather than block minerals, they treat the water (often with salt), so it becomes “soft.”
Finally, advanced water systems like reverse osmosis are a popular way to reduce minerality in water. These systems are used in conjunction with standard sediment filters. Once the larger particles are filtered out, the reverse osmosis system forces the water through a thin membrane that blocks the smaller mineral particles.
How to Identify the Need for an Advanced Water System
Often, your city’s water quality is general knowledge. Suppose you can’t find your city’s water quality from a simple Google search. In that case, you can have a professional test your water supply.
At Easy Ice, we guarantee the performance of your ice machine through our comprehensive site survey process. If an ice machine requires an advanced water treatment system, we will inform the owner before any ice machine installation.
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We use the best phosphate systems on the market to reduce the amount of scale in your ice machine, ensuring its performance. In other cases, we include other ice machine filters (like carbon block filters) to limit the levels of minerals in your water supply.
If you’re in the market for a new ice machine and want to guarantee it’s installed properly in relation to your city’s water quality, give our Ice Machine Experts a call. We help customers through every step of the installation process. We’ll even help you size the perfect ice machine for your business. Learn more about our all-inclusive ice machine program.