Retrofit and New Construction

New Air-cooled ice machines use less energy and water and make ice more quickly and efficiently. SoCal Water$mart now offers an incentive for the purchase and installation of an air-cooled ice machine which is replacing an existing water-cooled unit or for new projects requiring ice-machines.

Your existing water-cooled ice makers use more water to cool the system than to make the ice itself. This cooling water goes straight down the drain! Commercial ice-makers typically use 15 to 25 gallons of water to produce 100 pounds of ice flakes or cubes, depending on the quality of the ice. Older water-cooled ice machines may use as much as 90 gallons to produce the same quantity of ice.

These quantities do not include the water used to cool the machine. It takes 130-180 gallons of cooling water per 100 pounds of ice in a typical older water-cooled ice machine. Assuming a water-cooled machine using 150 gallons per 100 pounds of ice produces 400 pounds per day, the water use for a year, in cooling water alone, would be 219,000 gallons. By installing an air-cooled ice machine, the savings could equal those 219,000 gallons.