Looking for energy efficiency in your ice machine?

In the war to lower the bottom line of your restaurant or food service business, I’m sure you’ve considered how much you spend on your energy bill each month. It is because of this desire by owners to keep costs down and thereby improve profits that has made energy efficient ice making and refrigeration units some of the best sellers on the market today. In fact, many companies have begun separating out their top performers in energy efficiency into a special section of their store. They know that owners want these products and are making great attempts to showcase energy efficient ice makers, fridges and freezers. Today, we are going to try and answer one question about energy efficiency in ice making: who makes the best one for commercial use?
The Candidates
Most of the top brands make a self-contained energy efficient ice machine that produces around 80-100 pounds of ice per hour. This includes models by Scotsman, Ice-O-Matic, Manitowoc and Hoshizaki. The price ranges of all of these models are all within about $500 retail of each other as well. This means we are going to be able to look at the two most important aspects of energy efficiency: performance and energy use. Let’s see how our big four stack up.
Performance and Energy Use
First, let’s talk performance. When it comes to ice production, Manitowoc and Ice-O-Matic take the cake. Their comparable models are at the top of the 100 pounds of ice per hour range we talked about earlier for the same price of similar units made by Hoshizaki or Scotsman. This means that you are getting about 10% more ice on average by going with an Ice-O-Matic or Manitowoc self-contained, energy efficient ice machine.
It’s clear that there are a couple models that stand out in performance, but is there a winner when it comes to energy use over time? The truth is that none of the units have a real edge in energy use over time. All energy efficient models ran about 8% more efficient on average than a traditional model. This means significant savings as opposed to a non-energy efficient unit, but between the four models no clear winner could be found on this front.
Little Extras
There are also some intangibles to consider when buying any piece of commercial kitchen equipment. These are things like warranty, company reputation and unique design. In energy efficient ice-machines for commercial use, there isn’t a lot of bells and whistles to be found. Two companies, however that stand out among the rest, are Manitowoc and Scotsman. Both have a good history of producing longer lasting units and provide exceptional customer service for their products.

The Kitchen of the Future

The Kitchen of the Future: What will the commercial kitchen of the future look like?

Commerical Kitchen Energy conservation tips

Running a restaurant means working off a bottom line. This is the amount of money you will spend to run your business. Earning more that this bottom line is the key to success. One of the ways to increase your chances of doing this is by getting that line as low as possible. The easiest way to lower your bottom line is by cutting down on the cost of production. Here are a few tips that will keep your bottom line lower and profits higher.
Tip 1: Monitor Air Flow

Though you can’t see it, your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning costs are likely about a quarter of your daily overhead. By monitoring these systems to ensure they aren’t working overtime for no reason, you can cut over a thousand dollars from the energy bill of almost any restaurant.
Tip 2: Shut off Idle Equipment
When you aren’t using an appliance, shut it off. Making and sticking to a schedule for these machines will help you manage this process and provide staff with clear direction on when to turn off the big energy eaters. The result is a longer life for your equipment and lower energy costs once again.
Tip 3: Space out Cold and Hot Equipment
One of the easiest ways to organize a commercial kitchen for efficiency is to have the cold and hot equipment separated. If you have a freezer and fridge system, ensure they aren’t beside the grill. By separating these units you are able to better manage how hard they have to work. If it’s too cold your oven will be working overtime to get up to max temp. The same applies to your fridge and freezer. Make sure they don’t get overworked simply by having other hot equipment within a few feet.
Tip 4: Hot Water Can Cost You
If you want to run a more efficient commercial kitchen, you have to manage the hot water it uses. This means educating staff on which tasks require hot water and which don’t. It can also mean insulating hot water pipes to ensure that you aren’t loosing excess energy to get that hot water to the tap.
Tip 5: Maintain your Equipment Regularly
The last tip for keeping costs down in your commercial kitchen is to ensure you maintain your equipment. As commercial kitchen equipment ages, it becomes less efficient. Avoid this trend by keeping a tight schedule for equipment maintenance. Not only will you spend less on replacements, you will ensure that your equipment doesn’t suck energy while it’s in use.

Not cooling......No problem

Another commercial kitchen equipment problem solved by one of our trained technicians at a restaurant in Springfield, IL on a Perlick P5063 cooler.

Planned Maintenance

Planned Maintenance also known as preventative maintenance is important to help prevent many different types of equipment failures.  It prolongs the life of your equipment and greatly reduces repair cost while increasing "up" time.  In the long run they don't cost money they save money.

Eichenauer Services performs planned maintenance on just about every piece of commercial kitchen equipment including ice machines, fryers, grills, ovens, coolers, and outside the kitchen on HVAC units.  Call us today or submit the form on our website if you are interested in learning more.  We perform these services throughout the state of Illinois.

The importance of planned maintenance is something that manufactures such as Manitowoc recognize as beneficial.  

Eichenauer Services
800-252-5892
www.esiquality.com

Illinois.......we got your commercial kitchen equipment needs covered!

One of the main advantages of using Eichenauer Services as your "one-stop shop" for your commercial equipment needs besides our industry experience and expertise, wide variety of equipment covered, and 24/7/365 service availability is our large coverage area.  We have strategically placed our branches and satellite sites to help cover the entire state of Illinois including locations such as Decatur, Peoria, Champaign, Centralia, Springfield, Effingham, Bloomington ,and La Salle/Peru.  You can see a full listing of our coverage area at www.esiquality.com.  

Call us today at 800-252-5892 to place a service call on your cooking equipment (fryers, grills, kettles, ovens, microwaves, steamers, etc.), cold-side equipment (ice machines, freezers, coolers, etc.), beverage dispensing equipment, or HVAC units.  We got you covered!

Illinois Branches:

Eichenauer Services

2465 N 22nd St Decatur, IL 62526 US

Phone: 800-252-5892 Website: http://www.esiquality.com/

Eichenauer Services

106 E McClure Peoria, IL 61603 US

Phone: 800-252-5892 Website: http://www.esiquality.com/

Eichenauer Services

405 S Neil St Champaign, IL 61820 US

Phone: 800-252-5892 Website: http://www.esiquality.com/
 

Illinois Satellites:
Springfield, IL | Bloomington, IL | Effingham, IL | LaSalle/Peru, IL | Mount Vernon, IL | Joliet, IL |
Quad Cities, IL (Moline, East Moline, Rock Island) | Marion, IL |  Metro East, IL (Belleville, Collinsville, Edwardsville, O'Fallon, Fairview Heights)