Industrial Flake Ice Machines

[thatguy]

My plant is moving to a new building at the end of the year this year. We are not taking our North star M40 and rake system with us due to the cost to remove it from the building and move it to the new facility. I have been tasked with finding out options for a new ice machine when we move. We could go with another North Star 40 but we don't have room for a rake system at the new plant. We would be sitting it on a frame and putting totes under it to fill and store in the cold storage until we need it for production or distribution of fish. We need to be able to fulfill 20k lbs per day of ice. We have thought of using 2 small machines set up in different areas of the plant to service the 2 lines that use the most ice. My question is, besides North Star are there any other manufacturers that make high output flake ice machines that take up a small footprint? I have worked with Atlas machines before in Alaska but would like to hear if there are any other manufacturers that I should be looking in to.

[RANGER1]

thatguy,
Any particular reason to not use Northstar, or just making sure you get the best deal?
What type of compressor/s do you currently have & feel comfortable with?
Ammonia or synthetic refrigerant?
Full turn key system?

http://recom-ice.com/category/about-us/

http://www.snowkey.com/ice/en/index.php/Product/detail/id/358

[thatguy]

Right now the facility has a Logix NH3 system that has 6 Mycom recips. We are not sure if we want to put the ice machine on the ammonia system or if it would be cheaper to get a turnkey system. North Star is local and their machines are very reliable. I just want to take the VP group all the information I can find. I have suggested that a North Star 20 will deliver plenty of ice per day based on our max daily usage calculation. LOL, I just don't want to go in the next meeting looking like a North Star fanboy or anything like that. I just can't find much information on comparable machines.

[RANGER1]

Right now the facility has a Logix NH3 system that has 6 Mycom recips. We are not sure if we want to put the ice machine on the ammonia system or if it would be cheaper to get a turnkey system. North Star is local and their machines are very reliable. I just want to take the VP group all the information I can find. I have suggested that a North Star 20 will deliver plenty of ice per day based on our max daily usage calculation. LOL, I just don't want to go in the next meeting looking like a North Star fanboy or anything like that. I just can't find much information on comparable machines.

It would be cheaper in short term for turnkey, but maybe power usage would also have to be investigated.
Ammonia would be most inexpensive, but a lot more expensive to install if evaporative condenser installed.
Synthetic refrigerants ok, but if leak you probably don't know until to late.
Ammonia may have more maintenance & require someone to look after it, with more safety aspects.
Mask some questions on local company, make them work for it.
Were the other links helpful in any way, gather some information & ask them for options.
Ammonia could be more compact if shell & tube or PHE condenser, but is a few penalties for efficiency &
extra water pumps running.
6 Mycom's sounds like a lot, what model & number of cylinders
WA, WB, WBHE, L, K?

[Josip]

Hi, thatguy :)


My plant is moving to a new building at the end of the year this year. We are not taking our North star M40 and rake system with us due to the cost to remove it from the building and move it to the new facility. I have been tasked with finding out options for a new ice machine when we move. We could go with another North Star 40 but we don't have room for a rake system at the new plant. We would be sitting it on a frame and putting totes under it to fill and store in the cold storage until we need it for production or distribution of fish. We need to be able to fulfill 20k lbs per day of ice. We have thought of using 2 small machines set up in different areas of the plant to service the 2 lines that use the most ice. My question is, besides North Star are there any other manufacturers that make high output flake ice machines that take up a small footprint? I have worked with Atlas machines before in Alaska but would like to hear if there are any other manufacturers that I should be looking in to.


Check this ... maybe you'll find what you need ...

http://www.buus.dk/products_vertical.htm

http://www.buus.dk/index.htm



Best regards, Josip :)

[thatguy]

It is a 78k square foot facility that is mostly a large freezer and large cooler. There are 2 large blast freezers installed as well. I have only been to the building once for about 20 minutes at this point but plan to go again this week and spend more time in the engine room. I believe that the cheapest option if the system has the capacity is to add a North Star 20 to the existing ammonia system. This would provide 3k pounds a day more ice than we require. These estimates are all off of peak season usage estimates as well. Off seasons we would use far less than the specified 10 tons of ice.

[thatguy]

Awesome! Thanks for this. This is what I used is Alaska. Very cool machines.

[Tycho]

I have worked with BUUS icemachines fed with HP NH3 liquid for flake ice, with the vertical drum, and it produced very consistent flake ice, this type http://www.buus.dk/products_type_a.htm

and it was beautiful to watch.

If I may ask, what are you using the ice for?

because if you are using the ice for selling to ships that need Ice, then fine, but if you are using it to pack product for shipment, then I would suggest flowice (optimice) from Optimar iceland, to get better product quality :)

http://optimar.is/content_optim_ice.php it preserves the fish and doesn't damage it during storage like flake ice does

:) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKomXxLpCeM cheesy music, but the "fun" starts at 1:36 when he sprays liquid ice over the fish.

I would look into flow-ice as well as flake ice, depending on what you are using it for :)

for own production, flow-ice is the way to go, for selling to vessels, flake ice is faster and easier to produce :)

[preethi94]

Very detailed information.

[NH3LVR]

Well I have to admit I am prejudiced. I installed, overhauled, operated and maintained North Stars for many years. (I guess I am a Northstar "fanboy")
Hard to go wrong with them.
I will admit I have had better success when they were used with NH3. I am not saying that they do not operate with other refrigerants, just that I have had better luck with NH3.
The issue to consider is if you need something in a hurry. Northstar is in Seattle and stocks everything.
I spent a Summer working in Naknek. Have worked in a lot worse places.

[thatguy]

Well I have to admit I am prejudiced. I installed, overhauled, operated and maintained North Stars for many years. (I guess I am a Northstar "fanboy")
Hard to go wrong with them.
I will admit I have had better success when they were used with NH3. I am not saying that they do not operate with other refrigerants, just that I have had better luck with NH3.
The issue to consider is if you need something in a hurry. Northstar is in Seattle and stocks everything.
I spent a Summer working in Naknek. Have worked in a lot worse places.

We have decided to just go with the North Star and we are going to add it into the existing NH3 system. Having them in town for parts etc is a big part for going with them.