Commercial Ice Makers

An initiative was launched in early 2000 for the purpose of realizing energy savings and efficiency standards for the commercial ice making equipment industry.

Specifications were developed and incorporated into the Commercial Kitchen Initiative because of the relevance to that market sector.  This market segment includes hospitals, hotels, restaurants, retail outlets, schools, offices and grocery stores. Combined, purchases of commercial ice makers make up 100% of units sold.

As part of the commercial refrigeration total usage about 11.5% consists of ice making appliances.  These machines consume roughly 9.6 billion kWh of electricity annually, which covers the 1.3 million automatic commercial ice makers in service.

In 2009 the sales of ice makers totaled about 200,000 units new and about one third that number used. Over half of the units sold were self-contained cube producing units, while the remainder consisted of remote condensing units and ice-making heads.

Awareness of the differences between design features and overall life cycle costs were the main concerns end-users failed to recognize when choosing an ice making machine. The industry needs to do a better job helping them understand how much more energy efficient commercial ice makers are and how effectively they contribute to energy savings on the refrigeration side.

Educating customers on the need to realize there are energy efficient models in this sector has already begun. Manufacturers are marking the products as such and providing education to help end users make better selections.

The initiatives main goal is to support this initiative to help overcome the barriers. Several objectives are currently being worked to help end users understand the value of selecting energy efficient commercial ice making equipment.

Here are some highlights developed through and approved by the initiative for the 2010 commercial ice maker specification.  You can use these when making your next purchase as a bench mark for selecting energy efficient configurations.

1.      Commercial Food-grade Refrigerator: A refrigeration cabinet designed for storing food products at temperatures above 32 degrees Fahrenheit (F) but no greater than 40 degrees F and intended for commercial use.

2.      Commercial Food-grade Freezer: A refrigeration cabinet designed for storing food products at temperatures of 0 degrees F and intended for commercial use.

3.      Refrigeration Cabinet: A refrigerator or freezer used for storing food products at specified temperatures, with the condensing unit and compressor built into the cabinet, and designed for use by commercial or institutional facilities, other than laboratory settings. These units may be vertical or chest configurations and may contain a worktop surface.

4.      Closed Refrigerator: A display or holding refrigerator where product is accessible for removal by opening or moving doors or panels.

5.      Solid Door Cabinet: A commercial food-grade refrigerator or freezer in which all outer doors on all sides of the unit are solid doors. These doors may be sliding or hinged.

6.      Glass Door Cabinet: A commercial food-grade refrigerator or freezer in which all outer doors on at least one side of the unit are glass doors. These doors may be sliding or hinged.

7.      Mixed Solid/Glass Door Cabinet: A commercial food-grade refrigerator or freezer in which all outer doors on at least one side of the unit are a combination of solid and glass doors. A unit which has all glass doors on one side and a combination of solid and glass doors on another is considered a glass door cabinet.

8.      Solid Door: Less than 75% of the front surface area is glass.

9.      Glass Door: Greater than, or equal to, 75% of the front surface area is glass.

10.  Worktop Surface: A solid working surface. The working surface may be a cutting board, a stainless steel work surface, or a stone slab. This surface cannot add to the total energy consumption of the unit.

11.  Chest Configuration: An enclosed refrigeration cabinet to which access is gained only through a top-opening door.

12.  AHAM Volume: The interior volume of a refrigerator as calculated by AHAM Standard Household Refrigerators/Household Freezers (ANSI/AHAM HRF-1-2004).

13.  Integrated Average Product Temperature: The integrated average of all test package temperatures, recorded at 15-minute intervals, as determined by the test method referenced in Section 4, Test Criteria.