If you are running a commercial restaurant, you would want your customers to leave satisfied. This means the food served should be fresh and the drinks are refreshing and chilled. So, you are going to make use of ice but using a commercial ice maker can sometimes produce white ice. Even though it does not cause any harm, you would want crystal-clear ice and you should have an ice dispenser repair expert check the machine. Let’s discuss the reasons contributing to the production of white ice and what you can do to solve the issue.

Air Gets Trapped In The Ice

One of the most common reasons commercial ice dispensers produce white ice is the fact that air gets trapped in the ice. During the freezing process, the dissolved air bubbles along with the gasses have nowhere to go so they get stuck in the center of the ice. As a result, a white opaque center is produced.

Furthermore, the outside edges are the first to freeze and the air bubbles have no way to escape. This means they are trapped inside the water. So, if you look closely, you would observe that the air bubbles are closely trapped. And once these bubbles gather in the center and freeze, the ice appears white due to the refraction of light.

To prevent this issue from taking place in the future, you should freeze the ice omnidirectionally.

Mineral Impurities

You might have observed that most ice is produced by freezing tap water. While that is the most common way of freezing ice, sometimes, the water may contain mineral impurities that might lead to opaque and white ice. Hard water has many impurities and can make the ice cubes cloudy.

Moreover, even if you don’t have hard water, you can still get cloudy ice cubes. However, you need to check the filters of your commercial ice dispenser. If you were not aware, ice dispensers come with water filters that keep the impurities at bay.

These filters need to be replaced after a certain period of time. If ignored, the filter won’t be able to keep the impurities from mixing in the water and in worst-case scenarios can become clogged causing the machine to become damaged.

Cracks In The Ice

Ice responds to the rise and fall in temperature. That said, it contracts when the temperature drops and with rise of the temperature, it expands. Ice dispensers come with a built-in heat cycle that is run to melt the outside ice once they are done freezing the ice inside.

Therefore, when the temperature increases, the ice expands leading to cracks. So, you might have observed that the ice has white cracks throughout the ice, which might make it look as if there is something wrong. However, this is something that does not happen regularly, so there is no need to panic.

Smaller Ice Cubes

Smaller ice cubes appear more cloudy and white when compared to large ice cubes due to the air bubbles to cube size ratio. Plus, smaller ice cubes tend to have more ice bubbles than larger ice cubes. Therefore, it is natural that the smaller ice cubes will appear more white.

In addition to that, larger ice cubes when compared to smaller ice cubes have more concentrated air in the center. As a result, the ice cubes from the outside may appear clear and white from the inside. However, in the case of smaller ice cubes, the situation is the opposite.

Ice Is Freezing Quickly

Ice freezing too quickly can also cause it to appear white. The reason is that ice freezing too fast does not give enough time for the air bubbles and impurities to escape. This usually happens when the adjusted temperature is not right. You can solve the issue by lowering the temperature.

Conclusion

The above-mentioned reasons mostly cause ice to appear white and cloudy. As mentioned in the beginning, there is no harm in consuming them but from a business point of view, your customers may not find it healthy. Therefore, it is your responsibility to offer crystal-clear ice keeping the potential factors in mind. If the problem persists, consult commercial ice maker repair Alexandria technicians.