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A modular ice machine and a nugget ice machine side by side in one break room.

Cube or nugget, keep or retire

Choosing and comparing
guides.

Cube, nugget or flake, air-, water- or remote-cooled, a head on a bin or one undercounter cabinet, and when an aging ice machine is worth a repair and when it is time for another.

(844) 410-9163

Mon–Sat, 8am–8pm

  • Three guides
  • Read before you book
  • Says where to stop

Book a visit

Three short steps, about a minute.

or call (844) 410-9163

Choosing and comparing,
guide by guide.

Read this section before you spend money on ice: a new bar opening, a clinic adding a patient floor, an office replacing a tired dispenser, or an owner looking at an old ice machine and wondering whether it has one more repair in it. They compare the choices across every maker rather than for one brand, because the questions that matter are about the ice, the room and the building.

All 18 guides
A stainless modular ice machine head on a tall bin in a restaurant back room, its bin door lifted to show a mound of small soft nugget ice beside a stainless scoop, with a second ice machine's clear cubes in a glass pan on the steel shelf next to it.
5-minute read

Cube, Nugget or Flake Ice: Two Ways of Freezing and the Job Each One Suits

Batch plates against a turning auger: how each ice is made, what it does in a glass or on a display, the water and upkeep it costs, and why flake stays out of dispensers.

A stainless modular ice machine head on a bin in a narrow restaurant back room, a louvered side panel and a gray washable air filter visible on the front, a clear gap between the ice machine and the tiled wall, a floor drain nearby.
5-minute read

Air-Cooled, Water-Cooled or Remote: Where an Ice Machine Sends Its Heat

Room air, condenser water or a coil on the roof: what each asks of the space and the plumbing, why federal guidance avoids single-pass water, and who cleans what.

An undercounter ice machine built into a dark wood bar with its door open and a scoop resting on clear cubes, and beside it a stainless modular ice machine head on a bin with its front panel set aside against the wall, a clean tile floor.
4-minute read

Repair or Replace an Ice Machine: Scale, Sealed System and the Ice You Actually Need

What cleaning and a single part can restore, which repairs are routine, when a compressor on an old or undersized unit tips the balance, and what the 2026 refrigerant rules change.

Cube or nugget, keep or retire.

Three decisions come up again and again. What kind of ice the business actually uses, cube, nugget or flake, which settles the kind of machine before anything else. How the machine gets rid of its heat, into the room, into water or up to a roof, which settles where it can live. And whether a failing machine should be repaired or retired, which depends on its history and its size as much as on the broken part.

Each guide draws on the makers' own installation and service manuals and on federal buyer guidance from the Department of Energy and ENERGY STAR, and cites them beside the claims they back. When one maker's figure differs from another's, both are given, with the series each applies to.

None of this replaces a look at the site. The drain run, the water supply, the power circuit and the space around the vents often decide more than the brochure does, and a short visit before ordering can prevent a machine that fits the budget but not the room.

Not sure where to start?

The short answerCube, Nugget or Flake Ice: Two Ways of Freezing and the Job Each One Suits

Cube, nugget or flake ice comes from two kinds of machine.

The short answerAir-Cooled, Water-Cooled or Remote: Where an Ice Machine Sends Its Heat

An air-cooled or water-cooled ice machine differs in where its heat goes.

The short answerRepair or Replace an Ice Machine: Scale, Sealed System and the Ice You Actually Need

To repair or replace an ice machine, weigh three questions: whether cleaning and a single part will restore it, whether the cooling system itself has failed on an older machine, and whether it still makes enough ice for the business.

When reading
is not enough.

If the checks in these guides did not settle it, the visit picks up from there, stop by stop.

What repairs cost
  1. 01One cycle, watched closely
  2. 02The cause, then the price
  3. 03Parts that travel with us
  4. 04A harvest before we go

The problems
these answer.

Each has a page of its own, with the causes in the order worth checking.

All 17 problems
A heavy rocks glass on a dark bar top filled with milky white cloudy cubes from an ice machine, a few white flakes floating in the water around them, and behind it slightly out of focus a stainless undercounter ice machine with its bin door open showing clumped cloudy ice. Problem

Cloudy, Soft or Wet Ice From an Ice Machine

6 causes, cheapest first

 Close view into the open bin of a stainless ice machine, a mix of cubes on top: some full clear square cubes and many thin, hollow, dimpled cubes and broken shards, a white plastic scoop resting at the edge of the ice machine's bin. Problem

Ice Machine Cubes Coming Out Thin, Small or Hollow

6 causes, cheapest first

 A stainless countertop ice and water dispenser on a light stone counter in a quiet hotel ice alcove, an empty paper cup standing under the dispenser's chute with nothing in it, a few loose ice cubes melting on the drip grate of the ice dispenser. Problem

Ice Dispenser Not Dispensing Ice or Water

6 causes, cheapest first

 A stainless modular ice machine head on a tall storage bin in a busy restaurant back room, the bin door propped open to show only a thin layer of clear cubes scattered across the bottom of the ice machine's bin, a fryer station glowing warm in soft focus nearby. Problem

Ice Machine Making Too Little Ice for the Rush

6 causes, cheapest first
A family filling glasses with nugget ice from an ice machine in a large home kitchen.
For the heart of your home.

Questions about
choosing and comparing.

Which kind of ice machine suits a small bar?
Usually an undercounter or a compact modular cube machine, air-cooled if the bar back has space at the vents. Clear, dense cubes suit spirits, and the undercounter format keeps ice within reach of the bartender.
Is a self-contained or a modular ice machine better?
Self-contained units put the ice-making section and the bin in one cabinet and suit lower volumes. Modular heads sit on a separate bin or dispenser, so capacity and storage can be sized independently and the head can be replaced while the bin stays.
Does an ENERGY STAR label matter on an ice machine?
It covers air-cooled commercial machines and sets limits on both energy and water per 100 pounds of ice. Water-cooled models and ice and water dispensers are outside the program, so the label cannot be compared across them.
Can you help us choose before we buy an ice machine?
Yes. We can look at the room, the drain, the water line and the power supply and tell you which kinds of machine will work there, whichever maker you decide on.

The other
sections.

Split by what you are trying to find out rather than by which part of the appliance it concerns.

All guides
A few small, hollow cubes at the bottom of an ice machine bin.
What the ice is telling you

Common problems

A finger pressing a button on the control panel of an ice machine, the lights dark.
Safe checks at the bin and the valve

Troubleshooting

Removed plastic parts of an ice machine soaking in a sink of cleaning solution.
Habits that keep the bin full for years

Maintenance and prevention

A clean ice scoop hanging in its holder beside the bin of an ice machine.
Keeping the ice, the floor and the room safe

Ice hygiene, water and gas

The drain line of an ice machine ending above a floor drain with a clear air gap.
Water, drain, air and power

Installation and setup

Not sure which section?

Start from your question

The four questions most visits start with, each with the guide that answers it.

18 guidesWhere to start Where to start

Back to your everyday

Let’s get your ice machine working again.

Three short steps online, or one call. Tell us what you are seeing and pick a window that works.

Schedule a repair Call (844) 410-9163
(844) 410-9163 Schedule a repair