Independent repairs for Hoshizaki machines
Hoshizaki ice machines turn up in Perth hotels, sushi bars, cocktail bars, fish shops and hospital kitchens, and they tend to sit in the hottest, least visited corner of the building. When one starts making thin ice, leaks onto the floor or goes quiet, Sam Celesti comes out, tracks down the cause and prices the repair before touching anything.
Sam has worked in commercial refrigeration for more than 20 years and holds ARCtick licence AU55592. He is not a Hoshizaki agent and has no wish to be one: he is an independent technician who fixes every brand, so a Hoshizaki in the bar and another make in the kitchen can be looked at on the same trip.
Which Hoshizaki equipment Sam works on
Sam services current models and older machines that have left the catalogue. You can see the current line up on the Hoshizaki range page. It includes:
- IM cube machines. 35 listings from undercounter cabinets making 18 kg a day to modular heads making 205 kg.
- KM and KMD crescent machines. Seven self-contained KM units from 41 kg to 130 kg a day and two KMD heads at 175 kg and 255 kg.
- FM flake and nugget machines. Seven flake and seven nugget models, from 96 kg a day up to 890 kg on the FM-1000AKE.
- Dispensers and bins. DCM ice and water dispensers, DB-200H dispensers and the B series storage bins.
- Fridges and freezers. Upright, underbench and drawer cabinets, plus sushi display cases.
What goes wrong, by machine type
Cube and crescent machines
Most calls start with less ice than usual, cubes that are thin or cloudy, or a machine that freezes but will not drop its batch. The causes overlap: mineral scale on the freezing surface, a tired water pump, a sticking inlet valve, a dirty condenser or a bin control giving the wrong signal. On the drain pump versions, a failed pump or blocked outlet adds water inside the cabinet to the list. Sam tests the water side and the refrigeration side before naming a part.
Flake and nugget machines
The FM machines make ice continuously with an auger, so the wear points are mechanical as well as refrigeration. Noise, wet or slushy ice, water around the base and a machine that trips out are the usual early signs. Descaling the cylinder on time eases the load on the auger and gear motor.
Dispensers
The parts that move ice from storage to the cup need regular cleaning and checking: the chute, the agitator, the gate and the drain. Ice that sits overnight and clumps is a common cause of jams.
Is it broken, or just hot?
Hoshizaki prints two output figures for most of its machines, one at 21 °C air and 15 °C water, and a lower one at 32 °C air and 21 °C water. The difference is large on some models. A KM-60C HC is rated at 52 kg a day but about 37 kg on the hotter basis, and the KM units are only rated for rooms up to 38 °C. A storeroom under a tin roof in January can go past that.
So when a machine seems slow in summer, Sam measures the harvest and the room before blaming a part. Sometimes the right fix is a clean condenser and better airflow rather than a new component. When output is well below the hot weather figure, there is a fault to find.
Hoshizaki fridges and freezers too
Hoshizaki also makes commercial fridges and freezers, and Sam repairs those with the same care. That covers one and two door uprights, gastronorm and glass door models, underbench and pillarless counters, drawer units on castors and the small sushi display cases that sit on a sushi bar.
Common work on these cabinets is the same as on any commercial fridge: worn door gaskets, blocked or dirty condensers, iced evaporators, failed fan motors, faulty controllers and refrigerant leaks. If a cabinet near your ice machine is also running warm, mention it when you book.
Keeping a Hoshizaki on schedule
Ice is food, so the machine needs descaling and sanitising on a timetable that suits your water and workload, usually every three to six months. Hoshizaki sells filter systems with replacement cartridges in 320 mm and 450 mm sizes, and a cartridge left past its date stops protecting the machine. Sam can fold your ice machines and cabinets into a commercial refrigeration maintenance visit, so descaling, filter changes and coil cleaning happen together.
Book a Hoshizaki repair
Call or send a request with the model code from the data plate, such as IM-130PE-28 or FM-480AKE-HC-SB, and a short note of what the machine is doing. Same-day callouts run seven days across Perth. The call-out is $75 + GST, labour is $180 an hour + GST plus parts, and the repair is priced before work begins. For other makes, or for more on how ice machines are cleaned, see ice machine repairs across Perth.
