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Ice Machine Scale Monitoring & Warranty Documentation
TDSBot installs inline on the supply line to each ice machine and measures hardness and TDS every minute — a continuous, timestamped record of the exact water reaching the evaporator plate.
By the time you notice production has dropped, scale has been building on the evaporator plate for weeks. TDSBot monitors hardness and TDS continuously and alerts you before scale forms — not after your Saturday-night ice bin runs empty.
Hospitals, senior living and school nutrition programs run ice machines under health-code scrutiny most restaurants never see. TDSBot gives you a continuous, timestamped water quality record — evidence of managed water treatment, not just a cleaning-calendar checkbox.
Convenience stores, gas stations and gyms run ice machines unattended for weeks at a time. TDSBot's fleet dashboard shows every site's hardness and TDS status in one view — so your service team visits the 3 machines that need attention, not all 40 on a fixed schedule.
Freezing concentrates everything water leaves behind.
An ice machine freezes water in thin layers on a metal evaporator plate. As pure water crystallizes out, dissolved calcium and magnesium concentrate in the remaining liquid — repeated cycle after cycle. This is why ice machines scale faster than a simple flow-through appliance running the same water. Scale is a thermal insulator: it slows heat transfer, lengthens freeze cycles, and cuts daily ice production well before the machine actually stops working.
General industry guidance targets water hardness of 1–5 grains per gallon (about 17–85 ppm as CaCO₃) and TDS of 70–200 ppm for reliable scale-free operation. Harder water doesn't just risk failure sooner — it shortens the interval between cleanings your manufacturer already recommends.
Your manufacturer probably requires
proof of water treatment.
Most commercial ice machine manufacturers make documented water treatment a condition of warranty coverage. When a scale-related failure claim comes in without that documentation, it's a much harder conversation — sometimes a denied one. TDSBot gives you a continuous, timestamped hardness and TDS log for the exact water reaching your machine, exportable whenever you need it.
This is supporting documentation, not a guarantee of approval. Warranty terms vary by manufacturer and model — check your specific documentation for exact requirements.
Hardness and TDS logged continuously from installation, not just at scheduled service visits. Raw sensor data, always exportable.
TDSBot detects when a pre-filter or softener starts passing hardness through, before scale has a chance to form on the evaporator.
Pull the exact water quality history for a specific machine and date range when a warranty claim or service dispute needs evidence.
Every ice machine has a reason to be monitored.
Health-code-sensitive settings where documented water quality isn't optional — it's part of the inspection record.
Unattended machines running for weeks between visits — the fleet dashboard replaces guessing which sites need service.
Cafeteria and nutrition program ice machines across multiple campuses, managed from one district-wide view.
High-volume beverage programs where a scaled-up machine directly means lost drink sales during peak hours.
Guest-floor ice machines and F&B programs where scale-driven downtime shows up directly in guest complaints.
Amenity ice machines that get noticed the moment they stop working, monitored the same way as the rest of your portfolio.
Two configurations,
single machine or shared treatment.
One sensor measures the water actually reaching the evaporator. A second on the shared treatment outlet tells you whether a problem is site-wide or machine-specific.
Installs inline on the water supply line feeding the machine, after any existing pre-filter and before the inlet valve — measuring the actual water quality reaching the evaporator, including filter degradation.
For sites where one softener or RO system feeds multiple appliances, a second TDSBot on the treatment system's outlet distinguishes a treatment failure from a problem specific to one machine.
Emergency service calls cost more than monitoring, every time.
Reported commercial ice machine repair costs vary widely by failure type — a valve or sensor repair typically runs $150–550, a compressor failure $800–2,500. Scale-driven failures compound: reduced capacity first, then component damage.
Hardware once.
Monitoring, monthly.
Same TDSBot hardware across every industry. Choose the plan that matches how you manage your fleet. Hardware from $59 (standard) or $69 (display).
Larger flow meter sizes for multi-machine supply lines, central filtration and high-flow installations.
What the sensor sends,
and how often
All three plans measure every minute — what changes is how often data leaves the sensor, and which analysis runs on it.
From teams managing
ice machines at scale.
Ice machine monitoring
— common questions
Know your ice machine's water
before scale does the talking
TDSBot installs in 15 minutes. Alerts before scale forms. Documented history for every warranty claim you'll ever need to make.
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