Commercial Undercounter Ice Maker by Manitowoc

Let’s start by saying this item is not cheap. This is serious money to put out but you do get what you pay for and while there are many cheaper options, they are far inferior to a product like this. They have 24Hr timers you have to turn on daily, hook up to a faucet (that’s strange), zero parts availability for down the road, no support and are basically throw aways and if you evaluate feedback from those types of machines, they burn out after a year. So do you want to spend $500 a year, every year for who knows how long or purchase a reputable brand with a ton of support and parts if you need it. This is a very nice machine. This is an upgrade from an Edgestar that ran for 13 years 24/7. I have a large home bar and do a lot of entertaining plus the summers for filling coolers for the pool, etc. Machine is well built and worked perfectly. The instructions don’t mention or picture the switch on the front which is odd because at first I thought it didn’t work but after a finding a video on you tube, I was on a wash cycle. After putting the switch on the right selection, it took about 25min to get my first harvest. Understand, the unit, the bin were all at room temperature. After the unit chilled down inside, ice production was much faster. A great machine. No complaints and highly recommend.

I currently own a Manitowoc 560lb machine, it has run for years without ANY issue. The larger one is outdoors. I needed smaller one for my other bar, this one sits indoors. I had my guy hook it up and it dropped ice so fast. Here's to hoping this one runs for years and years My understanding is Manitowoc uses a unique metal plate that makes there machines reliable and efficient. Update: These little electronic machines are quirky and troublesome. Not all the ice machine service guys will work on these. Mine ran for 2 to 3 months without a problem. However, Covid hit and we were closed for 9 months and we shut it off. After it was turned back on, all the quirks came out. The coolent leaked out, the machine leaked water out the bottom, and it kept shutting off with the red wrench of death light. Keep in mind it was under 2 years old, and off for half of that time. The depth probe was acting up, the inlet valve had to be replaced (finally found the cause of the mysterious water leak), then the compressor died (at 2 years and 2 days). Hey, no problem, it has a 3 year parts and labor and 5 year compressor warranty, right?. Wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My portion of the compressor replacement was $1300 which was not covered by the parts and labor warranty to replace a compressor. The pre covid price to buy new here on Amazon was $1500 which is what I paid new, and it costs $1300 more on a barely used machine under warranty repair????? Plus all the other repairs. I've had 4 different ice machine repairmen working on this over the 2 years (and a couple more that wouldn't), they have trouble diagnosing, they talk with the factory, and they fix one problem but there are still 2 other problems going on. The model now runs for $2k new, ouch! And the repair bills, OUCH!! After this machine, I say buy a cheap brand run it til it dies then buy a new one, it will be half the cost of the Neo. And avoid the one year of problems and frustrations we had, an buying ice all the time. Get a cheap brand.

We had another ice machine that lasted 13 years then I bought this one for my husband for Father’s Day. We love it. Our neighbors come get when they need it. It’s so nice. I referred it to my friend Gino and he ordered one.

This things cranks out ice. I set it up at home, outside, on a covered patio. Ice starts coming within 15 minutes. I turn it on Thursday afternoon if I want it full going into the weekend. It often is over 100 degrees F outside and the machine cranks away. The bin is not refrigerated so the ice cubes don’t freeze to each other. Only downside so far is It doesn’t like gfci outlets. Runs at about 400 watts. Update: I had the machine covered with a tarp over the winter on an exterior covered patio. I uncovered it and plugged it in and turned it on. Guess what.... It cranked on and made Flippin' ice! No issues. No problems. No leaks. Just ice. Just like it's supposed to. I'm so used to stuff breaking down nowadays, but not this machine.

This is my second Manitowoc ice machine, and I bought this second one because I was so happy with the first. This second one works well, delivers lots of ice, and is generally a quality machine . . . but it is much noisier than the first one. That's the only negative.

Manitowoc have a great history of commercial grade ice machines, I've been using them for years. If you want a quick install you need to know what you need, and although there is some documentation in the manual's or pdf's, the install is more obvious when you see the machine. Top drain is 1/2 inch npt female, this is where the water from the making ice cycle is dumped when it goes into "harvest" mode. The bottom two connections, Left 3/8 inch npt female, fresh water input, and the right is 1/2 inch npt female for the ice bin drain. As shown on the second diagram is the need for a vent hose. When I installed the drain side, I used two 1/2in male to barb plastic fittings with 5/8 hose and two tee's tying the both outputs together with a vent and a drain, simple and cheap. Fresh water side is self explanatory. I was close enough to a main panel to add it's own circuit although it's only 5 amps. Sure it uses excess water to make the ice, some people use condensate pumps other plumb it to the dogs water... It is a bummer that these machines can waste potable water, but they don't "have" to. I forgot to mention don't use GFCI Outlets other reviewers had issues in the manual clearly states not to. 1st year in, no major problem, but it does cause RF on HF bands. Every 10khz it is making a buzz when the compressor is running, I make sure to turn it off on radio night.

Worked great for 2 years. Now it's leaking water so we had to turn it off. Trying to find a repair person to fix it.