Ice Machine Capacity and Bin Sizing

ScopeThe two sizing questions a food-service package gets wrong most often. Daily demand is covers times pounds of ice per cover, a planning benchmark near 1.5 lb for a full-service restaurant and well above that for a bar-heavy concept. Many makers catalog a machine at 70 F air with 50 F inlet water, which a real kitchen rarely delivers: at 90 F air and 70 F water, the AHRI 810 rating point, the same machine makes roughly a fifth less ice, so the nameplate must be bought oversized. Utilization is the second derate, because a machine run at 100% duty has no recovery margin, and the practice is to size near 90%. Nameplate = daily demand / (derate x utilization). A 300-cover restaurant at 1.5 lb per cover needs 450 lb/day, and at a 0.80 derate and 0.90 utilization the nameplate is 450 / 0.72 = 625 lb/day, so a 500 lb/day machine is undersized by a fifth. The bin is a separate question: it is sized for the peak block, the fraction of the day's ice that must be sitting in the bin when the rush starts, because production during the rush is slower than draw, so 40% of 450 lb is a 180 lb bin. A planning estimate; the manufacturer's published capacity table at the installed air and water temperature governs the selection.

Formula or tabledaily_demand_lb = covers_per_day x lb_per_cover; required_nameplate_lb = daily_demand_lb / (derate_factor x utilization); bin_capacity_lb = daily_demand_lb x peak_fraction.

Source and editionAHRI Standard 810 (standard rating point 90 F ambient air, 70 F inlet water) by name, with a 70 F / 50 F catalog figure derated, with the standard installed-condition derate and the 90% utilization sizing practice; the manufacturer's published capacity table at the installed air and water temperature governs the selection.

Free accessThe sizing arithmetic is public: covers, pounds of ice per cover, the derate for the installed air and water temperature, the utilization target, and the peak-period fraction are the kitchen's own values. The AHRI rating point is named, not reproduced.

What governsEstimate. AHJ and licensed professional govern.

API field namescovers_per_day, lb_per_cover, derate_factor, utilization, peak_fraction, daily_demand_lb, required_nameplate_lb, bin_capacity_lb

• Rating point AHRI Standard 810: 90 F ambient air, 70 F inlet water; the 0.8 default derates a 70 F / 50 F catalog figure (use 1 against an AHRI rating)AHRI Standard 810 (test conditions as quoted by the CEE ice-machine specification)
• Utilization size near 90% duty so the machine keeps recovery marginfood-service equipment sizing practice
• Pounds per cover a planning benchmark near 1.5 lb for full service; a bar-heavy concept runs well above itfood-service planning practice