Sizing Your Ice Storage Bin

Your ice maker and ice bin work together to make sure your business has enough ice throughout the day. As a rule, it’s always better to have more ice than you need, than not enough. You’ll spend less money on a slightly larger ice machine than you will on the extra ice you’ll need during busy days and hot summers.

If your bin is too small, you won’t get the full benefit of your machine’s production rate. Remember, an ice maker only runs long enough to fill the ice bin. After that, it shuts off until ice is taken out. For example, if you had a machine that produces 1900 pounds of ice a day on an 800-pound ice maker bin, you’re wasting the ice producing potential for such a large ice maker.

Believe it or not, having too big of an ice bin can also cause problems. An ice bin isn’t a refrigerator, so ice will inevitably melt if it’s left in there too long.

With traditional slope front bins, the ice at the top gets used first. If the bin is too big, the ice at the bottom sits there to melt. As new ice drops it refreezes into a big, block of ice at the bottom of your bin. This is why the largest bins have their doors near the floor, allowing access to the older ice first.

Start by estimating your average ice usage for your industry. Our handy Ice Machine Estimator includes the average ice usage estimates per industry. Next, consider the places you use ice aside from drinks. Do you have separate stations, like a wait station, where you keep ice? What about a beer trough for game days? Do you use ice to prep food in the kitchen? All of these are industry specific questions you should ask yourself and factor into your total ice usage. Once you have a good understanding of how much ice your business needs, you can choose the perfect bin to accommodate your ice machine. If you estimate your business needs 800 lbs of ice a day to operate a Hoshizaki B-800 or B-900 ice bin is a great choice!