All In a Days Work: Homemade Ice-Age

When we first purchased a second hand industrial-sized refigerator for our stores, little did we know it had its quirks of its own. This fella built on ice on a daily basis thanks to some poor engineering design (Made in Malaysia - actually Kuching >.<).

For those in the know, a refigerator provides cooling via its cooling rods which channel coolant throughout. Interestingly, for this particular unit, it had only one motor (or condenser), which basically limited it to a one shot on/or off and similar cooling for both the chiller and freezer sections. Naturally, we would have some problems such as the chiller being too cold at times and such. Many household refigerators douse the problem by simply fitting in a fan called a blower which would eliminate the problem of ice forming in the chiller section while the freezer cools down. This works by distributing the heat or more accurate cold evenly to avoid ice-forming on the cooling rods that pass by the chiller section. Another side effect, we experience a literal flood every night thanks to the forming and melting of the ice.

Well, thanks to some genius who wanted to save a couple hundred of bucks, theres no blower, and the result a super thick ice-wall or what the crew calls the Ice-Age that occurs once every month. Annoying as it may be, it actually does generate some inhouse fun every month especially when the guys go around the machine literally 'breaking the ice'.

And yes, we actually need an ice-pick (small one la...) to break through the 6" or-so wall that forms over the course of a month. Clearing out the chiller is one thing, followed by about an hour of ice fun, and rearrangement right after. Honestly, I believe the guys have somehow managed to convert this annoyance into a good practice of management to keep the chiller maintained after all.

Another one of our little arcs that run around the cafe every month - Life can be fun and entertaining no matter where it is!