The Everest Blog

One of the main reasons people get into the ice and water vending game is that they’re looking for an additional way source of income that doesn’t require much time. Since these self-serve ice vending machines don’t need someone on-site to control them, many people think they don’t need to show up to take care of them.

However, that’s far from the case. Weekly checks are beneficial, and routine maintenance is a must if you want to ensure the success and longevity of your machine. If you’re unsure as to why regular ice vending machine maintenance is so important, you can explore why you need to keep up with it in this short guide.

It Keeps Up the Ice Quality

Even though ice doesn’t really have a taste, it can develop one if you don’t maintain your machine. Bad-tasting ice will ruin a drink, which will discourage people from coming back to your machine. Often, ice develops a weird taste due to limescale and calcium build-up inside of your machine. The taste issue can also affect the water in dual-function ice and water vending machines.

On top of that, maintaining quality also means keeping up with the shape and appearance of your ice. If your machine malfunctions during the ice creation process, the ice might dispense broken or clumped together in big pieces. These results are not desirable for customers, so you’ll want to check from time to time to see if everything functions properly.

It Keeps Customers Safe

Even though bad-tasting ice isn’t a problem you want to have, contaminated ice is much worse. Mold and bacteria can form inside ice machines that the owner doesn’t clean properly. Fortunately, some machines had add-ons that clean the water used during the ice formation process, but it’s still up to you to prevent product contamination.

Regular cleaning will help ensure that a problem such as this never occurs. The last thing you want for your ice vending business is reports that your ice or water made some of your consumers sick. Proper precautions will ensure this never happens, though.

It Keeps Things Running

Finally, the main reason regular ice vending machine maintenance is vital is that it will ensure that your machine keeps running. While the self-serve nature of these machines is a major selling point, it’ll make it more difficult for you to know if something goes wrong. A broken-down machine will bring sales to a standstill and upset customers.

Keeping up with maintenance will ensure that these issues never occur in the first place. Fortunately, our ice machines have only one moving part, so breakdowns are rare. Still, you’ll want to closely monitor it to ensure nothing goes wrong. If something comes up, you should be able to fix it before the part fully breaks down on you.