An In-Depth Look At Ice Crushers And Ice Blowers
Ice crushers and ice blowers are an integral part of the entertainment and snow-making industries. These heavy duty, hard-working pieces of equipment are carefully designed and constructed to stand up to the demands of high capacity, physical strain, and prolonged daily use. They are also very versatile and can be custom designed to fit a range of different requirements. Let’s take a closer look at industrial ice crushers and ice blowers.
What Are Ice Crushers and Ice Blowers?
Let’s begin by discussing what ice crushers and ice blowers are and why they are so commonly discussed together.
- Ice Crushers – Despite their size and high capacity ice crushers are actually relatively simple pieces of machinery. This in part is one of the reasons that they are so dependable. Ice is dropped into the feeder apron which then channels the ice into the crusher’s inner workings. Meanwhile a motor is turning the crusher’s blades which in turn crush the ice and feed it back out of the machine in the form of snow-style ice particles.
- Ice Blowers – Ice blowers use a motorized fan to propel crushed ice, often up to very long distances and at high capacities. By adjusting the ice blower’s design, fan, and motor the unit can be customized to blow for shorter or longer distances and at varying outputs as needed.
- Ice Crusher-Blower Combinations – Within the industrial cooling industry it is very common to build ice crushers and ice blowers into one combination unit. That is because most ice blowers will naturally need a supply of crushed ice to blow and also because the addition of an on-board blower removes the need to shovel the crushed ice produced by the crusher.
What Options Exist For Ice Crushers and Ice Blowers
Ice crushers and blowers are very versatile and can be custom designed and built with many specifications in mind. This allows them to best serve the industry demands of the particular customer who is buying them. Some of the various options include:
- Fuel Type – Ice crushers and blowers can be built to run on various fuel types. Two of the most popular are diesel and electric.
- Feed Ice Capacity – Ice crushers vary in how much feed ice they can handle at a given time. Units are often built to handle up to 300 pound blocks of ice; although, some units can even handle up to 400 pound blocks.
- Feed Ice Type – Ice crushers are usually built to crush ice in block form. However, some units are designed to be more versatile and may be able to crush blocks, cubes, fragments, and tubes of ice as well.
- Output Capacity – Ice crushers also vary in terms of the amount of output capacity they have. Units vary from relatively small output capacity to up to 25 tons per hour, or even 60 tons per hour – a whopping 2,000 pounds per minute! This ensures that there will be an ice crusher/blower able to meet every customer’s output demands.
- Blowing Distance – Ice blowers that are a part of a crusher-blower combination can often blow crushed ice an impressive 70 to 80 feet. However, some customers need even larger distances and specialized blowing units can even attain distances of up to 300 feet.
- Mounting – Ice crushers and blowers are used in a range of different industries with many different demands. In some cases a more permanent or long-term mounting may be desired, while in others it could be imperative for the unit to be able to move or relocate easily. Ice crushers and blowers can be skid mounted, trailer mounted, or built on wheels for easy portability.
SEMCO/SEMCOLD LLC prides itself on its high quality, versatile ice crushers and blowers. We will custom design units to fit our customers’ needs and we use strong, high quality industrial steel. We also paint the units with industrial enamel designed to help improve performance, prolong life, and resist rusting and corrosion.
