Checking bowl position
Have a close look at your machine and make certain the your bowl, when in position is firming being held in at the front, whilst seating all the way back onto the rear seal. Especially in the party hire industry, where machines and transported a lot, dropped occasionally and given a hard life, your evaporator assembly may become loose, letting your bowl position to get sloppy, which can cause leaks.
If you’re not 100% sure how to rectify, retighten or realign your bows, take it to a slushy repair and maintenance supplier that you know you can rely on by reputation.
Replacing rear seals
Replacing the rear seals is as simple as it sounds, order yourself a spare set and once a year, when doing your weekly clean, swap them for new ones, that way you’ll maintain a good rear seal and prevent any leaks.
Replacing Tap O rings / seals
Depending on your machine, there are a few different setups in the tap component, some more modern machines simply have a silicone stopper attached to the tap, others have a plunger with O rings and a bottom stopper, some just a bottom stopper. No matter what type of tap setup you have, order in a set of replacements for these highly used components, change them over during your weekly service and discard the originals. Nothing worse than a dripping tap. You also should replace your auger seals at this point.
Replacing shaft bushings
Replacing shaft bushing applies to roughly 70% of machines, as most machines use a shaft that attaches to the gearbox, through the evaporator onto the auger. Different machines use different bushings, the most common being a silicone rubber or a nylon. Either way you need to remove the bushing, which is easiest done with a pick.
Some machines are easier than others, but you may also need to remove the shaft in order to get access to the shaft bushing. To do that, we need to remove the back cover to the gearbox, slide the gearbox away from the shaft, then you’ll be able to push the shaft from the front, backward toward the partially removed gearbox. You’ll need about 5cm, then you’ll have easy access to the bushing.
A worn bushing will allow small amounts of liquid into the evaporator, which can cause corrosion inside the evaporator and shorten its life, it will also leak eventually toward the gearbox, but likely inside your slushy machine, which makes the inside end up looking like a stick, dirty war zone. So for a few dollars, it’s a good idea to extend the life of your machine by doing an annual bushing replacement.
Magnetic drive machines don’t have shafts exposed to the slushy liquid, so for those, you can skip this task.
Importance of silicone grease
Firstly, what is the silicone grease? Is food grade, meaning harmless and edible silicone based lubricant, used in many products to produce food, especially anything frozen. We sell the Haynes products as they appear to be the world leaders, you can buy product from other countries, however the Americans seem to have it down pat.
The silicone grease is used to lubricate your O rings, plunger stoppers and silicone tap stoppers, it prevents leaks and also stops these items wearing prematurely. The other use, which is very important, is around your drive shaft and shaft bushing. It lubricates the auger seal while its turning and therefore extends its life, but also creates a barrier between the slushy liquid and the shaft and shaft bushing. It’s the last line a defence to keep the liquid out of your evaporator. Use it, or lose it…. The grease will save you tenfold in repairs and maintenance.
