The two do not appear to be related, the Ice-O-Matic ice machines and baseball, but there is a statistic that is used to evaluate a baseball player’s performance that can be extended to how the condenser in his ice machine works. . The statistic is known as “VORP”, or replacement player value, and it evaluates exactly how valuable a given player is to his hypothetical replacement. When we look at Ice-O-Matic’s ICE806, we see that the condenser is available in an air-cooled, water-cooled, or remote air-cooled unit. When we look at these three, which are distinguished by an A, W, or R suffix, we will notice some similarities, but there are some differences, and the main contributing factor is how the capacitor is cooled.
The ICE806A is air cooled and uses the surrounding air to keep the ice machine cool. The ICE806W uses water to keep the machine cool, and with the ICE806R, the condenser is moved to the outside or roof of the building, often outside of the warm environment in which the unit operates. All of these machines are essentially the same model. They are all from Ice-O-Matic, and they all produce around 900 pounds under ideal conditions (defined as 70 degrees air, 50 degrees water). There’s little variation in your production here, just a 16-pound difference from best to worst.
Differences begin to show when air and water temperatures rise. That’s where we start to see which ICE806 ice machine is most valuable. When the surrounding air is 90 degrees and the water used is 70 degrees, the production of the ICE806A drops dramatically, up to 665 pounds per day. If you bought your machine because you needed 900 pounds of ice, but only received two-thirds of that, you would certainly be mad. Inevitably, Ice-O-Matic’s ICE806R and ICE806W models also see their production drop, but only to around 775 pounds per day. In terms of production, the ICE806R and ICE806W are much more valuable than their replacement.
So if we compare these two ice machines, we will see some more subtle differences. The ICE806W will be sold for a lower total price than the ICE806R, because the ICE806R capacitor needs to be purchased separately. However, Ice-O-Matic’s water-cooled ICE806W, while initially cheaper, will use 112 gallons of water for every 100 pounds of frozen water created, resulting in a substantial increase in your water bills. Over time, the ICE806R will use less water and energy, which has also earned it an Energy Star rating.
After taking these things into account, we see that Ice-O-Matic’s ICE806R could be the machine with the most clutch, with the most reliable performance, the lowest cost of operation, and the greatest advantage. It clearly has the most value over its replacements and will continually churn out between 775-900 pounds when needed most. Ice-O-Matic Ice Machines and Baseball Stats: Who would have thought the two could be paired up?
