Water-cooled or air-cooled? - the differences, advantages and disadvantages

An ice machine produces heat to make ice. Formally, you extract heat from the product, creating cold. An ice machine must dissipate this heat. If not, the machine would overheat and catch fire.

Most smaller ice machines are air-cooled. This means there is a fan inside that blows the heat outwards. The disadvantage is that, with prolonged use, an ice machine can make the room it's in very warm. The warmer a room is, the longer an ice machine will take to make a batch of ice.

Water-cooled ice machines require a water connection and a water drain. Just like a washing machine. Cold tap water goes in and comes out about 10 degrees hotter. This heated water is still clean but is flushed away.

The advantage over an air-cooled machine is that this ice machine always stays wonderfully cool. The disadvantage, however, is that water costs money and uses quite a lot of water. For example, a typical soft-serve ice cream machine in a snack bar can easily use about 4 cubic meters of water per day. And a cubic meter is 1000 liters!

An air-cooled ice machine is easy to move, while the water-cooled version always needs a water inlet and outlet. And water hoses can leak.....

All Musso ice machines are air-cooled. So you have no cooling water costs. This is undoubtedly your best choice.

Our company sells and maintains Musso ice machines. We have been doing this for 44 years now!

Seen it cheaper elsewhere? In an age of internet and webshops, that's certainly possible. But remember that a Musso can easily last 20 years. Then there will come a time when you need knowledge and expertise.