The Best Ice Maker for Commercial Use: hOmelabs

Note: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

It’s not often you need a new ice maker for commercial use. But when you do need a commercial grade ice maker for your business – restaurant, hotel, etc. – or even for all the large parties you host at home, you want a regular source of ice like the hOmelabs commercial ice maker machine.

In this brief article, I’ll tell you what you need to know about this hOmelabs ice maker so you can judge if it’s really the one that will work best for you. I’ll suggest a couple of alternatives as well.

If you’re in a hurry and just want to check the pricing and availability of the hOmelabs commercial ice maker at Amazon, you can click (or tap) the link just below.

• hOmelabs Commercial Ice Maker (HME030276N)

Using the link above, you may see two sizes of machines. This article is about the smaller of the two. If you need greater ice production than this one can give, just get the larger machine which can give you almost half again as much ice every 24 hours.

If you were looking for an ice maker specifically for home use, check out this Frigidaire review.

Features of the hOmelabs HME030276N

This machine can store 29 pounds of ice. It makes sheets of 45 cubes that will normally break apart as they hit the bottom of the storage area. If they don’t, it’s easy enough for you to break up the sheets into about one-inch cubes.

When the ice make reaches storage capacity, it will shut itself off. As soon as you remove some ice, it will kick in again to bring itself to capacity. If you would keep removing ice, over a period of 24 hours, you could get as much as 99 pounds of ice from this ice maker.

It normally takes about 10 to 20 minutes for the machine to create a sheet of cubes. Depending on the mineral content of your water, the cubes should be fairly clear.

Since this is not a freezer, the cubes will eventually start to melt slowly. You wouldn’t want this to be a freezer because then the cube would fuse to each other, and you’d end up with a 29-pound block of ice!

Among the accessories that come with this hOmelabs ice machine is a drain hose. Gravity will take care of the water as it melts from the ice.

You also get a ¼ inch water supply hose and connector for filling the 1.2 liter tank inside the machine. Some owners have decided to add a filter to this line. Again, depending on how clean your water is, you may decide to do the same.

Installing the hOmelabs Ice Maker for Commercial Use

This is a freestanding ice maker that vents out the front, but you still need 6 inches of clearance at the back to prevent overheating.

You obviously need to be close enough to a water supply as well.

The unit measures 17.6 inches wide by 15.7 inches deep by 31.4 inches high and has a stainless steel interior. That should keep in quite clean most of the time, but you do get a self-cleaning mode built into the machine. How often you have to use it will depend on your water quality and how often you actually make use of the ice.

From hOmelabs…

“Before first time use, clean the ice machine and keep it in an upright position for 24 hours. Only connect the appliance to a potable water supply.”

Warranty and Alternatives to the hOmelabs Ice Making Machine

hOmelabs offers a 2-year limited warranty on this commercial ice machine. It comes with the usual requirements and caveats.

If this doesn’t seem like the right machine for you, two models from Manitowoc are in the same ice-making space. You can find them via the links below.

Manitowoc UR 0140A Ice Maker

Manitowoc UDF0140A NEO 26″ Air Cooled Undercounter Dice Cube Ice Machine