the first batch of ice was too thick (the ice tray makes 55 cubes at a time). we reduced the ice making time from 12 minutes down to 9 minutes, which made for a thinner ice. in an hour it can make 6 batches, which is enough to fill a storage box. we ran it for nearly 4 hours and collected 4 boxes to be stored in the freezer. it we run it once a week, we should have enough ice for the rest of the week.
the ice maker cools the machine down to 1°C before it starts making ice. the LCD screen is really helpful, indicating each stage, showing the countdown clock, and giving you the temperature. with our old ice maker, you never knew what it was doing. the vevor also seems to conserve water; our old hoshizaki would be constantly outflowing water whenever it made ice.
at one point i noticed the intake connector from the copper pipe to the 1-stage filter was leaking. the whole plumbing has a tendency to shake violently whenever the ice maker refilled its water tank; this may be due to not opening the spigot wide enough. regardless, my father tightened the connector and it seemed to fix the leak for a short time before it started dripping again. is it because we're using plumber's tape when it may not be necessary between the copper-plastic fittings?
the vevor also came with an external drainage pump that we're not using because we already have a drainage pump setup. but maybe we might set it up in the future if it's a better solution than what we have now.
the ice maker has an interior blue light that can supposedly sanitize the ice cubes. i highly doubt it (maybe it can kill a few superficial bacterias). i did notice then when i try to take photos of the ice cubes under the blue light, it renders the ice cubes invisible, and i can only see them after the photo is taken.
after we finished making the ice cubes, we turned off the machine and ran the cleaning cycle. it basically overfills the water collection tank, when then drains out from the drain hole in the main ice storage tank. however, for some reason, there's no bottom drain hole in the collection tank, so after the cleaning cycle is over, there's still a tank of water left in the machine. i checked it a few times, looking for a release valve, there just isn't one. the collection tank is designed like a toilet tank, in that there's a overflow tube, and that seems to be the only way to drain the collection tank. my father ended up draining the leftover tank using a section of clear tubing and manual gravity suction.
the vevor ice machine manual is okay, but there's a lot of spelling mistakes and mistranslation, and there are parts where i don't understand what they're saying and can only guess. but there's no deny the ice machine works, and works surprisingly well, makes just as much ice as our old hoshizaki, but makes then faster and doesn't waste water.
as for the tv stand, it's only a temporary solution. it's simply not stable enough. i showed my father some options - like dunnage racks - to elevate our new ice machine, but they're all expensive. the cheapest solution i could think of was to fashion our own using wooden planks and some metal brackets. but my father came up with an easier solution: cement cinder blocks. a standard cinder block is 8x8x16", and the depth distance between two ice machine legs are only 12" so it could stand on a cinder block no problem. so tomorrow i'm going to go pick up 4 cinder blocks from home depot so we can make a sturdier elevated base.
as far as other cafe work today, my sister was making her catered meals. she made some korean mung bean noodles - once again a recipe she was trying for the first time - it seemed like a mess but i had some leftovers - and paired with some korean hot sauce - it was actually pretty good. she also made these weird baked cheese & shredded zucchini patties which were definitely not korean.
there was a brief period of craziness around lunch time but otherwise it was a pretty quiet day, though we did get a steady stream of business and about half a dozen online orders. i made another batch (20) of tea eggs.
my mother told me matthew's older brother was found dead after a wellness check. he'd been taking care of their mother up in vermont. this after his younger brother died a few years back.
in the late afternoon after we shut off the new ice machine for the day, my father and i moved the old hoshizaki to the other side of the basement. that thing was heavy, even with 2 people we'd have a hard time moving it (much less lifting it), so we used a handtruck, and slowly maneuvered it to its new location.
i left around 5:30pm. i came via motorcycle today so i got to enjoy some traffic riding home.
back at home, it was a repeat of yesterday: i had some baguette with brie, then surfed the web on the couch while watching the evening news before i fell asleep again, waking up close to 9pm to make dinner. waking up from a late nap makes me feel even more tired, not refreshed at all. i didn't go to asleep until 4am last night (watching the last episodes of fargo season 1) and woke up after 5 hours, so i had reason to be tired. i wasn't in the mood for pita but made it anyway simply because it was the simplest option, didn't have to cook anything. i felt better after eating.
i finally ordered a TCL 50" 4K google HDTV for my 2nd aunt (the same model as my sister's godmother), to be delivered on friday. originally i was going to buy it from amazon, but the price had gone up to $320, while best buy still sold them at $280. so i bought it through best buy, which actually delivered it faster than amazon (friday versus tuesday). from amazon i bought a swivel tv stand ($35). there were slightly cheaper options, but when i went to buy it, it said it wouldn't get delivered until tuesday, so i found a (slightly more expensive) stand that would arrive friday, so i can help my 2nd aunt set up her new HDTV. the verdict is still out on whether she needs to get a tv stand our not, she thinks she can put it on her bedroom dresser for the time being.