21 commercial ice machines — each with the temperature its kg rating assumes

Figures come from the manufacturers’ datasheets and operating manuals and from the product pages of the leading retailers; the origin of a value and the date it was collected sit on each individual entry. Where a manufacturer publishes the test condition behind its daily output, we carry it as a column of its own.

Read the kilogram figure before you compare it

Daily output is the number every product listing leads with — and the only one most buyers carry in their head. It is also the number with the most preconditions attached. A machine makes ice by taking heat out of water and handing that heat to its surroundings. Colder incoming water means less heat to remove. A cooler room means the heat leaves more easily. Neither value is printed on the machine; both are set by your kitchen.

That is why every manufacturer defines a test condition. Gastro-M states it on the datasheets of its four models CT694 (28 kg), CT695 (40 kg), CS105 (66 kg) and CS106 (80 kg): nominal output at 21 °C ambient and 15 °C water temperature. The Polar U-Series with its spray-ice models UA026 (21 kg), UA028 (47 kg) and UA029 (85 kg) uses 20 °C ambient and 10 °C water inlet in its manual — five degrees colder on the water side. For the Stalgast makers, the retailer listing quotes the figure as a maximum quantity.

In practice: a Polar UA028 rated at 47 kg and a Stalgast rated at 46 kg look level on paper, yet the two figures were not produced under the same assumptions. Anyone who hunts for that single line on a datasheet — ambient and water temperature — has already won half the comparison. In the overview above it therefore sits as a column of its own, right beside the output.

What 30 °C in the kitchen costs

The size of the effect does not have to be guessed. For the Polar CH479, a counter-top maker rated at 15 kg, the operating manual supplies a complete performance table:

Water temperature	Ambient	Output	Cycle time
5 °C	20 °C	15.44 kg/24 h	13.22 min
10 °C	20 °C	14.79 kg/24 h	13.29 min
10 °C	25 °C	13.50 kg/24 h	14.32 min
10 °C	30 °C	12.12 kg/24 h	17.03 min
10 °C	43 °C	8.56 kg/24 h	23.20 min

Source: Polar CH479 operating manual, p. 7, retrieved 27.07.2026 via the Nisbets product page.

The nominal 15 kg is reached — and slightly exceeded — only in the coldest case. At 30 °C, no rarity behind a summer service counter or along an open cooking line, 12.12 kg remain: roughly a fifth less. At 43 °C the figure is 8.56 kg, some 43 per cent below nominal, while cycle time grows from 13 to 23 minutes. This is one manufacturer’s data for one device, not a formula for the whole category — but the direction holds for any vapour-compression machine, because the cause is physics rather than a design choice.

For your shortlist the consequence is simple: if the installation site runs warm, budget for the next size up. Moving from 21 to 28 kg of daily output costs less in this field than one Saturday night with an empty bin at 9 p.m.

Bullet ice, solid cubes, spray ice: what goes where

Before the kilogram figure comes the question of which ice you actually need. Nine of the 21 machines make bullet ice — hollow cones, sold under that name in the trade. They include all four Gastro-M models, the Polar C Series (CH478, CH479), the Polar G Series (T316, GL192) and the Nisbets Essentials DC439. The hollow centre lets the pieces freeze through quickly and shovel easily. For chilling drinks, self-service and takeaway counters that is the obvious choice.

Eight machines deliver solid cubes. Seven of them are documented as using the spray method: the three Polar U-Series models and the four Stalgast makers with 13 g (21 kg/24 h) and 18 g cube weight (46 and 90 kg/24 h); the GastroHero VWEB-ECO40 forms its cubes in sheets with break lines, around 22 mm per edge. In the spray method water is sprayed against a chilled mould, the ice grows in layers, and air and dissolved solids stay out. The result is a dense, clear cube that melts more slowly in the glass, because at equal weight less surface meets the drink. Behind a cocktail bar, over whisky and anywhere in sight of guests, that is the difference between craft and coincidence.

Gastro-M lets the cube weight be set between 18 and 32 grams; per cycle the CT694 releases 24 cubes, the CT695 36, the CS105 48 and the CS106 60. If you need fixed portion sizes, Stalgast is the clearer statement: 13 grams on the small machine, 18 grams on the two large ones.

Connection, site, bin

Four machines manage without a water connection and are filled by hand: Caterlite CN861, Nisbets Essentials DC439, Polar CH478 and CH479. These are compact counter-top units — the CN861 measures 315 × 244 × 373 mm (H×W×D), the smallest housing in the field. Their bin holds 1 to 2 kg. That covers a club house, a food truck or a meeting floor, not a bar service.

Nine machines need a plumbed connection, among them the whole Polar G and U Series and all four Stalgast makers. Further up the range the footprint grows with the output: the 90 kg Stalgast stands 1,170 mm tall, 738 mm wide and 600 mm deep — a machine whose spot should be measured before the order goes out.

Cooling type is stated per version only by Stalgast in this field, with a difference of 32.13 € gross between the air-cooled and water-cooled build of the same 21 kg machine. So the choice is not a price question but an installation one: water-cooled needs supply and drain but keeps the waste heat out of the kitchen; air-cooled saves the plumbing and releases that heat into the room.

The storage bin is the second number worth not skipping. It runs from 1 kg (Polar CH478, Caterlite CN861) through 10 kg (Polar GL192) and 25 kg (Stalgast 46 kg) to 40 kg on the Polar UA029. Daily output says how much a machine manages over 24 hours; the bin says how much is within reach at 9 p.m. Anyone serving an evening peak needs both — in that order.

Power, refrigerant, warranty

Every device recorded runs on 230 V; none of them asks for a three-phase supply. Power draw ranges from 100 W on the small Polar CH479 to 1,000 W on the Polar UA029 with its 85 kg of daily output — it scales with ice volume as you would expect, and between two machines of the same class it is not a deciding factor.

On refrigerant the field splits three ways. The Polar G and U Series uses propane (R290, GWP 3) on the GL192, UA026, UA028 and UA029; the smaller Polar models and the Nisbets Essentials DC439 use isobutane (R600a); the four Gastro-M machines use the HFO blend R454C. All three are common in new equipment of this class. The Polar UA037 is the only device in this overview for which the retailer states a UVC function; ten machines carry a one-year manufacturer warranty.

The price picture

The field runs from 211.81 € for the Caterlite CN861 with 10 kg of daily output to 2,739.38 € for the 90 kg Stalgast — both gross prices at the respective linked retailer, retrieved on 27.07.2026. In between, the kilogram figure sorts only roughly: the six counter-top units up to 20 kg sit between 211.81 € and 531.92 €, and above that the ice type shifts the picture more than any output step. A 50 kg machine is available here both at 599.00 € (ZORRO ZEB 50 ECO) and at 713.99 € (Polar G Series GL192); the Bartscher W150 with 15 kg of output and a 1 kg bin runs in this list without a documented retailer price.

Two outliers reward a second look. The Polar G Series GL192 delivers 50 kg for 713.99 € and is thus far cheaper than the comparable 46 kg Stalgast at 1,737.40 € — the difference lies in the ice: bullet cones against clear solid cubes from the spray method. And the Polar U-Series at 1,106.69 € for 21 kg (UA026) looks expensive at first glance; what you buy there is the spray-ice build, not kilograms. Buy clear ice for a chilling job and you overpay. Buy a bullet machine for a cocktail bar and you have bought past your need.