My ice machine exploded ice cubes all over the floor this morning

I walked into my cafe in Silver Lake at 6am and found a trail of ice cubes leading from the machine all the way to the dining area, like some kind of frozen crime scene. Turns out the door latch broke sometime overnight and it just kept dumping ice until the bin was empty. Anyone else had a random appliance fail in a weird way that made you late opening?

2 comments

2 Comments

ruby_rivera761mo ago

Woke up to my fridge doing the same thing last summer except it was a freezer door that popped open and melted everything within reach. Had to mop up a puddle of milk and orange juice that spread across the whole kitchen floor. What worked for me was putting a bungee cord around the whole appliance as a temporary fix until the new latch came in the mail. It looked janky but it held the door tight and saved me from another late morning mess. You might want to grab a cheap latch kit from the hardware store if you need a quick fix before the replacement part arrives.

oscar_ellis1mo ago

A bungee cord fix might work for a fridge at home, but in a cafe kitchen during rush it's just asking for a health inspector to flag it. Those latch kits can also be hit or miss depending on the brand, and a cheap one might snap the same way the original did. Best bet is to just tape the door shut with some heavy duty packing tape until the legit replacement arrives, it's ugly but it won't break at 5am.