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Longevity of Nickel Plating in Ice Machines?

Hi there,

Can anyone refer me to data on the longevity of Food Grade nickel plating over copper in Ice Making Plants - i.e. where copper tubes are nickel plated and then used as evaporators with a refrigerant. Ice forms on the nickel plated surface, which is then partially defrosted by the quick heating of the evaporator tube. I am keen to find data on the longevity of the nickel plating under these conditions. Many thanks,

Terry Gibson
- New Zealand
1999

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I don't know where you could find such specific data, and further, I don't know exactly what "Food Grade nickel plating" would mean. But I don't see this application to be abusing a good nickel plate, so I don't offhand see any reason to suggest that it is not a reasonable manufacturing technology with a reasonable life expectancy (which might mean the same life expectancy as the ice maker itself).

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
1999

I do maintenance work on all our ice machines and seen the copper showing through the nickel plate. This sometimes hinders the dropping of the ice from the evaporator. I think hard water with a lot of minerals would "wear" off the nickel finish much faster than treated water. The nickel finish seems to last the life of the compressor in most cases.

Dave Tysdal
motel - North Dakota
2000