Why does ice you buy from the store have holes in the middle? Also, why are they more clear than what a home icemaker produces?
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Hey, it’s about time I can answer something on here. Most of the ice cubes with holes in the middle are made by industrial processes rather than commercial processes. At those ice plants, they use tubes inside a shell that is vertical (AKA, a vertical shell and tube heat exchanger) with a spinning blade at the bottom. The refrigerant flows (normally Anhydrous Ammonia) through the tubes and water is sprayed from the top. The water is frozen to the thickness of the customer specification, and then the tubes use a defrost cycle to drop the ice down the tubes, hitting the spinning blade at the bottom cutting it the desired length. This happens at a fairly rapid pace but also they will have several of these in a line going through different stages at a time. Then, the ice hits a conveyer belt and is sent to packaging.
Source: I am an Ammonia Refrigeration service technician.
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