Alright, so check it, I'm gonna walk you through how I tackled cleaning my Hoshizaki ice machine. This thing's a lifesaver in the summer, but man, it gets NASTY if you don’t keep up with it.

First thing's first, unplug that bad boy! Safety first, people. I can’t stress this enough. Electricity and water? Recipe for disaster if you ain’t careful.

Next up, I emptied the whole ice bin. All the ice went into a cooler. I didn't want it melting all over the floor. Don't want to waste good ice, right?

Then, I took out all the removable parts. We're talking the water reservoir, the ice scoop, any deflectors, you name it. Everything that could come out, CAME OUT. I gave all that stuff a good scrub with some warm, soapy water in the sink. Just regular dish soap, nothing fancy.

Now for the main event: the actual cleaning. I grabbed some Hoshizaki ice machine cleaner – you gotta use the right stuff, trust me. I remember reading somewhere you need food-safe cleaner, and nickel-safe just to be extra safe. I mixed it up according to the directions on the bottle. Usually, it's like a ratio of cleaner to water. Gotta follow those instructions, or you'll mess something up.

I poured the cleaning solution into the water reservoir where the machine draws from. Then, I turned the machine back on (yes, plugged it back in JUST to run the cleaning cycle – DON’T FORGET to unplug it afterward!). I let it run through its cleaning cycle. My machine has a specific "clean" setting, yours might be different. Consult your manual.

Once the cleaning cycle was done, I drained all that nasty water out. I'm telling you, the stuff that came out was… questionable. Definitely needed a good cleaning.

Here's the SUPER important part: RINSE, RINSE, RINSE. I ran several cycles of JUST plain water through the machine to get rid of any lingering cleaner. You don't want your ice tasting like chemicals, do you? I must have ran like 3-4 cycles just to be sure. Better safe than sorry.

While the machine was doing its rinsing thing, I gave all those removable parts another good scrub and rinsed them off too. Then, I dried everything with a clean towel.

After everything was dry, I put all the parts back where they belonged. Made sure everything was snug and in place. Didn't want anything rattling around or leaking.

Finally, I plugged the machine back in for good and let it start making ice again. The first batch of ice I tossed out, just to be absolutely sure there was no cleaner residue. Wasteful? Maybe. But I didn't want to risk it.

And that's it! Clean ice machine. Honestly, it’s kinda gross how much gunk builds up in there. I try to do this every few months now, or at least twice a year. Hoshizaki recommends doing it at least once a year, especially if your water is hard. It's a bit of a pain, but worth it for clean, tasty ice.