[HayZee518]

the only free standing ice maker I've worked on was a Scotsman. there was a recirculator which sprayed water on inverted cups (which is the freezer plate) after a time delay a reversing valve actuated which reversed the flow of freon to what is called a hot gas defrost. the formed cubes fell out of the freezer plate into the harvest bucket. some recirculators just flow water over a freezer plate gradually building up a sheet of ice. after a time delay, the hot gas was actuated and the ice sheet slid onto a grid wire which was heated and this cut the sheet into cubes which went into the harvest bucket and the cycle started over. the freezer plate will not be cold at all times, just when you are calling to make ice.