Refurbished Commercial Blenders

The motor and the way it is cooled, mostly. A commercial blender is designed to run back to back through a rush, with a motor sized for continuous duty and ventilation to match. A domestic machine assumes a few cycles a day and overheats once it is pushed.

After that it is the serviceable parts. Commercial machines are built so the drive coupling, the blade assembly and the jug seal can be replaced rather than the whole unit. That is also what makes them worth buying used, because the parts that wear are designed to be renewed.

Commercial bar blenders are built for it, and that is the single hardest thing you can ask a blender to do. What matters is the blade assembly and the jug being rated for it, and the motor having the torque to get through a jug of ice without stalling.

Check the blade assembly on a used machine before anything else, because blunt or chipped blades turn ice into noise and heat. Blades and couplings are wear items and are usually available for current trade brands. Ask us about parts for the specific model if the machine is older.

If the blender is on a counter in front of customers, it is worth considering. A blender crushing ice is genuinely loud, and in a small cafe it stops conversation every time it runs. Enclosures reduce that noticeably without changing the machine.

Behind a bar with music on, it matters much less. Where the machine is in an open kitchen or a quiet cafe, ask us whether an enclosed model is in stock, because retrofitting a cover to a machine that was not designed for one does not work well.

Polycarbonate lets staff see the blend, which matters for consistency on a drinks menu, and it is lighter to handle all day. It also scratches, clouds and eventually crazes, so treat the jug as a consumable rather than a permanent part of the machine.

Stainless is tougher and better for hot product, but you cannot see in. Most drink counters run polycarbonate and keep a spare jug. Check what jug comes with a refurbished machine and whether replacements are still available, because a machine with an unobtainable jug is a machine with a limited life.

At least two if blended drinks are a core line, because a jug has to be washed between some drinks and a single machine makes that a queue. Two also means a failure at the start of a shift is an inconvenience rather than a line coming off the menu.

Beyond that it depends on the peak. Count the blended drinks in the busiest hour and remember the time is in handling and washing as much as in blending. Where volume is high, a second machine beats a bigger one.

The drive coupling between motor and jug, the blade assembly, and the seal under the blades. All three are wear items, all three cost far less than the machine, and all three are what a refurbishment should be addressing. Then the switches and the speed control, which take a hammering from wet hands.

Ask us what was replaced rather than what was tested, and keep a spare coupling and blade assembly for whatever you buy. If the machine smells hot after a few cycles, that is a motor question rather than a wear-part question and worth raising before delivery. Spare jugs and the rest of what sits on a drinks counter are under commercial benchtop appliances.