Gravity or Pump soft serve machine?

When purchasing or renting a soft serve machine for your ice cream shop, restaurant, or other business, you will have to decide whether or not you want a pump or gravity-fed machine.

It is important to know the difference! Depending on your situation, one may work better for your needs than the other. 

So what are the differences? The main difference is how your mix is fed into the cylinder. 

Gravity Fed Machines - With these the mix is fed into the cylinder using... Gravity! It is fed through a tube down into the freezing cylinder. It does this with a fixed air ratio of about 30%. Meaning that you will have a 30% ice cream overrun (30% extra ice cream compared to the mix.

Pump Fed Machines - These have a pump in the hopper which feeds the mix into the freezing cylinder so that you can control the amount of air you want. This way you can control the amount of overrun you have in each batch, oftentimes by up to 80%.
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Even though upon first glance of overrun production, it may appear that a pump machine is superior, this is not always the case. Each type has advantages and disadvantages.​

Advantages of gravity-fed machines:

• More affordable
• Easier to use
• Easier to clean
• Easier to maintain
• Fewer Parts
• Ice cream has a stronger more intense flavor

Disadvantages of Gravity Fed Machines

​• Less ice cream overrun
• Ice cream is not as soft or creamy
• Slower at making ice cream​

Advantages of pump machines

• Ice cream is creamier and has more texture
• Larger amounts of overrun
• Makes ice cream faster and more efficiently 
• Better for high-demand shops

Disadvantages of pump machines

• More expensive
• Harder to clean
• More difficult to use
• More parts in use

Your decision really boils down to two main things. 

If your sales volume is high and you need to make a larger amount of ice cream, then you want a pump machine. If you are a small business that wants to add some extra revenue with soft serve, go with a gravity machine.

PASMO offers both gravity and pump-fed machines so that you can get the best fit for your business. If you would like to order a top-of-the-line PASMO soft serve machine, please call us at 1-844-52-PASMO

You can also view our machines Here.