There is nothing inherently bad about chewing on ice. Chewing on crushed ice is preferable to cubes because chewing cubes could cause cracks in tooth enamel. If you are craving ice to chew on it may be a sign of anemia which could indicate an iron deficiency.
A crushed ice machine can only be used to crush ice. If you use it for other purposes, it may void the warrany on the product. Additionally, it is likely that you would damage the machine.
Crushed ice will need to start out as cubes. There are many machines on the market that will take cubed ice and turn it into crushed ice. The leading manufacturer of these machines is Island Oasis.
The crushed ice machine is usually located in a vending area near the elevator. Sometimes ice machines are located on every other floor of a hotel building. You can ask at the lobby.
Crushed ice has a greater surface area, allowing it to cool drinks faster. It also tends to melt more quickly, making it ideal for cocktails where fast dilution is desired. Additionally, crushed ice is easier to chew and sip through a straw.
Yes it is possible to buy a commercial sized ice machine. There are even a couple places online that you can find them for sale.
Crushed ice
Crushed ice since their is a greater surface area exposed.
Yes, i chew
Chlorine can make the ice that is dispensed from an ice machine both taste and smell bad. A bad odor can also come from a wide range of contaminants in your ice machine, in addition to chlorine.
For a home ice crusher, you can expect to pay $30 and up. For a commercial model, such as in a hotel, the minimum would be about $500.
Yes, crushed ice will melt faster in a cup of water than in a cup by itself. This is because the water is a higher temperature than the ice.
There are different machines. For "sno-cones," ice is crushed into tiny pieces from ice cubes. For "shave ice" or what they call "sno-balls" in New Orleans, a different machine is used that literally uses steel blades to shave thin layers from a large, solid block of ice that it is inserted in the machine. By shaving off thin layers, a lot of air is held between the layers, creating a substance very much like snow, rather than slushed ice. http://www.hawaiianshavedice.com/shavicemac.html