Kit Free, co-director of European WaterCare (EWC), and with 30 years experience in water treatment, says: "Poor quality water will have a serious effect on food such as soups, ice and pastry, resulting in poor food quality and dissatisfied customers. Hard water can also have a seriously detrimental effect on profitability."
The usual water problems:-
* Poor aesthetic quality - chlorine, dirt etc, which impacts on food quality.
* High levels of dissolved minerals, which result in equipment malfunctions and increased maintenance costs.
The most common dissolved minerals will be hardness, which precipitate onto heating elements, valves and small pipes. The net result is cooking equipment that does not work as it should and which costs more to run.
Another dissolved mineral is chloride. If present in high levels - over 40 parts per million (ppm) - then it may cause corrosion in steaming equipment.
The ideal way to handle water treatment in a foodservice environment is a staged system. Because no two kitchens are alike it will be necessary to seek assistance from a reputable water treatment supplier with access to the full range of treatment technologies. This ensures that you get the most cost-effective treatment package to suit your needs.Generally, the first stage will be a softener. This will be connected to the incoming water main as close to point-of-entry as practical.
Salt, or sodium, softeners remove hardness and replace it with sodium. In effect, they replace one form of dissolved material with another, which is less likely to precipitate when the water is heated. Sodium softened water is good for hot tables, hand or pot washing and laundry. Sodium softened water is NOT good for steam ovens, filter coffee brewers.
The softened water can be used to feed any Reverse Osmosis (RO) systems being used, because RO will remove virtually all dissolved material, including sodium. RO water is ideal for steam ovens, and for ware-wash equipment when high-quality results are required.
Finally, there will usually be an untreated supply within the kitchen, to act as a primary supply for any Calcium Treatment Units (CTU's), and as an ingredient, drinking and vegetable washing supply.
Combination ovens: Water related problems account for at least 60% of all steam oven breakdowns. When water is turned to steam, all dissolved minerals precipitate and form deposits on heating elements, glass parts of oven door and the internal surfaces. If significant Chloride is present in the dissolved material, then corrosion is likely to occur.
The two recommended forms of water treatment suitable for combination ovens are:
Calcium Treatment Units - sometimes known as de-alkalising systems because they remove hardness related alkalinity or temporary hardness. However, in some water conditions, such as where chloride is present, CTU's would not be the recommended treatment method.
Reverse Osmosis (RO)
Reverse Osmosis, while used fairly widely in large-scale treatment systems, is less common in 'point-of-use' commercial applications. An RO system has several key advantages for steam oven water treatment.
* Fixed operating cost, based on time, rather than water hardness and volume of water treated.
* For multiple ovens in a group a single RO system can provide water for all ovens, yielding significantly lower operating costs.
These benefits mean that RO will soon be the treatment technology of choice for applications such as steam ovens and warewashing.
European Water Care
European WaterCare TotalCare package offers:
* Guaranteed protection from limescale attack for all your kitchen equipment from beverage machines to combination ovens, steamers, warewashing and icemakers!
* All forms of water treatment supplied - one kitchen, one price!
* Guaranteed scale free for up to six years or we pay the cost of repairs!
* Water filters and calcium treatment units for beverage machines and combis.
* Water softening for warewashing and heating systems.
* Dedicated reverse osmosis treatment solutions for combi ovens and warewashing.
* Professional installation by our own engineers.
* WRAS approved British manufactured product
* Free water hardness testing service
* Nationwide service
Warranty = worry free water
Brita Water Filters has launched a fully managed filter replacement scheme, to remove the aggravation and reduce the cost of maintaining scale-free catering and beverage equipment. The new fixed cost programme , "Water Warranty", relieves caterers of tasks such as authorising filter replacements, regularly raising purchase orders and processing invoices, allowing caterers to focus on running their business.
Water Warranty ensures that water quality is at it's best all the time, from as little as 31p a day. It has been developed as a result of extensive customer research to understand the time constraints and inconveniences felt by today's caterers.
Benefits of Water Warranty include:
* Fixed costs for up to five years, and various payment options (including Direct Debit)
* No hassle - removes administrative tasks and allows customer to focus on key business
* No need to order replacement filters as water quality and consumption is monitored via Brita's Water Warranty database and Customer Care Team.
* Customers are guaranteed scale-free equipment when covered by Brita Water Warranty.
* A full 'back-up' team of Brita-trained technicians nationwide Water Warranty uses WRAS-approved products (Water Regulation Advisory Scheme).Anthony Spruce, director of sales and marketing for Brita Professional says: "Through working very closely with customers to understand their businesses and challenges, we have developed a programme that is designed to help reduce some of the tasks they face.
Brita Professional