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Selecting the correct Commercial Dish Washer

                                                                                                                                                                                                           So, you’ve devised the perfect menu, your chefs are the greatest cooks in the UK, they can present to perfection, your guests are delighted with your food and service staff, then comes the most unpopular link in the chain of a commercial kitchen set up. Washing Up.

Washing by hand in a commercial environment will cost your business more in the long run. So we’ve highlighted the key differences in the types of dishwashers below. Selecting the corrct commercial dishwasher for your kitchen and size of business depends on a variety of criteria. However, all dishwashers offer other key benefits to your business, for instance,

• Dishwashers wash and rinse at a higher temperature than the human hand can tolerate, leaving washed items more sterile.

• Operational Efficiency. Hand washing is demanding on staff and more often than not, finished results are poor. More than one member of staff are needed when only one can handle a busy service on their own with a dish washer.

• Labour costs are much higher without a dish washer. Don’t forget to factor in the extra cost of buying many tea towels and their laundry costs.

• Dish washers reduce the risk of damage to your expensive crockery.

• Environmental Health Officers (EHO’s) prefer to see at dishwasher in use rather than hand washing because of the higher temperatures

• Commercial dish-washers self-dose both detergent and rinse additive accurately so consumable costs are easier to account for. The human hand will inevitably use more washing up liquid with every sink full, so this cost is much higher.

• A commercial dishwasher offers several wash/rinse cycle times from 90 seconds to 3 minutes. The same capacity can never be washed by hand as fast as a dish washer.

• Reduced risk of injury. How many times has a member of staff cut themselves on a hidden blade or sharp edge beneath the surface of a dirty sink full of water?

• All dish washers use the same sized basket at 50x50cm.

• All brands offer their dishwashers with an on board softener, particularly useful if you are in a hard water region. Manufacturers recommend a softener be fitted to all machines in all areas of the UK regardkless as this ensures optimum performance.

There are three category standards of commercial dish washer. All three have evolved over time to meet the needs of every commercial operation.

Under Counter Dish Washers

Designed to sit under a sink drainer or table and can be floor or stand mounted depending on the type of drain. Typically, they measure W60cm x D62cm x H84cm. Most under counters are supplied with a drain pump so can be floor mounted. Gravity drained variants can be on a stand or table-top mounted to allow enough ‘fall’ for waste water to drain out.

Most have on board chemical self-dosing, all will offer a short wash and rinse cycle, but all under counters asks the porter to lift baskets in and out of the machine. Routinely this is never an issue unless the operator is slight and struggles to lift heavy, often wet baskets.

Under counter machines are great for tighter spaces and ideal in smaller kitchens. They tick that all important EHO remit too.  Under counters are the best priced commercial dish washer with entry level makes starting at circa £1300 + VAT right up too the very latest premium branded Reverse Osmosis models at around £4300 + VAT.

Some under counters are supplied to operate off a 13 amp 3 pin supply. We advise you against this as the elements have to work much harder and heat up and temperature recovery takes a long time, inevitably, costing the bill payer more in energy costs than the more powerful single phase 30 amps units.

Opt for the single phase 30 or 32amp machines as these keep the machine at its optimal prime throughout its work life. Some under counters require a 3 phase electrical supply.

As a rule, an under counter machine is good for operations serving up to 50 to 70 guests. For kitchens catering for larger numbers, you may want to choose a Pass Through dish washer……..

Pass Through Dish Washers

                                                                                         A typical pass through dish washer – without the furniture. 

Pass Through Dish washers occupy a larger footprint than an under counter. The average size of a pass through machine is circa W74cm x D70cm x H185cm.

Pass throughs require a feeder sink (with pre rinse spray) and an outlet drying table – see photo examples below.. The furniture only needs to be large enough for a dish washer basket measuring 50x50cm, but if space allows, its advisable to have a longer pre rinse sink unit to allow more than one basket to be readied for the machine.

Pass through’s allow the operator to simply slide a full basket into the machine at waist height, wash, then slide out the other side once the cycle is complete. No lifting of heavy baskets. As such, pass throughs will wash a much greater capacity than an under counter machine.

Pass Through’s should be considered if catering for 80 to 140 gusts. They are ideal for the smaller event function room where a lot of crockery and cutlery hit the dish wash area in one go – E.G, starters being cleared for 120 seated diners equates to circa 360 items arriving at once. When clearing main courses, that number could rise to 480 items if you include side plates!! Hence the recommendation to have a larger rinse sink section.

Sink and outlet tables are often determined by space. But the great thing about pass throughs is they can be a corner aspect or in-line to make best use of space. They can also be right or left hand fed to suit your operation. We often advise a ‘Dump Area’ adjacent or in front of the dish washer for waiting staff to clear soiled tableware (don’t forget the waste bin to encourage waiting staff to actually clear plates making life easier on the porter) From which, the porter can organise and wash. Its also advisable to have a stacking trolley for cleaned tableware close to the outlet table to keep things flowing nicely.

As the final rinse temperature is around 85 degrees Celsius, by the time you have pulled a clean basket onto the outlet table, slid a dirty basket in, closed the hood and pressed go, the clean basket has already air-dried making stacking time very quick.

One person can ably operate a pass-through system, keeping staffing costs low.

For the busier establishment catering for events as well as restaurant dining. A double pass through is available. This operates like a standard pass through but washes 2 baskets instead of 1. Considerably cheaper to buy than a conveyor but not quite the same outputs for a very large venue.

There are a few manufacturers making pass throughs on single phase 32 amp supply, but most ideally, need a 3 phase power supply.

Corner Aspect Pass Through                 In Line Pass Through

For very large organisations and venues such as Hospitals, Schools. Colleges and Prisons, A larger conveyor dish washer should be considered…….

Conveyor Dish Washers

                                                                          B Grade brand new Electrolux Compact conveyor machine. Outstanding value for money compared to brand new.

There are two types of Conveyor dish washers, a rack conveyor and a flight conveyor. A rack conveyor is a continuous feed rack on which the standard 50 x 50cm dish wash basket rides. A flight conveyor is a rack with ‘fingers’ allowing the operator to slot dirty plates, bowls cups etc, omitting the need for baskets. Some machines are compact, some are very long, depending on capacity requirements. Again, all machines have self-dosing chemicals, but alas, require a 3 phase power supply.

Some conveyors have a pre wash system, some have the clever air dry system toward the end of the run making take off times super swift.

Like pass through’s, conveyor machines also require a feeder sink and outlet table. Often very sophisticated feeder sinks and tables are designed around the business capacities with some feeder tables using rollers to speed up throughput.

                                                                        A Hobart conveyor machine with tailored feeder sink and outlet table using rollers. 

Conveyor systems can be eye wateringly expensive. But they are designed to do a job that human hands simply cannot compete against in the same timeline. As such, the investment will always be more advantageous than employing many hand washing staff.

All commercial dish washers are designed for a hard and constant work life. Like most things in life, buyers should consider quality and reputation over entry level brands. Entry level brands tick a budget box, but more often than not, their build quality and reliability of components reduce working hours and ultimately cost more in the long run. Brands such as Mieko, Winterhalter, Hobart and Electrolux are in our opinion the UK’s premium brands. Whilst more expensive, you know they will deliver, day in day out because of their build quality and design lineage. All are very successful brands in their own right.

For more information about commercial dish washers, get in touch by contacting me at Paul@caterquip.co.uk  or calling us on 01733 286000. Caterquip UK are suppliers of professionally reconditioned catering equipment. We have supplied pretty much every known brand of machine and know which brands are worth considering (and avoiding). We have also designed and installed many large kitchens in which every type of machine is incorporated. So give us a call if you are unsure.

Lastly, Rugby School came to us some years ago because running their antiquated machine became a massive cost burden each year. They approached Hobart UK to be told a new system would work and improve their throughput, but alas would also cost over £110k + VAT! They consulted Caterquip, and after doing initial surveys, Caterquip supplied and installed a reconditioned Hobart CRN Rack Conveyor, bespoke feeder sink, bespoke outlet table, and, a full single pass through dish washer system for washing their glassware for £60k + VAT all in. The upshot to this meant the school could afford to upgrade other school improvements, and employ a couple of new teachers too.

This is why Caterquip UK and buying reconditioned equipment makes perfect sense. Buy with confidence, save your budget a huge amount of money and have access to those mouth watering brands which are so very expensive when new.

Thanks for reading.

Paul