Commercial dishwashers are great for high-capacity foodservice operations. They can wash hundreds of dishes per hour, even thousands with a flight type dishmachine. Of course, washing all these dishes takes a lot of water, anywhere from 18 gallons an hour for small machines, to 55 gallons per hour for larger machines.
Modern high-temperature sanitizing dishmachines are designed to be efficient and use much less water than earlier models, but there’s an often-forgotten requirement that can double water usage.
High-temperature commercial dishwashers heat wash-water up to 150-160°F and rinse water up to 180°F to sanitize ware; however, many municipalities follow the National Plumbing Code which requires wastewater from equipment to be 140°F or cooler before it enters the drain system. This is because hot water can degrade PVC, causing leaks or other damage. To comply with the plumbing code, drain water coming out of high-temp commercial dishwashers must be tempered.
What is Drain Water Tempering?
Drain water tempering is the process of cooling hot water as it drains out of the dishmachine. This is done with a Drain Water Tempering device that mixes cold water with hot drain water. This is usually a 1:1 ratio of cold to hot and can add hundreds of gallons of water per day for busy operations, especially Flight Type users.
While drain water tempering helps protect your operation's drain system, it also means sending water straight down the drain. You're also sending the heat energy in the water down with it.
Saving Water & Energy with Drain Water Energy Recovery
Hobart engineers have created a unique solution to save you from flushing cold water down the drain just to achieve lower temperatures.
Drain Water Energy Recovery (DWER), available on Hobart commercial dishwashers, including the new FT2000 Flight-Type Dishmachine, captures the heat from hot wastewater, cooling down the water below 140°F so it’s safe to enter your drain system. This eliminates the need for cold tempering water to be added while the machine is running throughout the day.
The machine then transfers the energy to boost the temperature of cold water going into the booster. This recycled heat can bring cold incoming water up to 110°F, so less energy is needed to heat the water to 180°F for the sanitizing rinse.
DWER reduces total dishmachine water use by 90% and saves thousands of dollars in water and energy costs over the life of the machine. Including DWER on your next Hobart dishmachine is a smart investment to save your operation money and resources.
Click here to learn more about Drain Water Energy Recovery
or visit HobartClean.com to see the full Hobart Dishwashing product line.
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