Any purchase of kitchen equipment represents a major expenditure for an operation. So, most operators don’t think about replacing a piece of equipment until it’s on its proverbial “last legs.” But with the technological advances in some equipment categories — commercial dishwashers, to name one — it may be a good idea to replace a machine before the absolute end of its useful life.
New Advances
New dishwashers deliver significant savings in water, energy and chemicals costs.
Today’s dish machine has to do more than just clean ware; it has to save energy and water as well. “If you go back 10 to 15 years,” says Michael James, Sales Development Manager for Hobart Warewash, “conveyor-type and flight-type dish machines used over 300 gallons of water on the final rinse. Now we’re down to one-half or one-third of that.” And that’s just an average day. Multiply that over the course of a year, and the water savings are substantial.
Reducing the amount of water used also has a direct effect on energy costs. As James says, “the less water you have to heat, the less energy you need.”
Machines today are being designed to clean more effectively, with wash arms and nozzles that can better reach all areas of the dishes and ware, alleviating the need for rewashing. Better soil removal technology not only means cleaner dishes the first time through, but also allows better use of chemicals used in the machine. “When you remove soiled water or soil itself from the machine,” says James, “you can actually see a reduction in chemicals and water.”
Those redesigns also mean that more items, such as large sheet pans, can now be run through the dishwasher, freeing employees from doing them by hand in a three-compartment sink.
One other time- and money-saving aspect of new machines is the fact that they can run loads faster than older machines. “You can get more loads per hour with a new machine,” says Kim Howar-Trainer, Hobart Warewash Inside Sales. “It’s not only going to save water and electricity but it’s also going to save money in manpower because it doesn’t take as long to run the same amount of dishes.” Obviously, less time spent by crew members doing dishes will let them perform other tasks. And less time spent doing tough dish cleaning jobs can mean more job satisfaction.
Finally, today’s high-performance dish machines make more effective use of chemicals, thus helping to reduce the chance of using too much detergent or rinse agent.
Time to Upgrade?
For all those reasons, it’s a smart idea to think about upgrading to a new Hobart commercial dishwasher sooner rather than later. Most models are ENERGY STAR certified — a sign of real energy efficiency and money savings. Hobart is constantly field-testing and designing machines with advanced technology to deliver unsurpassed cleaning while conserving water, chemicals, energy and labor. And every Hobart dish machine is backed by a nationwide network of service technicians that’s just a call away to make sure your dish machine is always at peak performance.
For all those reasons, a new Hobart dishwasher is a smart idea.
