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Low-Temp vs. High-Temp Commercial Dishwashers
Friday, December 6, 2024
warewashing
Low-Temp vs. High-Temp Commercial Dishwashers
Picking a commercial dishwasher isn’t a choice made lightly. Your dishwasher will affect the efficiency of your entire kitchen for as long as you have it. Because of this consequence, you want to choose the right option, but should you go with a high-temperature or low-temperature machine?
At State Cleaning, we lease and service commercial dishwashers, as well as providing chemical solutions for these machines. With an array of customization options, it can be hard to decide what dish machine you want, but it all comes down to the specifics of your kitchen.
To help you determine the right dishwasher for you, we will explain high-temperature and low-temperature machines, how they work, and when to use each. After reading, you’ll know which type of commercial dishwasher your facility needs.
What is a High-Temperature Commercial Dishwasher?
As the name implies, a high-temperature dishwasher cleans dishes through heat sanitization. Usually, the temperature will be 150 ºF–165 ºF for the wash cycle and 165 ºF–180 ºF for the rinse cycle, ensuring that bacteria is reduced to a safe level without the use of harsh chemicals. In order to be considered sanitized, plate surface temperature must reach 160 degrees. High-temperature dishwashers also effectively remove leftover food residue, have fast wash cycles, and dry the dishes quickly.
High-temperature options are available in upright and under-counter machines, so chances are you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for with a high-temperature setup.
What is a Low-Temperature Commercial Dishwasher?
On the other side of the coin, a low-temperature dishwasher is the most common machine in the marketplace, and it relies on chemical sanitization to clean dishes. This means the use of a chemical like chlorine. The water in these machines still gets hot at a minimum of 120 ºF, but this is not the proper temperature to kill the required amount of food-borne pathogens, so the chemicals are able to finish them off. Low-temperature commercial dishwashers effectively clean dishes, but they are less efficient when it comes to heavier grease loads and soil loads.
Low-temperature dishwashers can be upright or under-counter, so if you look for this setup, you’ll be able to find different types of machines that house it.
How Does a High-Temperature Commercial Dishwasher Work?
To understand if a high-temperature dishwasher is right for you, you must first understand how it works.
The specifics will depend on the exact type of system you choose, but the general function remains the same: high-temperature dishwashers take dishes through a sanitizing wash cycle and then a rinse cycle. Hot water is used to sanitize the dishes, getting so hot that it kills all bacteria and food-borne pathogens on the dishes. The plate surface must reach 160 degrees to be considered sanitized. Once the cycle is complete, the dishes dry quickly and are ready to return to rotation.
How Does a Low-Temperature Commercial Dishwasher Work?
A low-temperature dishwasher has a similar process to a high-temperature dishwasher: it takes dishes through a sanitizing wash cycle and then a rinse cycle. However, as previously explained, while it uses warm water, it relies on a chemical like chlorine for sanitization.
Once dispensed, the chlorine kills bacteria and food-borne pathogens the same way high heat does in a high-temperature machine. Then, once the cycle is finished, your dishes are ready to return to rotation.
When Should I Use a High-Temperature Commercial Dishwasher?
All this said, there’s no wrong situation to use a high-temperature dishwasher, but there are situations where it will be more and less effective.
In a kitchen with a high volume of dishes, a high-temperature dishwasher will be an efficient choice because of its more thorough cleaning in situations with heavy grease loads and heavy soil loads.
For example, let’s say that you manage an upscale Italian restaurant that can seat 150 people. In the middle of the Friday night dinner rush, you probably won’t want to field complaints while you have to reclean your soiled dishes because your low-temperature machine missed spots. This is when a high-temperature dishwasher would be a better fit.
However, high-temperature dishwashers are also more costly to lease than low-temperature machines—and they require more breaker space that your kitchen may not support. It can also be challenging to find high-temperature dishwashers that don’t require a vent hood, so if you don’t have one, it may be more difficult to find a high-temperature machine as opposed to a low-temperature one.
For facilities with a large quantity of dishes, a high-temperature dishwasher will be more time-efficient and labor-efficient. However, keep in mind that you will need more breaker space, a higher budget, and usually a vent hood in order to support this system.
When Should I Use a Low-Temperature Commercial Dishwasher?
As with the high-temperature dishwasher, there’s no wrong setting to use a low-temperature dishwasher—there are only times when a low-temperature machine will be more and less effective.
Most often, low-temperature dishwashers are fitting in facilities that use a low-to-medium volume of dishes. For example, suppose that you manage a local cafe that seats about 40. In this setting, you probably don’t see mountains of greasy dishes, so you would be fine with a low-temperature dishwasher to handle the issue.
Low-temperature dishwashers also tend to lease at a lower price than high-temperature machines, so when you don’t need the heavy grease load and soil load capabilities of a high-temperature machine, low-temperature is a better all-around option.
However, keep in mind that despite the money saved in lower lease costs, low-temperature dishwashers will require more to be spent on chemicals.
Additionally, low-temperature dishwashers are not the right option for businesses with concerns about harsh chemicals, such as healthcare facilities. In these spaces, using a high-temperature dishwasher is a better and safer idea. Chemicals like chlorine can also cause discoloration to dishes over time, so keep this in mind if you have concerns on that front.
Learn How to Choose the Right Commercial Dishwasher for Your Kitchen
A commercial dishwasher is an investment, so you want to choose the right one, but it’s not always easy to find the right one off the bat. Now that you know whether a high-temperature or low-temperature dishwasher will perform better in your facility, read this article to learn more about how to choose the right dishwasher.
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