Glasswashing technology has come on in leaps and bounds over recent years, but there are still a variety of factors for operators to take into account when it comes to specifying the right model. FEJ asked warewashing experts to answer your questions.

Q. I've been told that double-skinned doors are the best mechanism for restricting the dispersion of heat. Do all commercial glasswashers come with double-skinned doors these days or is this a specific feature I should be looking out for?

Not all machines on the market have double-skinned doors. In particular, at the lower end of the budget scale you'll find machines with single-skinned doors. So what's the difference? Well, for a start, double-skinned doors are incredibly effective insulators. A single-skinned door could become rather hot to touch due to the high temperatures used during the rinse cycle. Another often overlooked benefit of double-skinned doors is the noise-reducing factor. This is especially true for machines deployed front-of-house.

Bob Wood, director of DC Warewashing & Ice making Systems, concurs: "Glasswashers that do have double-skinned doors provide advanced thermal and acoustic pollution reduction and often come with an insulated stainless steel cabinet and insulated boiler too. It's a definite benefit and one which we urge operators to look out for when specifying new machines."

Q. What do I need to look for in a machine to make sure that my glasses come out completely smear-free and no longer need hand-polishing?

"Good washing results will also be achieved from using suitable detergent and rinse aid chemicals in the correct dosages, while maintenance checks are important to make sure that filters and wash/ rinse jets aren't blocked. High rinse temperatures can have a detrimental impact on the glass and cause etching so make sure that you have an adjustable rinse thermostat or that the machine is set correctly when commissioned," says DC Warewashing & Ice making Systems' Bob Wood. "High caustic content in detergents will also have an adverse effect. Glasswashing detergent will have a lower caustic content than dishwashing detergent so make sure you use the right detergent for the right job," he counsels.

Read the full article in Foodservice Equiment Journal March 2017 issue ...