Water Quality In Your Commercial Restaurant
Performance & Equipment Maintenance
Main Auction Services in Dallas, Irving, and Houston considers the quality of the water in your current commercial setting as critical to success. And to prove our point, we recommend support by all our clients with the EPA Water Sense program.
Water Sense meets current EPA Criteria and water standards nationwide, and will help to save you money and time in the long run with all your equipment, standards, and education.
In times past we have focused many many articles on education about equipment, maintenance, and commercial solutions designed to meet your needs, but today we want to discuss something just as critical. If you have water coming into your current restaurant, commercial kitchen, school or institution location, then you need to be aware that bad water quality can dramatically effect the performance of every piece of equipment you use that water for. Clogged mineral deposits in plumbing lines, beverage dispensers, ice machines, dish machines, water and sink lines, and restrooms are all vulnerable to challenges you will be facing by having poor water quality.
Current Drinking Water Regulations
Under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), EPA sets legal limits on the levels of certain contaminants in drinking water. The legal limits reflect both the level that protects human health and the level that water systems can achieve using the best available technology. Besides prescribing these legal limits, EPA rules set water-testing schedules and methods that water systems must follow. The rules also list acceptable techniques for treating contaminated water. SDWA gives individual states the opportunity to set and enforce their own drinking water standards if the standards are at least as strong as EPA's national standards. Most states and territories directly oversee the water systems within their borders.
If you serve beverages in your current location, water quality highly impacts equipment performance and maintenance as well. The taste of beverages and foods is also a big issue. If you have ever had a glass of water that tastes bad when it was served to you, you must realize it may adversely effect the taste of the food prepared in the kitchen as well. Here are some resources and information that is critical to make sure you never have this type of problem.
Before you consider how to overcome the current water challenges you face in your commercial setting, Main Auction Services would like to have an open discussion about Water Quality in your current location. You may discover some things you didn't know already, and find out you may need some additional equipment and plumbing solutions options.
Types Of Water Challenges
Hard Water Converter - Hardness of water is a measure for the content of calcium and magnesium in water. The small contribution of magnesium usually is expressed as calcium as in the degrees of hardness (at the top) and the concentrations of Ca2+, CaO and CaCO3 (at the bottom). Here in the USA the classification of the degrees of hardness to water quality (soft, slightly hard, hard, very hard) is somewhat a standard, but not so in many countries.
Hard Water Hardness Calcium Magnesium Water Corrosion Mineral Scale - Water described as "hard" is high in dissolved minerals, specifically calcium and magnesium. Hard water is not a health risk, but a nuisance because of mineral buildup on fixtures and poor soap and/or detergent performance. Unsightly mineral deposits and the high costs associated with removal means you can save money right away by implementing hard water converters.
pH of Water - Water with a pH < 7 is considered acidic and with a pH > 7 is considered basic. The normal range for pH in surface water systems is 6.5 to 8.5 and for ground water systems 6 to 8.5. Alkalinity is a measure of the capacity of the water to resist a change in pH that would tend to make the water more acidic. The measurement of alkalinity and pH is needed to determine the corrosivity of the water.
Check Out Sources and Causes of Corrosion - All types of corrosion mean that reactions between the water and metal surfaces and materials in which the water is stored or transported is not being handled proplerly. The corrosion process is an oxidation/reduction reaction that returns refined or processed metal to their more stable ore state.
Call State Certification Officers for Drinking Water Laboratories - If you want to know what contaminants are in your drinking water, here is what you need to do. Check your annual water quality report from your water supplier or call the water supplier directly. If you want to have additional tests on your water, EPA recommends that you use a laboratory certified by the state. Call the state certification officer where you have your business or look up and view the list of certified labs.
Total Dissolved Solids - Elevated total dissolved solids can also result in your water having a bitter or salty taste; result in incrustations, films, or precipitates on fixtures; corrosion of fixtures, and reduced efficiency of water filters. Any of these may be researched and resolved at each location in question.
Water Quality Diagnostic Tool - A handy resource developed by the Water Quality Association and NAFEM’s Technical Liaison Committee designed to help diagnose water problems, possible causes and potential treatments. If you have questions, please go to the NAFEM website and find out more now.
Water Quality Reports - Each year by July 1st you should receive in the mail an annual water quality report (consumer confidence report) from your water supplier that tells where your water comes from and what's in it.
Upon close examination, it may be that an inspection is required in your specific location to determine if any of the above conditions exist in your facility. Main Auction is happy to help make that happen, and offer some reasonable solutions for the new equipment you may be purchasing, or additional options on your existing equipment. Filtration and softeners in any setting may be a simple solution for ongoing challenges. Replacement of damaged pipes, faucets, showers and bathing facilities in spas with restaurant settings and more can all be discussed at the time of the inspection. As always, Main Auction Services is here to educate you on dealing with day to day operations; and help determine new restaurant equipment purchases that will solve those pesky damaged parts prior to making corrections.
Your New & Used Restaurant Equipment Supplier in Dallas, Irving, & Houston
Looking for Used Restaurant Equipment?
Call us here at Main Auction Services, together we can find options to secure your business for the future…
Dallas: 972-642-0513 & 972-579-4612 (Irving) and Houston: 713-690-1231
