Water Treatment

The Harder They Come …

Giving your water a real treat. Water treatment (reducing or removing impurities in the water - which in practice usually means hard water and off-flavours and smells) can deliver savings both now and in the long term. And it is essential to ensuring the best from other kitchen technologies, such as warewashing equipment.

Whether hard or soft, all mains water will have some impurities in it. In practice this normally means the naturally occurring and harmless minerals that are dissolved in it, such as calcium and magnesium. The 'harder' the water, the greater the dissolved mineral content.

Fitting a water treatment system to kitchen and bar equipment is normally vital, not only to ensure efficient and economical operation, but also to ensure reliability and coverage under the manufacturer's warranty.

Limescale Build-up

Heating water - in a dishwasher, a steamer, or any metal container - will cause the dissolved salts to attach themselves to the hot metal, creating the familiar 'crust' we call limescale. This happens in almost every part of the UK, but some areas suffer more than others. Of course, limescale (or 'scaling') is a familiar occurrence on the heating elements in electric kettles.

When scaling builds up inside tanks and narrow pipes, it restricts the flow of water, causing the machine to work inefficiently and eventually causing serious and expensive damage, including burnout of heating elements. This is long-term damage that you don't notice straight away.

But during this process of build up there's a more immediate cost. Scaling insulates heating elements, forcing them to use much more energy than they need. This happens with almost any type of mains water, even in regions considered as having soft water - and particularly in dry periods, when hill streams dry up and the water is drawn from boreholes or is moved around the network to suit demand.

Water quality for drinking

UK tap water is normally completely safe and healthy. However, whether as drinking water, in ice cubes and for diluting neat spirits, water will taste better and more wholesome when it is treated in certain ways.

Types Of Water Treatment

Salt Water Softening
The cheapest and simplest way, good for dishwashers and laundry machines. It adds a slight amount of salt to the water, which greatly reduces the amount of limescale released when water is heated in dishwashers or laundry machines. Not suitable for drinking, and it can give streaking of glasses in glasswashers. Furthermore, over time the salt could corrode welds on internal pipe work.

Carbon Filter
Gives very good drinking water flavour and extracts chlorine, discolouration and tainted smells. Doesn't remove hardness, so is best suited to soft water areas, or for drinking only.

De-alkalising
Sometimes called calcium treatment because it simply removes the hardness. Best for combi-ovens and for steamers, and suitable for icemakers, beverage machines and vending machines where the water is hard but still quite pure-flavoured.

De-mineralisation
Removes almost all the dissolved minerals and hardness in the water and is an option where the water is extremely hard. It's a useful option for glasswashers where hard water gives a problem of smearing on glasses.

Reverse Osmosis
Sounds complex and technical, but is quite simple in operation. The water is pulled under pressure through a very thin filtering 'membrane', removing practically everything but the water. Thus it not only removes limescale but many other trace elements as well. It gives water which is extremely pure, ideal for final rinsing of glassware and making great, clear ice cubes. Paradoxically, this near-pure water doesn't always give the best taste in hot drinks such as tea or coffee. For most people, water tastes subjectively 'better' when certain trace minerals remain.