Blog: Dishwashing – the lungs of the kitchen

"The kitchen is the heart of the home", they say. Even in professional kitchens, it is the hub of activity from which, like the heart, nourishment is pumped to customers through the dishes. In this metaphor, the dishwasher is the lungs that allow the kitchen to breathe. With careful dishwashing, the dishes are cleaned after use and are ready again to carry food safely.   

That's the image I've used when talking about the importance of dishwashing.   

If there is excess in the lungs, they are not fully functional. In exactly the same way, only a clean and functioning machine can produce clean dishes. When food flows to customers' plates on clean dishes, it allows us a safe dining experience.  

In life, we have different needs for our lungs, for example, someone who does a lot of sport needs more lung tissue than someone who takes a more leisurely and occasional jog. There are also different needs when choosing a dishwasher, and when choosing one, it is worth paying attention to ensuring that the machine has enough power to clean the specific models of dishes that you use. There are many ways of comparing machine performance, but what has an impact on the washing result? The volume of the tank and the model of the tank will affect how quickly the water becomes saturated with dirt or how much water needs to be changed during a wash cycle to maintain the washing result. A shallow and wide tank allows water to cool more easily than an insulated and narrower tank.    

The body automatically maintains the lungs on a daily basis. Daily maintenance is also very important for dishwashers - this helps to avoid acute asthma medication. It is often thought that rinsing is sufficient for daily cleaning of the machine. This is the case if the machine is rounded, as dirt is not left to rest in the corners of the machine. However, dirt can also be small, microbial dirt, in which case physical work is also required to clean the machine. In such cases, ergonomics and worker safety are of paramount importance. For example, a plate frame and an extension arm are a great help when servicing the machine.   

The air may contain particles that can be harmful to breathing, in which case a respirator or air filter is needed to clean the air flowing into the lungs. Similarly, the water entering the dishwasher may contain limescale, for example. An external water filter can be used to filter this limescale out of the water, improving the washing result, preventing limescale build-up and improving the performance of the machine. The right detergents and rinsing agents have an impact on both cleaning the dishes and keeping the machine in good working order.   

"Only a clean and functioning machine can produce clean dishes", says Product Manager Anssi Kaikkonen. 

People often wonder how much water, for example, dishwashing consumes. Often, when looking at features, only the water consumption of the machine is compared, but the way the machine is rinsed should also be examined. Some machines use a double or triple rinse, where the first rinse uses water that has already been rinsed once. The final rinse with clean water is collected in a basin or tank from which it is sprayed onto the dishes immediately after the washing phase. The final rinse is a clean final rinse. In this way, clean water is not yet used to rinse the most detergent-containing water, but the required rinse is achieved with water that has been used once. Only then is the final rinse with fresh hot water carried out, so that no rinse water remains on the surface of the dish.    

Finally, let's take a moment to think about a difficult-to-wash product - the bottle from which water is often served. How do you ensure that this object, which carries liquid food, is clean?  

In a traditional dishwasher, the amount of water that enters through the small opening of the bottle is random. However, nowadays, specially designed functions for bottles have been developed in washing machines to ensure that both washing and rinsing water is sprayed all the way to the inside of the bottle. This allows the kitchen lungs to clean even the most difficult dishes.

The writer Anssi Kaikkonen is a Product Manager in Metos Group.