— By Sharon Cho and Justin Shreiner —
Selecting optimal water heating systems to meet the needs of full-service restaurants.
Full-service restaurants are harsh environments for commercial water heaters. They operate for long hours, often from early morning to midnight, with continuous 140° hot water necessary for food prep, cooking and cleaning. This constant demand places a significant strain on water heating equipment and requires units that can withstand heavy use and provide consistent performance. For this reason, selecting the proper water heater is necessary to keep restaurants operational, remain compliant with local health regulations and maintain customer satisfaction.
A tank-type water heater, unrestricted in its flow into the tank, can accommodate increased demand, unlike a tankless water heater that typically has lower flow rate capacity. This restriction limits the amount of hot water a tankless unit can provide in restaurant settings.
Selecting a water heater for full-service restaurants requires careful consideration due to the specific demands and complexities of their operations. True differentiators include materials, advanced features, longer warranties and responsive customer support.
Designing to Meet Hot Water Needs
To accommodate tank-type water heaters, full-service restaurants typically have dedicated mechanical rooms. This extra space allows multiple or larger water heating units to be installed, providing redundant and flexible hot water supply.
An industry formula determines the BTU requirements for a restaurant application. To help in system planning, most manufacturers have sizing methodologies and calculators to determine the best configuration for their specific equipment.
Once an official sizing has been completed, restaurant owners will usually have two options: (1) a single larger capacity/BTU water heater or (2) multiple smaller capacity units. Each configuration has its pros and cons, particularly regarding redundancy and space. For instance, multiple smaller units provide better redundancy but require more installation space.
For restaurant owners, redundancy and space-saving are crucial factors. It’s essential to ensure that multiple water heaters can fit in a limited space to guarantee continuous hot water supply, especially if one unit needs to be taken offline unexpectedly. Single water heater systems can create significant risks, including potential location closures if the unit fails. Hence, a multi-unit system provides better redundancy, ensuring continuous hot water availability, even if one unit malfunctions.
Optimizing Efficiency
When it comes to optimizing efficiency, especially in full-service restaurants, traditional water heater methods may not be as effective. Controlling building recirculation or lowering equipment temperatures are common efficiency strategies, but they pose challenges in the restaurant industry due to health code requirements and the need for immediate hot water availability. For instance, health department guidelines often require water temperatures of 140° F to prevent bacterial growth, such as Legionella. Therefore, reducing temperatures or limiting recirculation can compromise safety and compliance.
Ensuring quick hot water delivery is critical in restaurants, as well. Typically, hot water should be available within 2 to 3 seconds of opening a fixture. This promptness is achieved by continuous building recirculation, which keeps hot water circulating within a few feet of each fixture. Consequently, adjusting recirculation or temperatures for energy savings is often not feasible without risking customer satisfaction.
For these reasons, greater emphasis needs to be placed on the efficiency of the water heaters. Water heaters that deliver thermal efficiencies up to 97% due to advanced burner modulation, such as the one shown in Figure 1, are recommended choices.
Materials of Construction Critical
High efficiency and reliability are maintained by selecting water heaters with high-end materials for construction.
Advanced duplex stainless steel tanks (Figure 2) are highly durable and reliable solutions that better meet the demanding hot water needs of full-service restaurants. Some stainless steel tanks undergo a pickle and passivation process to enhance tank resilience and resistance to corrosion and cracking, significantly increasing lifespan and preserving efficiency. This is superior to glass-lined tanks, which are more prone to cracking and have shorter lifespans.
More than Equipment
Water heaters should be supported by an experienced team that extends from the manufacturer building the unit to the contractor servicing it. These professionals understand the various water heating technology in restaurant applications and can provide owners with the right equipment to meet their needs.
If a restaurant’s water heater fails, the expectation is to have it repaired or replaced the same day. This expectation gets shortened to 2 hours or less if the restaurant is operating on a single water heater without redundancy. To minimize downtime in these emergency situations where the restaurant faces potential store closure, the manufacturer can provide a team of highly trained and dedicated individuals for rapid response and first call resolution. This elevated “white glove” level of service is offered 24/7 and includes access to a network of trained contractors who are factory authorized to service the equipment and stock critical parts locally.
Importance of Water Quality
Water quality is crucial to ensure the water heater performs to maximum efficiency. Restaurants pose a challenging environment for water heaters due to their long run times, high temperature requirements and frequent cycling. Poor water quality can lead to rapid scale formation, which can cause irreparable damage to water heating units.
Implementing water treatment solutions from the outset can prevent these issues. Options range from traditional salt-based water softeners to advanced systems, such as reverse osmosis and deionization. Proper water treatment extends the lifespan of water heating equipment and reduces maintenance costs by preventing scale formation.
Benefits of treating water before it enters the water heater include prolonged equipment life and reduced maintenance costs. This applies to water heaters as well as other kitchen equipment and fixtures. Many modern kitchen appliances are also vulnerable to damage from scale buildup. Without proper water treatment, these appliances require frequent maintenance and can suffer from reduced efficiency and lifespan.
Conclusion
Maintaining hot water is essential for restaurant operations. Tank-type water heaters offer performance, reliability and long term operation to provide full-scale restauranteurs with the consistent hot water necessary to meet their needs. When selecting water heaters, restaurant owners should also consider the manufacturer and support network to achieve the best return on investment.
— Sharon Cho is product manager for domestic hot water solutions at PVI, a Watts Brand, for light commercial and electric products. She has product management and mechanical engineering experience in multiple industries.
— Justin Shreiner, national accounts manager for PVI, has 25 years of plumbing and water heating experience. He specializes in providing swift solutions to national account customers across North America.