Green Spirit: Winterhalter helps pub group’s carbon project

Winterhalter’s resource-saving technology helps pub group’s carbon project

Managed pub company The Spirit Group is committed to reducing its carbon footprint by 17% by 2010. Carbon Project Manager Elaine O’Connell says that while it is a tough target, it makes sound business sense.

A key area she focussed on was warewashing, working with Winterhalter to look at ways the specialist manufacturer’s new technologies could save resources.

“Winterhalter’s new rinse arms are designed to reduce water use,” says Elaine. “We decided to trial them in two sites, Lakeside and the Britannia, in Milton Keynes and Northampton. First we monitored the warewashers, fitted with the standard rinse arms, checking their consumption of water, energy and chemicals over several weeks. Then we swapped the arms to test the new rinse system.”

The results showed significant savings with both undercounter glasswashers and pass through hood dishwashers. For the undercounter machines, savings amounted to around £65 per year on machines running 45 washing cycles per day. The pass through dishwashers delivered savings of over £480 per year, running 140 cycles per day.

The savings weren’t only for water, but also energy and chemicals – because reducing water consumption means commensurately less energy is required for heating and less chemicals for cleaning.

“The results were convincing – we subsequently retro fitted the new rinse system on Winterhalter pass through units throughout the estate,” says Elaine.

When Spirit’s warewasher contract came up for renewal Winterhalter’s Energy+ machines won – despite the fact that they were more expensive than some of their competitors. “A significant part of the carbon project is to look into lifecycle costs,” says Elaine. “We compared all the different manufacturers’ figures and found that the Energy+ costs less over its lifecycle, thanks to its very significant energy-saving features.”

Winterhalter estimates that one of its pass through GS515 machines, fitted with Energy+ and the rinse water saving system, can save as much as £1,250 in running costs every year.

Winterhalter provides a total solution for warewashing, from pre-sales advice to after-sales service, training and maintenance. Alongside its market-leading dish and glasswashers, the company’s range includes utensil washers, advanced water treatment machines, cleaning chemicals and detergents. For further details, call Winterhalter on 01908 359000, see www.winterhalter.com/uk-en/ , or email info@winterhalter.co.uk.

Copy ends

Editor’s notes:

Spirit Group is the managed division of Punch Taverns, the UK’s leading pub company with over 8,400 pubs nationwide.

Spirit Group’s 800+ pubs across the UK range from high quality dining at Chef & Brewers to great value Two For One food-led outlets. The Group also operates Wacky Warehouse, the UK’s leading indoor playbarn for children, and over 80 traditional, authentic London pubs. For more info see www.thespiritgroup.com

Winterhalter’s intelligent resource technology (IRT):

New Rinse System – up to 20% savings

The new rinse system developed for Winterhalter’s front loader and pass through machines uses a radical new design of water-jet that delivers improved rinse results yet uses up to 25% less water. Less water means energy and chemical consumption are reduced, too. The rinse system can deliver overall running cost savings of 13% with the GS200 and GS300 front loaders, and up to 20% with the GS 500 pass through washers.

Energy+

Winterhalter’s ‘Energy+’ has an air-to-water heat exchanger that takes the waste steam from a GS 500 pass through dishwasher and uses it to heat the incoming fresh water. It also has a water-to-water heat exchanger that takes the heat from the wastewater and also uses it to heat the incoming fresh water. Energy+ reduces the total connected load by up to 6 kW.