Winterhalter’s hybrid warewash technology wins FCSI sustainable catering equipment award

Compact water-saving iPlus is big hit with judges

Warewashing specialist Winterhalter won the prestigious FCSI sustainable catering equipment award for 2016, which was announced during the CESA Conference.

The winning product was the UC Excellence-iPlus, an undercounter warewasher that features a new, hybrid technology that saves water while giving the best possible results.  Judges described the product as ‘a compact, integrated solution providing a direct water saving.’ 

The iPlus technology features an integral reverse osmosis (RO) system guaranteeing brilliant wash results every time, as it removes almost 100% of water impurities.  Alongside the RO system is an integral water softener.  This offers a variety of benefits, including preventing blockages of the membrane, extending membrane life and ensuring perfect wash results from first wash to last.

Thanks to the integrated softener, the iPlus machines also feature VarioAqua.  This feature allows the user to select whether to use the RO system or not.  So less critical items can be washed using softened water only, which minimises running costs, while more important ones can have the full RO treatment, for sparkling results.

Both water treatment systems are fully integrated within the warewasher.  The machine automatically selects the appropriate treatment for certain functions – for example, RO-treated water to flush the boiler, softened water to run the self-cleaning function – and the operating status is displayed on the control panel.  If there is an issue with the RO, such as the membrane needs attention, the warewasher switches to softened water only.  Similarly, if the softener runs out of salt, it switches to RO-only.

Compared to standard RO, the UC Excellence-iPlus saves at least 10% in water usage.

“Sustainability has to be a key buying criteria – what we’ve achieved with the UC Excellence-iPlus is to combine sustainability with market-leading results,” says Paul Crowley, marketing manager of Winterhalter.  “This has been a big year for us in terms of underlining our green credentials – we are still the only catering equipment company to have achieved carbon footprinting with The Carbon Trust.  Being chosen by leading professional foodservice consultants, this award is a huge feather in our cap.”