Keep operating full steam ahead!
When water turns into steam, chemicals and contaminants don’t magically evaporate away. An example of this is your tea kettle. Ever go to boil water and you see a chalky white residue inside? That’s mineral deposits left behind or limescale.
This is because water boils at a lower temp than calcium and magnesium. So, when water evaporates, the minerals stick around (literally). While limescale isn’t a concern for human health, it is a biggie for your equipment.
Calcium and magnesium are the two most common minerals found in hard water. Untreated hard water causes scale buildup within steam applications. Buildup can clog equipment, add to your routine cleaning and maintenance, decrease operational efficiency, corrode equipment, and speed up the need for replacements.
Take steam ovens for example—just 1/8th of scale can increase energy usage 25%.* Both combi ovens and steam ovens are big ticket items. So, while necessary for locking in flavor and nutrients, you don’t want to keep replacing them, one after another, year after year, due to hard water. That will add up for your business’s bottom line.
RO systems force water through a semipermeable membrane, separating 97% or more substances from pure water. What’s more, a steam filter like Everpure EZ-RO, saves up to 50% water. EZ-RO is an ideal solution for both boiler-less and flash steam equipment.
This technology is all about cutting down on chlorine in your water. Inhibiting systems suspend dissolved calcium minerals, as well as allow them to be flushed away when the boiler is drained. Inhibiting technology is recommended for boiler steam applications, not combi ovens.
Now let’s say you need to get down to the smallest particles. Some technologies are designed to filter these finer contaminants. Everpure Kleensteam® combines carbon filtration and inhibition technology to remove more together.
Think of softening as the pretreatment to your water treatment. If you’re concerned about limescale buildup on your steam equipment, like combi ovens, softening can help remove the calcium and magnesium ions. Softening does not address TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) or other minerals. We recommend pairing a softening system with a high-efficiency RO system as a one-two-punch solution to quality water and long-lasting equipment.