Chloride Ate Your Combi!

Lately, we have seen a rise in customer’s having problems with their boiler free combi ovens. Whether it is an Alto Sham, Blodgett, Cleveland, Rational, or CONVOtherm, alot of money has been invested in that equipment and with that investment, a long life is expected.  That’s why it’s important to pay attention to the water warranty requirements.

Did you know that the warranty can be voided if there is chloride in the water that is feeding your equipment, especially if the damage is caused by the chloride. The consensus of manufactures’ spec sheets is that chloride, specified in the water feeding your combi oven, is supposed to be less than 25 ppm,( parts per million).

For the combi oven pictured above, the water test came back indicating that the chloride levels were at 308.8 ppm. That’s high!! 

So why is chloride so bad in combi ovens, boiler based or boilerless? Keep in mind that chloride is not chlorine.

So what happens when you have alot of hydrogen chloride in your water and you super-heat it quickly into steam? It jumps out as hydrochloric acid, which is a clear, colorless, highly pungent solution of hydrogen chloride (HCL) in water. It is a highly corrosive strong mineral acid and it can chew through stainless steel very quickly. So where do you start if you already have a combi oven and you are seeing this type of damage? A detailed water test that will give you a full analysis of the chemical composition of your water is the place to start. Once you know that you do have an unacceptable level of chloride in your water, you can go to work on purchasing a blended reverse osmosis unit in order to remove the chloride. Why blended reverse osmosis? Because, no filter will take chlorides out of your water. Remember this is chloride, not chlorine. Reverse osmosis is not filtration, it is the use of a semi permeable membrane that forces everything but the water molecule out of the water. With blended RO you can then blend back in the right amount of filtered raw water in order to create the chemical composition of the water that you want to feed your combi. Everpure has developed an entire series of Blended MRS, Mineral Reduction System Reverse Osmosis units. From the MRS20, (20 stands for 20 gallons made per day), EV9797-91, up to the MRS600HEII, (600 gallons made per day), EV9970-54. One of the most popular for the combi application is the MRS350, (350 gallons of water made per day), EV9970-17. Note that these solutions require a storage tank. These systems can be sized to fit your piece or pieces of equipment and insure that the water you are using will protect your combi oven from whatever changes occur within your water supply. To get started with a water test please ask us below or call our team with your questions at 800-942-7873. Ask us a question! Sign up for our Newsletter!