Looking for a commercial water heater for your restaurant? These hot water usage patterns of other N. American restaurants will help you make a better decision.
Selecting the perfect water heater for restaurants can be tricky. Lack of hot water can mean pausing service, resulting in zero revenue. Moreover, restaurant owners/managers need to consider various factors like regulatory compliances, installation and operational costs, space needs, maintenance frequencies and more.
While there is no one-size-fits-all approach, knowing about the hot water usage patterns and trends in other restaurants can help provide a clearer idea. We analyzed our database of 2179 restaurants across North America, and here’s what we found. This information was collected by our online water heater sizing calculator.
Logically, full-service restaurants need more hot water than quick-service restaurants. Here’s exactly how much the difference in hot water need (in GPM) between the two types is:
Full-service restaurants needed approximately thrice as much hot water as quick-service restaurants.
As shown in the graph above, full-service restaurants needed 2.7 times as much hot water as quick-service restaurants. Logically, this makes sense. Full-service restaurants tend to have applications which demand higher quantities of hot water. For instance, full-service restaurants are likely to have a higher number of utensils that need to be cleaned in a dishwasher.
Appliances like dishwashers need a lot of hot water at very high temperatures, and can be liable to regulatory compliances.
The graph above looks at exactly how washers impact heating output requirements for water heaters at full-service restaurants, and quick-service restaurants. For ease of understanding, we bucketed various kinds of washers for this visualization to include pre-rinse dishwashers, glass washers, and pre-scraper washers in a single category.
Did you know? You can size a water heater for your restaurant to include various kinds of washers in a high-temperature circuit instantly using our sizing calculator.
Washers usually need high quantities of hot water at high temperatures. This can increase the the heating output that your restaurant water heater would need to deliver. In many regions, regulatory compliances require restaurants to have a minimum hot water temperature for use in such appliances.
Factors like groundwater temperature and desired fixture temperature affect temperature rise, which can in turn influence the heating output of your restaurant’s water heater.
The graph above breaks down how hot water need changes for different temperature rise segments in the state of Illinois. This phenomenon is relatively simple to understand. If your restaurant water heater needs to heat water by 30-60 degrees Fahrenheit, it would need to deliver a lower heating output than an application where it might need to heat the same amount of water by 60-90 degrees Fahrenheit.
The above visualization only considers the state of Illinois for ease of understanding. However, the location of your restaurant affects your selection since groundwater temperatures vary by region. A lower groundwater temperature means that your water heater for restaurant would need a higher heating output.
Furthermore, the hot water temperature at your fixture would also affect the temperature rise, and resultantly, your selection. While the fixture temperature is decided by the restaurant owner/manager, they would need to account for local regulations.
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