Aluminum, cast iron, and stainless steel pans are fixtures in institutional kitchens, such as those in schools and hospitals. Serving so many people every day means this equipment collects a significant amount of grease and food debris. It also means kitchen staff can spend hours scrubbing them or consume a lot of power and water running them through a dishwasher.
Knowing how to clean aluminum pans and other metal items successfully without a lot of additional effort could save a lot of time, money, and resources. Fortunately, there is an alternative to the old-fashioned ways that can accomplish all of this. Read on to learn how to clean cooking pans and more using a commercial soak tank.
Why Soak Tanks Make the Best Cleaning Equipment
If you want to know how to clean a cast iron skillet and more without steel wool, a soak tank is the answer. These work by submerging metal kitchen equipment in a tank of hot water and specialized detergent. Over time, the grease and food residue is dissolved away, leaving behind clean, fully sanitized cookware.
If you’re already familiar with how to clean stainless steel pans through traditional means, it’s clear to see what makes soak tanks so much better. Users can just dunk what they need cleaned, shut the lid, and forget about it until later. After the cleaning cycle is finished, you remove the items from inside and they’ll be clean.
There are a host of other advantages, as well, such as the fact that they use much less water and power than dishwashers. Using a soak tank means you can save a lot of money over the long run.
How to Clean Cookware With a Soak Tank
If your school, hospital, hotel, or other large-scale kitchen wants to find a better way to stay clean, the soak tank might be what you need. Here’s how to clean stainless steel pots and more using one like the FOG Tank:
- Step 1: Fill the stainless steel tank with hot water up to the fill line and start it.
- Step 2: Slowly add the cleaning solution. In the case of the FOG Tank, this is our proprietary Tiger Carbon Removal Powder®.
- Step 3: Load your dirty metal equipment into the basket and lower it into the tank.
- Step 4: Close the lid and leave the items to soak.
- Step 5: Remove your items from the tank, rinsing away any loose or softened carbon fragments that might have been left behind.
If you are cleaning cast iron equipment, make sure to dry and oil it after using the tank to avoid rust.
Get a FOG Tank for Your Kitchen Today
Now that you understand how to clean aluminum pans and other metal kitchen equipment using a soak tank, it’s time to add the power of FOG Tank to your operations. It is available in a wide variety of sizes to fit virtually any application, including restaurants, catering operations, institutional kitchens and more. If you’d like to learn more about what the FOG Tank can do for you, reach out and get in touch with us today.