Not every crate leaves the crate washer equally clean. Sometimes, stubborn dirt sticks to the crate. In order to solve that problem, Lets developed a crate washer that can also wash the crates under high pressure. The machine was developed especially for the fresh produce sector. When dirt remains in the crate, it doesn’t meet hygiene demands.
Dirty crates
“A crate washer is often used for washing crates. It uses water, detergent and sometimes heat to wash the crate,” explains Johan Leeffers of Lets. “You can compare that cleaning technique with the sea washing away and moving a bit of sand on the beach every time.” With a power of two to three bar, a lot of water and a detergent, the crates are cleaned for reuse. This technique is called a leaching cleaning process. It works well, but is unable to remove stubborn dirt, like seeds from tomatoes, eggplant or cucumbers. You need more pressure for that.” To solve this problem, the machine builder developed the Lets Impact. “The machine can wash under high pressure, but also has a leaching effect.”
High pressure cleaning and sustainability
While normal crate washers have a pressure of two to three bar, this machine cleans with a power of twenty to forty bar. “It contains rotating nozzles, which remove the dirt layer by layer. That way, less power is needed, while a high speed of 600 to 700 crates per hour is achieved.”
Sustainability has played a part in building these washing machines for a while now. The water is actually filtered and reused in all machines. “We applied that in this machine as well, the water from high pressure cleaning is also filtered and reused.” The crates are also washed with clean drinking water afterwards, which is added to the water in the bath. “That way, you refresh the water.”
Technology from other sectors
Lets is mainly active on the Dutch market, supplying cleaning machines to various sectors. Apart from fruit and veg, the company also has experience in the meat sector and fishery. The knowledge from these sectors turned out useful in the development of the Impact. “In meat and fish, we have a lot of experience cleaning and removing stickers from crates, for instance. We see that high pressure can be a good solution there. That technique has been used in this machine.”
More information:
Lets bv
Johan Leeffers
Bedrijfsweg 33
8251 KK Dronten
+31 (0)321 38 66 0