Your slicers, mixers, heated presses and pizza rollers are the cogs that keep your restaurant, café, hotel or deli running smoothly and efficiently. Having to step in for a faulty machine by slicing, mixing or hand stretching your ingredients is sure to see productivity flagging and customers complaining. So, when you spot a fault, it’s well worth picking up the phone to speak to our Service Team so they can get the issue sorted quickly and efficiently by our experienced engineers. Read our list of the most common catering equipment faults you’re likely to come across in a commercial kitchen so you’re ready to recognise them, report them and get them resolved, rapid!

1. Heated Press Guard Falling Off  

Is the guard on your heated dough press clinging on for dear life? This is often caused by overzealous operation of the machine. Stressed out staff members slamming down the guard with their whole fist a few times too many can strain the screws and seriously damage the guard. This is an issue that will require an engineer visit to put right but, luckily, our engineers can solve this problem in a jiffy so you’re back to business in no time.

2. Oven Bulbs Not Lighting Up

This fault is a result of a cardinal cooking sin- not turning off the oven bulbs before performing the daily burn off!!! For any oven layman out there, the daily burn off is the cleaning procedure wherein chefs whack the heat of their oven up to maximum temp and then brush away the carbon debris in the morning. Glass bulbs struggle to handle the extreme temperature and are likely to blow. If you find yourself in this predicament, don’t feel too ‘dim’; just call up Ryan or Chloe and you’ll have replacement bulbs on your doorstep in no time.  

3. Heated Press reading Error ROT

This error reading is a commonly caused by low skilled staff who are eager to get cooking and therefore press dough balls that are too cold. Dough balls need at least an hour to reach room temperature once they’ve been taken out of the fridge. Luckily, this is an issue that can be diagnosed by our psychic Service Team over the phone meaning our engineers can arrive equipped with everything they need ready to solve the issue on the first visit.

4. Slicer Not Cutting Smoothly

If your Electric Slicer’s performance feels a little ‘rusty’, this could be due to your cleaning procedure. Although cleaning is always done with the best intentions, the wrong materials can actually do more harm than good; if a slicer is washed with water, the liquid will infiltrate the machine and rust the internal parts which will then need to be replaced. These machines should always be cleaned with food machine oil which protects the machine’s parts while giving them a pristine sheen (Ryan and Chloe will hook you up with a few bottles!). In the event of this catering equipment calamity, our engineers can get your slicer back on form at your site or it can be whisked off to our workshop, so no one gets under your feet.

5. Snapped Belt in Dough Roller

Even the best items of catering equipment snap under too much pressure. In this case, the issue is likely to be that dough hasn’t been thoroughly cleaned off the rollers between uses. When dough dries, it becomes hard as a rock and can easily cause a jam in the roller which will strain and snap the belt. This is an issue that can be solved yourself with the right parts sent over by our Spares Team. However, if you’re not confident in your handyman skills, our engineers will be happy to get you a quick resolution.  

If you are based in the north west of England or in North Wales, our team of experienced and friendly catering equipment engineers are more than capable of resolving any of these issues either at your site or in our workshop in Oldham. Simply call us on 0161 696 0052 or email service@linda-lewis.co.ukto book in!

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