Casters: The Oven Rack’s Best Friend

Have you ever had to purchase casters for your new or used bakery equipment?

You might have found it confusing because there are many elements to consider when buying the right casters for your equipment. Price, size, type and so on. As well, would there be a negative impact on your equipment if you purchase the wrong casters? And remember, “you get what you pay for”, so cheaper doesn’t always mean better.

WHAT ARE CASTERS USED ON?
Baking oven racks, proof racks, storage racks, bakery dough troughs, griddles, and other high temperature bakery applications.

MAINTENANCE TIPS FOR CASTERS:

• Keep your casters and equipment clean.
• Check for food and debris on a regular basis for optimum productivity.
• Look beyond the wheel and inspect the nuts, bolts and other parts inside for wear and tear or to remove excess matter.
• Encourage your bakery team to keep a cleaning and maintenance schedule.
   

Check your wheels - When using polyurethane wheels, poor maintenance will lead to the material becoming embedded in the wheel while causing damage of the wheel tread. Not only will your casters suffer, but your bakery equipment and floors could suffer as well. Tighten up your bolts and keep your parts well lubricated as instructed. If damaged, you should look to replace your casters and wheels as soon as possible. Contact Horizon's Parts Department for replacement casters and wheels.

COSTS AND IMPLICATIONS OF BAD CASTERS:
There are several negative issues that can arise if you purchase bad casters. Kiss the money you saved up-front goodbye. Your bakery equipment, business and employees will suffer if you purchase bad casters. Bakery racks that bounce across a hard floor on rough wheels tend to crumble. Choosing too soft of a wheel can also limit your equipment load. Use the proper lubrication for right application. High-temp grease for your oven racks and food-grade grease for your transport racks will protect your equipment and floors. Your employees’ safety is first. Prevent injuries by enforcing regular and proper maintenance.  If your equipment parts are maintained on a regular basis and not mistreated, you will get the maximum safety and service performance from your casters.

Always observe the following rules:

• Never overload the equipment.
• Never drop heavy loads on the equipment.
• Never subject the equipment to operation at high speeds.
• Swivel casters turn more easily under load, reducing starting effort and fatigue, and allow a more consistent level of output.

FLOOR CONDITIONS:
Floors are expensive to repair or replace. Poor casters damage floors and poor floors damage casters, reduce productivity, and are hazardous in your bakery business. Are your transport cabinets and bakery racks leaving nasty tracks on your vinyl tile floor? Is the surface of your casters starting to wear, leaving nasty track marks? Assess your floors and check your casters to make sure you have a good match.

MAINTENANCE FOR OVENS:
In the December article of The Bakery Network Knead2Know newsletter, "Bringing the Heat", the focus was on ovens and even calibrating your oven. We would like to dig deeper and give you some additional preventative maintenance tips to keep your oven running for many years to come.

Burner Adjustment: Clean and take apart the burner as it usually gets filled with flour or dust. Checking the gas pressure is also important. If there is not enough gas, it will take too long to bake. If there is too much gas (your flame will be a yellow in color), that creates soot; soot causes cracking.

Temperature Calibration: Check your bakery oven temperature on a regular basis. Communicate with your staff as your bakers might be used to baking at a certain temperature. Your bread which used to bake perfectly at 380° might now be too done if your bakers are not aware of the recent calibration!

Heat Exchanger Inspection: Check for defects, cracks plugged ports or any other signs that the integrity of the heat exchanger has been compromised. If damaged, this causes your bakery oven to be inefficient, wastes energy and is unsafe for employees.

Horizon Equipment has a great team of service and parts specialists ready and willing to help you choose the proper caster for your bakery equipment. We make it easy by providing maintenance tips to optimize the performance of your equipment to keep your bakery business running.

For more information on choosing the correct caster, check out our Choosing the Proper Caster documentation on our website or visit www.horizonequipment.com.

Save 15% when you mention promo code CASTERS2012 on your next caster order before March 21, 2012.

Need assistance with Service and Parts? Visit Horizon’s Service and Parts Department page for friendly professional support or call us at (800) 394-4674.