Win a boiler with built-in filtration

Countless millions of cups of tea and coffee are drunk around the world every day. The consumer's seemingly insatiable demand drives sales of many other food products, too. So the ability to make hot beverages quickly, efficiently and economically around the clock is essential.

From the smallest cafés to the busiest restaurants and the largest hotels, all catering establishments need to have a reliable supply of piping-hot water on tap.

Water is commonly classified as hard or soft depending on the type and amount of naturally occurring and harmless minerals and salts dissolved in it. The most common ones are calcium and magnesium.

When mains water is heated it causes the dissolved salts to attach themselves to any metal they come into contact with, forming a hard crust called limescale. Where this build-up occurs in internal pipework it restricts the flow of water, causing serious and expensive damage to equipment. Where scale build-up occurs on heating elements it will insulate the elements, forcing them to use far more energy than needed to heat the water, leading to early burnout.

A water filter is essential, not only in hard water areas to reduce scale build-up, but also to remove impurities that can leave an unpleasant taste.

"A water filter is recommended with all water boilers and not simply because filtered water makes better tea," says Nick McDonald, marketing director of Lincat. "The build-up of scale can seriously compromise the performance of water boilers over time, making them more expensive to run and prone to breakdowns."

Buy It! has teamed up with Lincat to offer readers the chance to win one of three FilterFlow automatic water boilers, which feature convenient built-in water filtration. The boilers are designed to reduce damaging scale build-up and provide a continuous supply of high-quality filtered water to improve the taste and quality of hot beverages.

HOW TO ENTER

Three lucky readers who can answer the question below correctly will each win a FilterFlow boiler worth more than £400. Entries must be submitted on a postcard to arrive by 15 December. Entrants should include their name, job title, company name and address and contact telephone number.

Send entries to Buy It!/Lincat Competition, Caterer and Hotelkeeper, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS.

THE QUESTION

What is the name of the hard crust caused by dissolved salts in mains water when it is heated?

a) Calcium
b) Limescale
c) Magnesium

THE PRIZE

Permanently plumbed to the mains water supply, the new FilterFlow automatic boilers from Lincat feature unique built-in filtration to ensure premium water quality and reduced scale build-up.

Comprehensive on-board diagnostics with an easy-to-read LCD panel show the operational status of the boiler and remind users when to order a new filter and when to change it. The filter cartridge is as easy to change as a light bulb, with no need to disconnect the water supply or seek the help of a service engineer or plumber.

• For further information on Lincat, call 01522 875500 or visitwww.lincat.co.uk.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. This competition is not open to employees or agents of Reed Business Information, or Lincat.
2. We reserve the right to change the prize without notice, and no cash alternative will be offered.
3. The winner will be selected at random from correct entries, and the publisher's decision is final.
4. Reed Business Information will use the contact information you provide to communicate with you on behalf of the Caterer Group. We may also use the information you have provided to send direct marketing material from ourselves relating to other products and services that may be of interest to you. Your information may also be disclosed to other companies who wish to send you information about their products and services, including our sponsor, Lincat. This could involve data transfer to countries outside the European Economic Area. For further information and choices, please visit our data protection page at www.reedbusiness.co.uk/dataprotection or write to us at RBI, Freepost RCC2619, Haywards Heath RH16 3BR, UK.
5. The winner's name will appear in Caterer and Hotelkeeper and on Caterersearch.com.