Dish machine and three-compartment sink log template: temperatures and sanitizer, every shift

A dish machine can look fine and still not sanitize. The wash tank has cooled, the sanitizer jug ran dry an hour ago, or the booster heater is tired. The plates come out shiny and wet, and nobody can tell. The only way to know is to read the gauges and test the water, and the only way to prove you did is to write it down.

This post is the log: one sheet for each kind of setup, with the numbers that pass already printed on it. The sanitizer bucket at each station belongs on your line check, and servicing the machine belongs on your equipment maintenance log. This sheet covers the dish pit.

This is general information, not legal advice. Your state or county enforces its own edition of the Food Code, and your machine's data plate and your sanitizer's label have the final word on your numbers.

First, which machine do you have?

Look at the data plate on the machine, or ask your chemical supplier. There are two kinds, and they're checked differently.

The numbers, from the Food Code

Section numbers are from the 2022 FDA Food Code. The 2026 edition keeps the same numbers.

Hot-water machines. The wash tank minimum depends on the machine: "For a stationary rack, single temperature machine, 74oC (165oF)", "For a stationary rack, dual temperature machine, 66oC (150oF)", "For a single tank, conveyor, dual temperature machine, 71oC (160oF)" and "For a multitank, conveyor, multitemperature machine, 66oC (150oF)" (§4-501.110(A)). The final rinse, as it enters the manifold, "may not be more than 90oC (194oF)" and not less than 165°F for a stationary rack, single temperature machine, or "For all other machines, 82oC (180oF)" (§4-501.112(A)).

The rinse gauge isn't the whole test. Dishes must reach "a UTENSIL surface temperature of 71oC (160oF) as measured by an irreversible registering temperature indicator" (§4-703.11(B)), and that indicator "shall be provided and readily accessible" (§4-302.13(B)). In practice: a heat-sensitive label on a plate, run through a cycle, that changes color at 160°F.

Chemical machines. "The temperature of the wash solution in spray-type warewashers that use chemicals to SANITIZE may not be less than 49oC (120oF)" (§4-501.110(B)). The sanitizer strength comes from a test: "Concentration of the SANITIZING solution shall be accurately determined by using a test kit or other device" (§4-501.116).

The three-compartment sink. The wash water is kept "at not less than 43oC (110oF) or the temperature specified on the cleaning agent manufacturer's label instructions" (§4-501.19). For chlorine, the Food Code ties the minimum temperature to the strength and the pH:

(§4-501.114(A).) A quaternary ammonium sanitizer needs water of at least 75°F and the strength on its label (§4-501.114(C)). Contact time counts too: at least 10 seconds for chlorine, and "A contact time of at least 30 seconds for other chemical SANITIZING solutions" (§4-703.11(C)), consistent with the time on the sanitizer's EPA-registered label.

One more rule that matters for a log: the machine "shall be operated in accordance with the machine's data plate and other manufacturer's instructions" (§4-501.15(A)). When the data plate and this table differ, copy the data plate's numbers onto your sheet.

The log sheets

Print one sheet per week, tape it next to the machine or the sink, and fill in a line at the start of each shift and whenever you refill the sanitizer or change the water. Write the passing numbers from your own data plate and label into the header before you print.

Sheet A: hot-water dish machine

Location ________ Machine ________ Week of ________ Pass: wash ≥ ____°F · final rinse ____ to 194°F · plate label turns at 160°F

Sheet B: chemical (low-temp) dish machine

Pass: wash ≥ 120°F · sanitizer ____ to ____ ppm (from the label) · test strips expire ________

Sheet C: three-compartment sink

Pass: wash ≥ 110°F (or the detergent label) · sanitizer ____ ppm at ≥ ____°F · contact time ____ seconds

The water in all three compartments has to stay clean; the Food Code says "The wash, rinse, and SANITIZE solutions shall be maintained clean" (§4-501.18). Write "water changed" whenever you drain and refill, and change it when it's greasy or cloudy, not only at the time on the sheet.

When a reading is out of range

Write the reading anyway, then follow the steps. A log with only perfect numbers looks like nobody read the gauges.

Dishes that went through a failed cycle aren't sanitized. Pull them back and re-wash them once the machine passes.

Weekly checks

Add these to the bottom of the sheet, once a week:

• Test strips in date, and a spare pack on the shelf.
• Plate labels or the maximum-recording thermometer in stock.
• Wash arms and rinse jets free of buildup; curtains in place; the machine delimed as the supplier says.
• Thermometers and gauges reading true. The Food Code says water temperature devices "shall be maintained in good repair and be accurate within the intended range of use" (§4-502.11(C)).
• Last week's sheet signed by a manager and filed.

Our dishwasher and porter hiring guide covers chemical training for the people who do this job, and the chemical inventory and SDS binder is where the sanitizer's safety data sheet goes.

Where Mays fits

• The log as a form. In Tasks → Types, build a custom form with a Temperature field for each reading (wash tank, final rinse), a Number field for sanitizer ppm, a Yes / No field for "Plate label changed", a Text field for the action taken, and a Signature. Each Temperature field has a Pass range: min OK and Pass range: max OK (for a high-temp final rinse, 180 and 194), and a reading outside it shows Out of range while it's filled in. Keep the Min and Max wide (say 32 to 212), because a reading outside them can't be submitted, and you want the bad readings written down. See Building custom forms.
• Open, mid and close. Add the form to a Daily checklist template three times, as "Dish machine: opening reading", "mid-shift reading" and "closing reading", assigned to the dish role. See Creating a checklist template.
• A notification when it fails. In Insights → Alerts & Reports, a Task Form Field Threshold alert on the wash tank field, At or below your minimum, notifies the people you pick every time a low reading is submitted. See Alerts and scheduled reports.
• The week for the inspector. Tasks → Data lists every submission and Export CSV downloads them, and a manager can reject a reading that doesn't look right and send it back. See Task Data and Reviewing and rejecting tasks.

What Mays doesn't do: there's no prompt that asks for a corrective action when a reading is out of range (the Text field is how you ask), the Out of range flag isn't kept in Tasks → Data or the CSV, and a Number field like ppm has no pass range, only the hard Min and Max.

Read it, write it, every shift

Copy the numbers from your data plate onto the sheet, read the gauges at open, mid and close, and write down the bad readings as well as the good ones. An inspector who sees a week of honest numbers, with what you did about the odd one, sees a dish pit that's under control.

Start your free trial: 30 days, every module, no card needed. Or book a walkthrough and we'll build your dish log with you.