Is there a difference in Fish Cleaning Stations?
Yes, definitely. Stations employing restaurant-capacity garbage disposals were once the industry standard. They are noisy and messy, take a long time to grind fish, use lots of water, and have high maintenance costs, but they are somewhat cheaper to buy. Many will not process certain fish (catfish and salmon, among others). They are so noisy that fishermen will fill their disposals before starting them, which overloads their motors and causes them to frequently fail.
About 12 years ago, QM&M decided to build fish cleaning stations employing JWC dual-shafted industrial grinders, which have since become the new industry standard (see our installations map). These Barracuda stations are not only quieter, nearly maintenance-free, and safer (because of their innovative inlet design), but also process fish wastes faster. Unlike disposals, grinders don't need water to process fish wastes—it's only needed to rinse the cutting boards and flush the drain—so our stations can be adjusted to use as little as 2 gallons per minute. Disposal-type stations use 8 to 10 GPM, for a much longer length of time per fish (see our Fish Cleaning Station Selection/Comparison Guide).
Our Barracuda stations feature our exclusive fish cleaning station control system, which allows you to independently specify how long the grinder and drain-flushing water will run, guards against motor overload, and provides daily, weekly, and cumulative usage statistics. Because it includes a motor controller that will accept either single or 3-phase 240VAC power, our customers never need to purchase an add-on, high-cost, or high-maintenance rotary phase converters.