Patent ID: 8372214

Claim:
A warewasher, comprising: walls and a hood defining an enclosure forming a washing, rinsing or sanitizing chamber of the warewasher, said walls having a door; a vapor extractor external of said chamber and having a closed-walled, hollow housing containing a water-steam separation media, said vapor extractor having a blower, an outlet adjacent said blower communicating with ambient room air, and an inlet; a duct interconnecting an opening in said hood of said chamber to said inlet of said vapor extractor such that operation of said blower permits hot, humid air, water vapor and steam from said chamber to be drawn into said duct and housing, across said water-steam separation media where said hot, humid air, water vapor and steam is dehumidified and cooled, past said blower and through said outlet where a dehumidified and cooled flow of air is directed into ambient room air; a bypass damper mounted on said hood of said chamber and being connected to said duct, said bypass damper being positionable between a first position permitting hot, humid air, water vapor and steam from the said chamber to be drawn into said duct and said vapor extractor during a vapor extraction cycle and a second position permitting ambient room air to be drawn into said duct and said vapor extractor for purposes of cooling said vapor extractor; a door lock mounted on the warewasher and being operable to lock said door closed during washing, rinsing or sanitizing cycles of the warewasher and said vapor extraction cycle to prevent inadvertent release of the hot, humid air, water vapor and steam from said chamber directly into ambient room air; and an ambient air intake opening and damper on one of said walls of the warewasher, said ambient air intake damper being operable to permit ambient room air to be drawn into said chamber via said air intake opening via operation of said blower only when the hot, humid air, water vapor and steam from said chamber is drawn into said duct during a vapor extraction cycle.