How to protect against kitchen fires

by | Apr 22, 2013 | Business

Commercial kitchens provide a perfect environment for flash fires. The grease and oils that are used in the cooking process deposits a film on anything in the vicinity of the stove, including the counters, walls, kitchen equipment and under the exhaust hoods. To protect the kitchen from fire, a kitchen hood system in Los Angeles is the best solution. Many fires that break out in commercial kitchens are a direct result of this cooking grease and open flames.

To combat the possibility of a fire breaking out, commercial kitchens are fitted with foolproof suppression systems that are primed and ready to fight a fire at any time. As a restaurant owner, or the manager of a large commercial kitchen, selecting the proper kitchen hood system in Los Angeles to suppress a fire is extremely important. Regardless of which type of system that is installed, it must installed by experienced professionals who know the codes applicable to the design, fabrication and installation.

Commercial kitchen appliances are more efficient at generating heat than a typical kitchen appliance. The burners are larger, giving off more heat, grills heat up quicker than home appliances and commercial deep fryers are insulated better which increases the cooling time of the oil, thereby allowing the oils to heat back up quicker.

Not only is the equipment more sophisticated, restaurants are switching to oils which have low or no trans-fats, these oils pose unique problems when they are alit. All of these advancements improve the efficiency and quality of a commercial kitchen but they mean that an effective kitchen hood system Los Angeles is a necessity.

There are two designs that can be considered as fire suppressors in a commercial kitchen:

  • Appliance specific
  • Overlapping design

Appliance specific designs are used in kitchens where the appliances are installed stationary in a specific location. These systems are very efficient in putting down a fire as they are designed to have nozzles aimed precisely at the appliance. Every appliance has the nozzle design unique for the appliance; the nozzles are not generally located. This arrangement is more effective as the tanks of fire retardant can be reduced in size and quantity. There are code demands that specify that the fire suppression tanks used to store the extinguishing medium be inspected annually and the kitchen hood system in Los Angeles inspected twice a year, the fewer the holding tanks, the less expensive the inspection will be.

The overlapping design provides the owner the opportunity to re-arrange or replace appliances at will. Rather than a separate nozzle arrangement over each appliance, there is one long kitchen hood system in Los Angeles, and the nozzles are set up at distances between 12” and 24”, the distance from the cooking surface is usually 40 to 45”.

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