Is there a possibility of a grease fire?

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ritelec

Senior Member
Location
Jersey
At a local fast food store. The prep area is very greasy. Al the wiring is regular but there is a bud up of grease all a round.

(On wire, recpts etc...)

There's a packed sq d load center on the food prep area which is low under the prep table behind a stainless steal door.

I will be taking a small sub panel off that panel and place it under the table but there is no door for this new one.

I will protect it and place it as good as possible. Maybe make a suggestion to have something fabricated. But.
Does this hard gewy lard grease burn ??
Thank you
 

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
There's a packed sq d load center on the food prep area which is low under the prep table behind a stainless steel door.

Do they hose the walls?

What I am getting at is do you need a raintight or better enclosure.

I would consult with the health department. Seems they like stainless steel because it's easier to clean and disinfect.

In a restaurant you can have more problems with the health dept than from an electrical inspector.
 

mgookin

Senior Member
Location
Fort Myers, FL
At a local fast food store. The prep area is very greasy. All the wiring is regular but there is a bud up of grease all a round.

(On wire, recpts etc...)

There's a packed sq d load center on the food prep area which is low under the prep table behind a stainless steal door.

I will be taking a small sub panel off that panel and place it under the table but there is no door for this new one.

I will protect it and place it as good as possible. Maybe make a suggestion to have something fabricated. But.
Does this hard gewy lard grease burn ??
Thank you

If there is a fire there is likely to be flamespread across those surfaces. I'm sure if you did a ASTM E84 Flamespread & Smoke Development test it would fail miserably. That area would require at least a Class C rating and it's not going to come close.
But if there were temperatures sufficient to start the fire at the "hard gewy lard" there would be other problems already going on inside that building.

Some day somebody is going to have to address that area with some nasty caustic stuff to clean all that grease. I suggest you use stainless now and not leave it for someone else. Raintight will keep the degreaser out of your equipment as iwire previously stated.
 

gadfly56

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Professional Engineer, Fire & Life Safety
It sound like either they don't have a Class I exhaust hood, they're not using it, the fan doesn't work, or the filters are clogged. Any one of them is a fire code violation. There simply shouldn't be that kind of buildup in the kitchen.
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
It sound like either they don't have a Class I exhaust hood, they're not using it, the fan doesn't work, or the filters are clogged. Any one of them is a fire code violation. There simply shouldn't be that kind of buildup in the kitchen.

Shouldn't be, yet extremely common in my experience.

It's great trying to lift ceiling tiles out of the grid that are stuck down by a layer of yellow yuck.
 

gadfly56

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Professional Engineer, Fire & Life Safety
Shouldn't be, yet extremely common in my experience.

It's great trying to lift ceiling tiles out of the grid that are stuck down by a layer of yellow yuck.

I used to do grease removal in a place that had a functioning hood. Masses of gunk in some places, in others the grease had a hard, glassy surface. I doubt it would have burned unless you put a torch directly on it. I always had to buy a couple of Tyvek suits, one for the morning and one for after lunch and I'd still have to strip as soon as I came through the front door to avoid getting grease all over the place.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
The stuff will burn, but needs to reach it's ignition point first. Not sure what that is.

I have taken apart fryers that have wiring/controls compartment completely filled with that stuff. They worked fine (until whatever component failed anyway) as the grease (or whatever you want to call it as it is beyond grease in those instances) is a pretty good electrical insulator. Should a connection develop high resistance failure you very well have a prime ignition source.
 

user 100

Senior Member
Location
texas
The stuff will burn, but needs to reach it's ignition point first. Not sure what that is.

I have taken apart fryers that have wiring/controls compartment completely filled with that stuff. They worked fine (until whatever component failed anyway) as the grease (or whatever you want to call it as it is beyond grease in those instances) is a pretty good electrical insulator. Should a connection develop high resistance failure you very well have a prime ignition source.

As for temp- If I had to guess the closest specimen in consistency to hard gooey gunky grease I would say the store bought room temperature lard (something like armour brand)- it wouldn't probably take much heat to get the stuff into a liquid state, 300-400 for smoking and 500-600 degrees to reach flash point- could vary w/ environment.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
As for temp- If I had to guess the closest specimen in consistency to hard gooey gunky grease I would say the store bought room temperature lard (something like armour brand)- it wouldn't probably take much heat to get the stuff into a liquid state, 300-400 for smoking and 500-600 degrees to reach flash point- could vary w/ environment.
Fryers usually operate in the 300-500 range I believe.
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
I think in most cases it is hard to get the film of grease to light. If that was not the case we would see a lot more fires.
 

Sahib

Senior Member
Location
India
Class K fire extinguishers were developed for kitchrn fires. But here electical equipment are involved: grease on them. Complicated situation! Z
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
I think in most cases it is hard to get the film of grease to light. If that was not the case we would see a lot more fires.

Don't know what ignition temperature is but is apparently high enough beyond the "smoking" temperature that a light film is usually slowly burned away instead of suddenly having a big flame.
 

JFletcher

Senior Member
Location
Williamsburg, VA
Don't know what ignition temperature is but is apparently high enough beyond the "smoking" temperature that a light film is usually slowly burned away instead of suddenly having a big flame.

lard has an auto ignition temp of 833*F. As already mentioned, if that grease/lard reaches that temp, you already have much bigger problems.
 
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
I used to do grease removal in a place that had a functioning hood. Masses of gunk in some places, in others the grease had a hard, glassy surface. I doubt it would have burned unless you put a torch directly on it. I always had to buy a couple of Tyvek suits, one for the morning and one for after lunch and I'd still have to strip as soon as I came through the front door to avoid getting grease all over the place.

Seemed like even the cleanest FF joints had lots of gunk once you got under the fryers or grill and It would take a while for me to eat at any of them after I was there. Some I still don't go to.
 

user 100

Senior Member
Location
texas
Seemed like even the cleanest FF joints had lots of gunk once you got under the fryers or grill and It would take a while for me to eat at any of them after I was there. Some I still don't go to.

Just make the mistake of talking to a pc who does grease traps for those places and wait for one of them to carry on about the odor/ stuff they find when they fix overflows and ruptures at joints where management is lax.:sick::sick:
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Seemed like even the cleanest FF joints had lots of gunk once you got under the fryers or grill and It would take a while for me to eat at any of them after I was there. Some I still don't go to.

Sorry but I never understand people that say they will never eat somewhere or eat a particular product again after they see something that happens in a place that processes food or even grows food. I guess we shelter too many of some realities that are out there.

Some can't quite wrap around the idea that that juicy steak they love was possibly once walking around in a feedlot.

You only eat fruits/vegetables - what do you think fertilizer comes from? Even if it is "organic"?

There is a circle of life on this planet.
 
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