Commerical fryer

[infinity]

IMHO, as long as it reaches a given temperature, turns off and then turns back on "x" amount of minutes later I'm guessing it would be considered non-continuous.

That pretty much sums it up. If you peruse the Article 100 definition it must run at maximum current continuously for 180 minutes. If somewhere in that time frame it cycles off or to a lower output even for a few seconds it does not meet the deification of continuous load.

 

[electrofelon]

I was thinking that too if you had something like #8 AWG MC cable for the branch circuit which is good for 50 amps at 75° C, but do they make 75° C rated terminals on a 50 amp receptacle?

I assume pretty much everything is 75, but I admit I rarely check. I very often use #8 thhn or mc at 50 amps. I use #6 AL MC frequently and that would also often be 50, depending on some details and code cycle. There isn't really "40 amp wire" unless using NM (or 60 degree terminals).

 

[JFletcher]

I guess I'm going to just have to agree to disagree with everyone else here regarding fryers... They may be non-continuous by design or NEC definition, however in practice these things are often on continuously, and by on I mean actively heating, for more than 3 hours at a time. Buffalo Wild Wings, Five Guys, Chick-fil-A... Ever get a soggy order of fries out of one of these places? I have and it's because the fries are not cooked at the proper temperature... The oil is too low, because they keep dropping batch after batch of food in the fryer and the heating elements cannot keep up... At that point, it is immaterial if it has a thermostat setting, the fryer will never reach it. The heating elements will stay on as long as there is cold food absorbing the heat of the oil. You continuously drop food into it, those elements will continuously stay on.

" well then, they should have bought the next model up fryer", you might say, and I would agree. However, that is not going to happen many times... What will happen every single time is that 16 year old high school kid is going to drop a basket of fries even though the little idiot lights on the front of the machine say the oil temperature is too low, they're going to cook it for x amount of time, then serve it to you. They are not going to care if your fries suck, and most people are not going to go back and complain about it.

They are also not going to wait for those fryers to come up to temperature to make your fries properly.

Crappy french fries and Soggy egg rolls are well outside of the purview of the NEC... at the very least, as a design consideration (the NEC is not a design manual either) I would consider deep fryers continuous loads.

 

[infinity]

It may be a better design to use a 50 amp circuit but it is not required by the NEC. If this were a test question "I have commercial fryer restaurant kitchen full load amps of 39 amps. What would be the minimum size branch circuit required?" would you say 50 amps?

 

[LarryFine]

I agree that code would permit a 40a circuit to supply this fryer, and that I would opt for the 50a circuit anyway.

 

[JFletcher]

It may be a better design to use a 50 amp circuit but it is not required by the NEC. If this were a test question "I have commercial fryer restaurant kitchen full load amps of 39 amps. What would be the minimum size branch circuit required?" would you say 50 amps?

At best, it would be 48.75 amps. But I see your point... However we both know that test questions and real world installs are not the same thing. I would expect the average deep fryer is not a continuous load. We do not know how busy the restaurant will be, that is true as well. However it is not out of the realm of possibility in the least for a deep fryer to see much higher than average or intended use.

The language "expected to" is vague and obviously open to interpretation. I would fully expect many of the busiest restaurants around here that their deep fryers do in fact meet the NEC definition of continuous loads.

I also happened to look up on the Internet the question 'are deep fryers a continuous load' and got no hits... Apparently this is not been considered before, or talked about much on the internet.

 

[infinity]

I agree that code would permit a 40a circuit to supply this fryer, and that I would opt for the 50a circuit anyway.

Me too, I think that we agree that from a design perspective that may be better option but not required.

 

[kwired]

Continuous load: a load where the maximum current is expected to continue for 3 hours or more.

I would expect that the local Chick-fil-A, which has a line of cars wrapped around the building from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and a lobby full of people during the same time, would have its deep fryers under non-stop heating during that timeframe. Other restaurants with the deep fryers in sight of the customers, I have seen them frequently go into low oil temperature, and they have to wait for the deep fryers to come back up to minimum cooking temperature.

If you drop basket after basket of frozen french fries, chicken, egg rolls, or whatever into a deep fryer hours on end, would you not expect the elements to be on the entire time?

Sounds like the fryer in these cases is "overloaded" as in loaded beyond it's design intent.:happyyes:

Possibly doesn't help if it is 240 volt unit running on 208.

 

[Muneepit]

I have commerical fryer restaurant kitchen full load amps of 39 amps. What would be the size of feeder branch circuit breaker be?
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I would go with a 50 amp circuit. 39 amps +25%. Last thing I want to do is keep going back for nuisance trips.