Deep fat fryers are a common piece of equipment in many clubs, sports clubs and all manner of leisure and hospitality establishments. Find out the things you MUST do to protect yourself, your staff and your venue.
Fires caused by deep fat fryers can have disastrous consequences and cause untold damage to your hospitality and leisure facility, so preventing a fire is paramount to staying protected and to the basic safety of running your business.
What you can do to help prevent a deep fat fryer fire
Location
If you use a deep fat fryer inside the kitchen of your Club/Sports Club, it’s important that it’s located beneath fume extraction canopies. Deep fat fryers must also be positioned below cooking exhaust hoods.
Installation
All deep frying and cooking equipment must be installed, operated and maintained in accordance with the manufacturers instructions
Temperature control
All deep frying and cooking equipment must be fitted with a thermostat which prevents the temperature of fat or oil exceeding a certain temperature for eg. 205 degrees Centigrade (401 degrees Fahrenheit). Where a separate high temperature safety thermostat is fitted, this is set to a temperature of for example no greater than 230 degrees Centigrade (450 degrees Fahrenheit)
Cleanliness
As a general rule, the older the grease, the greater the hazard, vapours will catch fire from the excess temperature. All of the fat in the fryer, not just the surface, will be at the self-ignition point.
All deep frying and cooking Equipment including flues and extract system ducting must be kept from contact with and not in close proximity to combustible material including any such material within or forming part of the Buildings. All extraction hoods, canopies, canopy exhaust plenums, filters and grease traps should be thoroughly cleaned over the entire internal and external areas by the removal of all greasy and oily deposits and other waste materials every 7 days.
The entire internal area of all flues and extraction ducting, including extraction motors and fans, must be thoroughly cleaned, by the removal of all greasy and oily deposits and other waste materials at least every six months.
A written record must be retained, away from the premises, of all such cleaning including details of any contractors employed together with invoices for such work
Other factors
If the entire internal area of all flues and extraction ducting including extraction motors and fans have not been cleaned within 6 months prior to the inception of your policy then they must usually be cleaned within 30 days of the inception of the policy n and at least every six months thereafter
If a fire occurs
Applying water to a deep fat fryer is extremely dangerous, and can result in serious injury to personnel and can spread the fire to other areas of your kitchen.
Automatic extinguishing systems are essential for the protection of deep fat fryers because of the intensity of these types of fires and because of the inaccessibility of the areas above the filters and in the exhaust ducts.
Failing to take preventative measures against deep fat fryer fires can mean that you are not covered should the worst happen. Be sure to check the exact wording of your policy (which can depend on your insurer) to ensure that you are complying with the relevant conditions and warranties. This will ensure that your claim should be met should an incident occur.
