Difference between gas stoves for restaurants and house?
Jay Allen
a restaurant gas stove for home use. The salesperson says you have to
use the modified ones and that "comercial stoves are not rated" for
home use. I pressed him, and he flatly refused to sell comercial stoves
for a home, even though he could not cite a specific legal prohibition...
Does anyone have experiance with this?
Andrew Duane USG/PE
YES! FOLLOW HIS ADVICE!!!!!
Commercial stoves generate a huge amount of heat, and are designed around
being placed into a metal and plaster fire-resistant kitchen. If you place
one in among your wooden kitchen cabinets, the first time you fire up
several burners for any reasonable time, you will likely set your cabinets
ablaze. There are commercial stoves that have been re-designed for kitchen
use by adding insulation and fireproofing materials. You can also modify
your kitchen to put fireboard in where needed.
Before you do this, MAKE SURE YOU GET SOMEONE WHO KNOWS THE FIRE CODE!
Also, by the way, note that many commercial stoves have neither a pilot
light nor a spark ignitor; they have to be lit by hand every time. This
is because a commercial kitchen leaves the stove running all day, and
doesn't want the hassle of a pilot that can go out.
--
Andrew L. Duane (JOT-7) du...@zk3.dec.com
Digital Equipment Corporation (603)-881-1294
110 Spit Brook Road
M/S ZKO3-3/U14
Nashua, NH 03062-2698
Only my cat shares my opinions, and she's too heavy to care.
Bob Rickard
: I see about a $800 fee added to gas kitchen stoves for "retro-fitting",
Residential stoves are generally installed in close proximity to flamable
surfaces. Commercial stoves are not designed for this - they lack the
side and rear insulation needed for safe operation in most homes. Several
manufacturers of commercial equipment do make insulated versions for home
use, but generaly at a higher price (check out Garland, for instance).
Another thing to consider, is that the burners on commercial ranges are
often higher BTU than needed in a home, and many do not adjust to as low a
simmer as a home cook may want.
--
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| Bob Rickard | "Remember, no matter where you go, |
| bric...@pt.olympus.net | there you are" ---Buckaroo Banzai |
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Melina Van Winkle
Jay Allen (hg...@acacia.cs.pdx.edu) wrote:
: I see about a $800 fee added to gas kitchen stoves for "retro-fitting",
: a restaurant gas stove for home use. The salesperson says you have to
: use the modified ones and that "comercial stoves are not rated" for
: home use. I pressed him, and he flatly refused to sell comercial stoves
: for a home, even though he could not cite a specific legal prohibition...
: Does anyone have experiance with this?
>Residential stoves are generally installed in close proximity to flamable
>surfaces. Commercial stoves are not designed for this - they lack the
>side and rear insulation needed for safe operation in most homes. Several
>manufacturers of commercial equipment do make insulated versions for home
>use, but generaly at a higher price (check out Garland, for instance).
>Another thing to consider, is that the burners on commercial ranges are
>often higher BTU than needed in a home, and many do not adjust to as low a
>simmer as a home cook may want.
Don't forget about clean-up. The commercial stoves I've seen look like they'd take
an hour to clean.
--Melina
Mike McNally
>Residential stoves are generally installed in close proximity to flamable
>surfaces. Commercial stoves are not designed for this - they lack the
>side and rear insulation needed for safe operation in most homes.
If you plan things, you can get insulating material that'll easily protect
walls and cabinetry. You of course need to get a contractor that knows
what's what, or do it (carefully) yourself.
>Another thing to consider, is that the burners on commercial ranges are
>often higher BTU than needed in a home
Huh?!? The primary reason I want a commercial stove is the increased
burner output.
>and many do not adjust to as low a simmer as a home cook may want.
My perception is contrary; commercial ranges have much better burner
designs, and adjust much more easily than ordinary domestic stoves. My
main complaint about my current range is that the flame pattern spreads
way too much when it's on "high", and it doesn't adjust down very
easily.
--
Mike McNally
Don Perley
>Residential stoves are generally installed in close proximity to flamable
>surfaces. Commercial stoves are not designed for this - they lack the
>side and rear insulation needed for safe operation in most homes. Several
The question is ... why? Flammability aside, the insulation would reduce the
gas used (at least for the oven) , and keep it cooler in the kitchen. Wouldn't
both effects be an advantage in a commercial kitchen as well as a home?
-don perley
Fred Freeland
Yes, I'm currently building a house in which I'm going to put a commercial
Garland 60" stove. The primary difference between commercial units and
residential units is one of insulation. Residential units are built for
zero-clearance installation, which means they can be installed between
wooden cabinents with no problem. Commercial units require either an air
gap around them or non-flammable material on all sides. I'm OK because I'm
installing my stove in a fully-enclosed brick alcove designed for the stove.
Local codes are going to be very strict about what you can and cannot do
with stoves. And there's a real good reason for it. Most of the
commercial stoves I've seen use a constant pilot instead of those clever
piezo-electric starters. That means that the area over the pilot remains
hot all the time. Also the front and sides will get very hot when in operation.
This is really bad if you have small children that might get burned.
If you can go with a commercial unit legally, by all means do. They'll
last forever. Reputable lines include Garland, Wolf, and 5-Star, but
there are others of equal quality and durability.
--
Frederick F. Freeland Jr. "Of all the things I've lost, Microsoft Corporation I miss my mind the most!" One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052 (206) 882-8080 internet: fr...@microsoft.com
uucp: uunet!microsoft!fredf Opinions expressed over this signature are my OWN and not those of my employer!
John B Iodice
: : I see about a $800 fee added to gas kitchen stoves for "retro-fitting",
: : a restaurant gas stove for home use. The salesperson says you have to
: : use the modified ones and that "comercial stoves are not rated" for
: : home use. I pressed him, and he flatly refused to sell comercial stoves
: : for a home, even though he could not cite a specific legal prohibition...
:
: : Does anyone have experiance with this?
Yes, I had a similar experience in a restaurant supply store. The salesman
claimed that the stove I was asking about (a six-burner restaurant-model
Garland) could not be used in residences, and was not certified by the
American Gas Association, (an organization of manufacturers of products that
burn natural gas). In fact, the stove does carry the AGA seal, but it is
not a domestic, "zero-clearance" appliance, which can be installed right
next to flammable materials (as Melina Van Winkle points out).
Melina Van Winkle (mel...@Ebay.Sun.COM) wrote:
: >Residential stoves are generally installed in close proximity to flamable
: >surfaces. Commercial stoves are not designed for this - they lack the
: >side and rear insulation needed for safe operation in most homes. Several
: >manufacturers of commercial equipment do make insulated versions for home
: >use, but generaly at a higher price (check out Garland, for instance).
: >Another thing to consider, is that the burners on commercial ranges are
: >often higher BTU than needed in a home. . .
The Garland stove I checked out has 24,000 BTU burners. In contrast, I saw
a GE gas stove in a store with a big sign trumpeting its "high power" burners,
that put out 12,000 BTU's. So restaurant stoves do put out more power than
is available in consumer products. I don't agree that that's more power than
is "needed in a home", though. A coworker who has a Vulcan restaurant stove
at home reports that even with the more powerful burners, it takes a while
to boil a big pot of water.
: > and many do not adjust to as low a
: >simmer as a home cook may want.
The same coworker reports that he can adjust the flame down as low as on
a consumer model.
Like with anything, if you buy the industrial model you'll pay more (around
$1100 for a six-burner Garland with an oven) for a more powerful, more
rugged (i.e. no structural sheet metal held together with sheet metal screws),
less decorative unit. Remember to allow for the lack of insulation.
Hope this helps!
John
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John Iodice \\ My girlfriend is like the Sphinx, because
Telesciences C.O. Systems Inc // she's beautiful, she's mysterious,
jio...@telesciences.com \\ and her nose was shot off by French soldiers.
609-866-1000-364 // -- Emo Phillips
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Stavros Macrakis
...restaurant stoves do put out more power than is available in
consumer products. I don't agree that that's more power than is
"needed in a home", though. A coworker who has a Vulcan restaurant
stove at home reports that even with the more powerful burners, it
takes a while to boil a big pot of water.
I'm very pleased that I have 20,000 BTUH burners on my commercial
range (Vulcan). Although I could use a lot more, it's very helpful in
particular for Chinese stir-fries (the smallest Chinese restaurant
burners are 50,000 BTUH, standard ones are around 125,000 BTUH, and
the very fast ones used for certain styles of cooking can be over
200,000 BTUH!).
The higher output is also useful for deep frying (faster recovery) and
even boiling, although I wouldn't buy a commercial range just to get
the spaghetti pot going faster.
Another big difference between home models and restaurant ranges is
that the oven has far more even temperature. I can put in a sheet of
cookies that covers the rack from side to side, and they will be
evenly cooked.
On the other hand, the under-griddle broiler is rather a
disappointment. Although it is large and even (which is handy for
broiling large flatfish, for instance), it is not very powerful (only
45,000 BTUH for almost 4 square feet, i.e. 3.5 watt/cm2), hard to
control (there are two rack levels), and slow to preheat.
The griddle is useful for making large batches of pancakes, but I
don't do that that often. The heat coming out from underneath (the
broiler part) heats up my apron in a rather sensitive area.
If I were to do it all over, I would get a straight six-burner range
(not four plus griddle/broiler) and get the add-on units to convert
two burners to a char-broiler or griddle. (These are standard things
at restaurant supply houses.) That would leave me with no way to
brown gratine's or broil large fish, but that's life.
-s