Industrial Fryer Protection

Industrial fryers are cookers commonly used in the food industry to produce consumables, such as breaded meats, potato products and pre-cooked snacks, for example. They contain large amounts of cooking oil (up to 19,000 litres or 5,000 US gallons) and operate at temperatures of up to 354°C (670° F). Industrial fryers have turnover rates of between 5- to 12-hour for continuous production, 5-hour turnover would be sufficient to maintain good oil quality under most frying conditions. Extending the turnover to 12 hours creates much more pressure on the oil. Even with careful control of all other aspects of frying, including temperature, moisture, crumb, seasonings and filtration, the oil will deteriorate after continuous use. 

Many batch fryers may be heated to the set temperature 30 minutes to 1 hour before frying operation starts. After start-up fryer usage will vary, with intensive usage perhaps a few times a day, separated by inactive periods. This combination of extreme heat and volume of fuel creates a potential yet significant fire risk. Fires occur if oil reaches its auto ignition temperature, or if ignition sources are introduced above the flash point. Large volumes of oil, once heated, maintain temperature and as a result remain a fire risk for a long time. Cooling the oil is therefore critical to avoid re-ignition. This can be difficult, considering the energy efficient design of modern industrial oil cookers which makes cooling a slow process.

A fire incident presents a major risk to any business. Fire can affect operations across entire facilities, causing potential loss of life as well as equipment, assets and production time, which can incur significant costs. Fire incidents in the food industry can be costly, and there are very strict procedures to avoid food contamination.

To maximise the productivity of an industrial frying facility and balance fire risk it’s crucially important to install an appropriate fire protection system.  By swiftly suppressing the fire, cooling accelerant, the risk to life, downtime and clean-up costs can be minimized.  

AquaMist ULF Solution for Industrial Fryer Protection (IFP):

// FM Approved solution

// AquaMist IFP from Tyco provides flexible fire protection solutions for even the most stringent project requirements

// Ease of installation, dependability and comprehensive approvals are combined for cost-effective solutions

// AquaMist IFP helps minimize repair and cleaning costs, as well as downtime in the event of a fire

// Fully integrated solution for compatibility between detection and suppression systems