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Hi all.
I hope someone provide some help on this.
I have a mate who has a restaurant and he has got a couple more hot plate type things, when he has had them going for a while the RCBO trips. So he asked me to take a look.
It turns out the extra load is overloading the circuit, so he wants me to install a new circuit to spread the load.
The walls are clad with stainless steel and all the existing wiring is behind.
I've never installed in a commercial kitchen before so I was wondering if there was anyone had experience of installing a circuit like this, and what would be the best way with the correct materials?
Thanks
for any help
 
Hi all.
I hope someone provide some help on this.
I have a mate who has a restaurant and he has got a couple more hot plate type things, when he has had them going for a while the RCBO trips. So he asked me to take a look.
It turns out the extra load is overloading the circuit, so he wants me to install a new circuit to spread the load.
The walls are clad with stainless steel and all the existing wiring is behind.
I've never installed in a commercial kitchen before so I was wondering if there was anyone had experience of installing a circuit like this, and what would be the best way with the correct materials?
Thanks
for any help
Is your Mate one of these types who say when you tell them what is needed, a sharp intake of breath is heard along with how much and how long will I be out of my Kitchen, then I would suggest you walk away.

You will need access until the the job is finished tested and certified, until that is complete he / she wont have any access to said kitchen, that is unless you intend to botch the job and put all his employees in danger.

The SS will need to be removed, followed by a visit from the roach destroyers as you will have disturbed their habitat, followed by a visit from the Health and Safety bunch and Restaurant inspectors, and in the meantime the takeaway business has gone ---- up, and you will be liable for loss of business due to you incompetence.
 
What loads on what circuit do you have to justify the statement there is an overload. There is little you can do to get behind coverings so you will have to go surface. I would suggest steel conduit because of grease and heat. Are the appliances on plugs?
 
Thanks Vortigern. I don't know the total loading at the moment, but there is quite a bit of stuff, hot plates, large fridges, microwaves, grills etc.. Due to restricted parking (half hour), I wasn't there long so couldn't do much investigation. Nothing tripped while I was there. He says that it trips when everything has been on a few hours!
I was wondering if I could go surface mounted. But I didn't know if it was allowed in kitchens.
Yes the appliances are on plugs.

Pete. I don't botch things.
 
Is your Mate one of these types who say when you tell them what is needed, a sharp intake of breath is heard along with how much and how long will I be out of my Kitchen, then I would suggest you walk away.

You will need access until the the job is finished tested and certified, until that is complete he / she wont have any access to said kitchen, that is unless you intend to botch the job and put all his employees in danger.

The SS will need to be removed, followed by a visit from the roach destroyers as you will have disturbed their habitat, followed by a visit from the Health and Safety bunch and Restaurant inspectors, and in the meantime the takeaway business has gone ---- up, and you will be liable for loss of business due to you incompetence.

What a load of nonsense!!! Great advise there from a trusted advisor!! Lol
 
A lot of the university catering kitchens I've been in have had numerous additional circuits installed surface mounted in either SWA, pvc / galv conduit or trunking....twin and earth clipped along the wall would not be suitable.
 
.twin and earth clipped along the wall would not be suitable.

getting the clip nails into stainless steel walls might be a bit tricky also. :D
 
A chat with the local environmental health office wouldn't go amiss just to check that they are happy with what you are doing.

I've found them to generally be happy with surface steel conduit, though it may need to be stainless conduit to avoid galvanic corrosion with the cladding.
 
It may be wise to check the full loads and see if you can plug in somewhere else to balance out the load. I have a similar problem in a kitchen with the same steel coverings etc. It has been tacked on to and botched and will need correcting. Does the kitchen have three or single phase? It may be possible to switch some circuits or add if that can't work. But for instance in the kitchen I am working in they use 23Kw with diversity applied maybe 17Kw and are at the top end of what their supply will handle. So just take care there is enough capacity.
 
It sure will if it is stainless steel, most people won't stand the cost of that and would spec galv instead. I cannot imagine the H&S people will object to that, at least have not encountered it so far and I have done whole commercial kitchens in galv.
 
Thanks for all the replies. Very helpful.
I wasn't sure if you were allowed to go surface mounted. All I can do is let him know what needs to be done and how. If it has to be S/S then so be it.
At the moment he has been able to temporarily plug in elsewhere.
Will defo have a word with envio health though.
Thanks again.
 
Hi all.
I hope someone provide some help on this.
I have a mate who has a restaurant and he has got a couple more hot plate type things, when he has had them going for a while the RCBO trips. So he asked me to take a look.
It turns out the extra load is overloading the circuit, so he wants me to install a new circuit to spread the load.
The walls are clad with stainless steel and all the existing wiring is behind.
I've never installed in a commercial kitchen before so I was wondering if there was anyone had experience of installing a circuit like this, and what would be the best way with the correct materials?
Thanks
for any help

Just replaced a canopy in a large commercial kitchen. Walls clad in white plastic. Some sockets flush mounted, other wiring surface in white PVC conduit and trunking. Even some black SWA!!!
If it's only a couple of circuits you could go surface in PVC if it's a lot of hassle to conceal it.
 
Just been in touch with Enviro Health, they should be calling me back within a week!
PVC? that would keep the cost right down Ill see what they say on that.
Thanks for all the replies, all helpful info.
 
The issues of tripping after several hours will be caused by the stainless steel wall cladding heating up with the amount of cooking equipment, as underneath the circuits are possibly wired in T&E with metal capping.i have seen this numerous times when a domestic spark works on a commercial kitchen with little knowledge of the effects of the extreme heat.
Normally a low level trunking would be installed then conduit up the wall to isolator, cable selection is important as the heat factor, especially if metallic conduit is used.
Heat rises !! So keep the main bulk of wiring at low level, use heat resistant cable @ 90 degrees , calculate correctly also.

The comment in post 2 is fair comment if you are not experienced in commercial kitchen installation, we work in many and advise of poor installations we see, which normally are not listened to, but this year we have reported 6 dangerous installations, 2 of which have since caught fire and shut the business down for months, we also get involved with the Fire Brigade and Insurance assessor to determine cause of fire.

Hope this helps
 
Darren. Yes all that is very helpful. Thanks.
It is wired in T&E but we don't know what is behind the cladding. The building used to be a restaurant before it was taken over by the present guy.
I spoke to Enviro health today and he said that as long as things are able to be kept clean easy enough, then they are not concerned what type of conduit/trunking it is installed in.
I have to arrange to go and check all loadings and possible routing of cables.

I am inexperienced in this kind of installation, that is why I have come on here to ask those that have that experience to make sure I do the correct thing with the correct materials and get that experience.
But I don't like being called incompetent.
Thanks for all the replies.
 

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