commercial cookers, maybe OT

[mcmook]

may be stretching the knowledge on this group a little now ... (but its a mine of information)

does anyone have any experience of commercial ovens. we are opening a cafe/cofeeshop, initially we'll be doing lunches, soups etc. we may start to open in the evenings for meals a wee while down the line. no deep fat fryers.

what sort of cooker would we need. most i've looked at are 3 phase,

20A we don't have a 3 phase supply (i'm no electrician but I think this equates to 60A single phase).

at the moment we have a 10mm (60A / 15kW?), 6mm (40A / 8/10kW) and 2 x

2.5 mm (22A / 3.5kW?) radials into the kitchen. the 10mm for a fuse box supplying the ring, the 6mm for a cooker, and the 2 x 2.5 mm as extras for heavier loads. i think we'll probably have to run another 10mm to give us more options.

but what i'm getting round to saying is what would be the minimum requirement for a cooker - we have no gas so its the hob thats the most important. in a boiling a massive pot of soup benchmark (which I know can take forever on our home cooker) is it going to be much faster ... is surface area of the hob as important as power?

[Vass]

if no gas mains - I'd consider gas cylinders outside piped through to a hob or two got to be more economical and efficent than electric

[Andy Wade]

I can't advise you on commercial cookers /per se/, but do bear in mind the diversity rules when considering your total electrical loading:

Table 1A - rating of circuits. The "first 10 amps + 30% of remainder" rule only applies to "household cookers". For other situations each cooker circuit should be rated for the full flat-out loading of the appliance.

Table 1B - max. demand on distribution boards. For non-domestic kitchens the guidance is to allow 100% full-load (FL) of the largest appliance, plus 80% FL of the 2nd largest, plus 60% FL of all others.

You will very quickly find yourself needing a 3x100 A 3-phase supply.