Safety Issues with Continuous Fryers

In recent years, the use of continuous fryers in domestic food processing companies has increased significantly, resulting in a rising number of safety incidents. These range from individual machine fires to large-scale factory fires. Additionally, many food companies have constructed their facilities using polyurethane sandwich panels, which can release highly toxic chemicals when an incident occurs, posing serious risks to employee safety.

So, how can we prevent fire accidents with continuous fryers?

This article discusses the primary fire hazards associated with electric heated fryers, which are commonly used in many enterprises, to help companies take preventative measures in their operations. The main fire risks in electric heated fryers are found in three key areas:

1. Oil Residue: This is the most easily ignited yet often overlooked area. Oil residue is highly combustible due to its high energy content, strong chemical reactions, poor heat dissipation, and strong concealment, making it prone to self-ignition. Many companies have learned this lesson the hard way.

2. Heating Elements: Many domestic fryers lack a minimum temperature safety setting for the heating elements. Operators, often untrained, may raise the heating elements immediately after frying for cleaning, unaware that the temperature can still exceed 300°C, far above the ignition point of frying oil. A single drop of oil can ignite, leading to a fire in the oil tank.

3. Chimneys: Many companies neglect to clean the accumulated oil and residue in their chimneys for extended periods, leading to self-ignition of the accumulated oil and causing fires.

In summary, the following measures should be strengthened to avoid safety incidents:

1. Training for management, engineering maintenance personnel, and operators, along with defined roles and responsibilities, is crucial.

2. Timely cleaning of oil residue, adding water spray devices to oil residue bins, installing CO2 injection systems, implementing safety temperature settings for fryers, and cleaning chimneys are necessary actions.

3. Install CO2 automatic fire suppression systems in all fryers, which will activate and spray CO2 automatically if the temperature exceeds the safety threshold.

4. Set maximum and minimum oil level protection devices, as well as maximum temperature protection within the fryers.

5. Equip the workshop with essential firefighting facilities such as fire extinguishers and sand, ensuring preparedness.

6. Ensure that all workshop doors and windows open outward so that internal pressure can facilitate their opening in the event of an incident.

'Safety is no trivial matter.' We encourage industry colleagues to share more experiences to improve our lives!