When deciding on what type of restaurant fryer is best for your operation your first consideration should be what kind of set-up you have. Fryers can be either electric or gas. If you are set up to handle either one than your next consideration is how much power you need.
The units of power that you are going to be comparing are BTU’s (British Thermal Units) when looking at gas units, and kW’s (Kilo Watts) for electric units.
If you are set up for gas then I strongly recommend that you use it over the electric powered units. Not only is gas less expensive than electric in most areas, the units have a much better recovery time and warm up much faster.
What recovery time means to you:
When you start thinking about BTU’s your main focus will be on recovery time. The higher your BTU’s the quicker your restaurant fryer will recover whenever you throw in a batch of product into the fryer. I always recommend going on the high side of the BTU scale (floor units usually range form 80,000 to 150,000 BTU’s). If your operation relies on your fryer at any time during the day it is in your best interest to overpower your needs here. If you are set up with plenty of BTU’s you will be able to run your fryer at a lower setting as it will recover quicker. Running at a lower setting not only cuts back on your gas usage but it also will make your fryer oil last longer.
Your last decision you have to make is a no-brainer
You need to now decide if your restaurant fryer should have a stainless steel or a mild steel tank. First off stainless steel tanks are just slightly more expensive than the mild steel tanks, but the benefits more than make up for the difference. For starters stainless tanks are much stronger and easier to clean. They are also repairable if the tank springs a pin leak whereas the other tanks have to be completely replaced. Finally the warranties on the stainless tanks are often much longer, so don’t even think about this one, buy the stainless tank!
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When deciding on what type of restaurant fryer is best for your operation your first consideration should be what kind of set-up you have. Fryers can be either electric or gas. If you are set up to handle either one than your next consideration is how much power you need.
