Electric or gas - which is best for your commercial equipment?
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Electric

Electric or gas – which is best for your commercial equipment?

When it comes to catering equipment in a commercial kitchen, it can be hard to decide whether gas or electric power is best. Here at North West Catering Engineers, we’ve put together a few items to tick off your checklist to help you decide what would be more beneficial for you and your company.

NW Catering Engineers, Manchester, Lancashire

On the surface, electric appliances are a cheaper investment initially. What’s more, complicated gas safety regulations make installing gas equipment a lot more costly. However, both electric and gas products can ultimately balance themselves out and both have varying pros and cons.

There are now more constraints and specifics than ever, meaning the added restrictions also mean added costs. For example, a kitchen canopy could traditionally be used to remove the harmful by-products of combustion. Now it must also conform to environmental standards for noise and odour. The bonus of this is that it has led to the advancement in engineering.

Gas or electric equipment?

When it comes down to rates, the costs for electrical equipment may have a cheaper initial outlay, but the overall cost of running gas will save you the most money. Small day to day differences in gas equipment will soon make up for the initial installation outlay.

Electric could be your only option if you’re not connected to a gas network. However, commercial kitchens tend to have the options of both now in case more power is needed. From a chef’s point of view, gas appliances are able to reach optimum temperatures much quicker than electrical appliances. Plus, you also have the ability to manually control the size of flame when cooking, ensuring direct control. The cooling period of gas equipment is much quicker than electrical as you can immediately extinguish the flame, whereas it takes the entire area a lot longer to cool down when it’s electrically operated. However, gas appliances tend to allow a loss of energy around the base of your pots and pans. This can then lead to a hotter kitchen.

Ultimately, gas is the most popular choice, but it usually boils down to your catering requirements and how many mouths you have to feed!