On this page 3 sections
Commercial kitchen electrical: each nameplate gets a home — ranges, hoods, refrigeration, and the loads that run all day
A commercial kitchen is a concentrated load: cooking equipment, refrigeration, HVAC for the hood, and wet-location devices. Sharing circuits is how a prep table takes out the walk-in. Each nameplate gets a dedicated home.
The circuits
Dedicated runs and disconnects at the equipment. The disconnect itself is commercial disconnects when that is the problem.
Connecting the machines
Landing a listed unit on a circuit that already exists is commercial kitchen equipment.
Dining is still in play
Front of house and back of house on one service is restaurant electrical.
Commercial kitchen electrical: the hood is a system, not a light — exhaust, make-up air, and a suppression shunt-trip
The most misjudged part of a kitchen is the hood. Exhaust and make-up air have to be interlocked, and when the fire-suppression system discharges it has to kill the cooking equipment under it — that shunt-trip is electrical, and inspectors look for it.
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Exhaust and make-up air
The exhaust fan and the make-up air unit are wired to run together, often through the hood control. A kitchen that exhausts without replacing air fights every door in the building.
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The shunt-trip
When the Ansul or equivalent discharges, a shunt-trip breaker drops the appliances under the hood. Wiring that interlock is part of the kitchen, not left to the suppression contractor.
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GFCI and wet locations
Receptacles near sinks and prep areas need GFCI, and devices in the wash-down zone have to be rated for it. The environment sets the device, not the catalog.
When commercial kitchen electrical isn’t the right job
The line is this job. The whole restaurant including dining, or landing a unit on a circuit that is already right, are not.
The whole restaurant, dining included
That is restaurant electrical.
The unit is here and the circuit is already right
That is commercial kitchen equipment.
Commercial kitchen electrical questions
Can two pieces share a circuit?
Not if the nameplates say otherwise. Sharing is how a prep table takes out the walk-in. Connecting a listed unit is commercial kitchen equipment.
The dining room is part of the same job.
Then start at restaurant electrical. This job is the line.
The hood and make-up air are changing.
Still this job. Those are dedicated loads with disconnects in sight of the equipment — commercial disconnects when the disconnect is the problem.
Breakers trip during service.
That is a nameplate and a circuit that do not match. We look at what is actually running before anyone sells a bigger breaker on the same wire.
What are the electrical requirements for a commercial kitchen?
Dedicated equipment circuits, GFCI where the code requires them, and a panel that can take the load of the cooking line.
Do outlets in a commercial kitchen need to be GFCI?
Kitchen outlets in wet and prep areas generally do.
Still not sure it is the right job? Call (279) 972-9272 — available 24 hours.
Serving 19 communities across the Sacramento area
Litel Electric serves businesses throughout all 19 communities in our service area — from Davis and Woodland to Roseville, Folsom, and Elk Grove.
Get estimate
Tell us what is happening, or what you are planning. We read the details, tell you what else we need to know, and explain the next step before anything is scheduled.
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You send the problem or the plan, with the address if you have it.
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We reply with what it involves and what has to be seen in person.
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Nothing is scheduled, and nothing is priced, until the equipment has been looked at.
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