Deep fat frying apparatus

Abstract

A gas fired deep fat fryer has an upper heating section with a bottom wall from which a spaced pair of well sections depend. To efficiently melt solid shortening material initially disposed in the upper frypot section, the frypot is provided with an electric shortening melter that extends along the underside of the bottom wall of the upper frypot section. A solid insulating material panel structure envelopes and abuts portions of the well sections and defines therebetween a heating cavity which receives a dual gas-fired burner assembly. Interior surface portions of the panel structure are recessed to define a multi-pass heating flow passage system which extends along and is partially bounded by laterally outwardly facing exterior surface portions of the wells. During frypot operation, hot combustion gases from the burners are flowed through the passage system to very efficiently heating cooking oil disposed in the frypot. A specially designed mixture supply system is provided to flow a gas-air mixture into each of the gas-fired burners for combustion therein. In the mixture supply system non-positive gas regulators are used in conjunction with venturi portions thereof to advantageously prevent undesirable mixture enrichment in the event that the air supply pressure to the system drops below its normal level.