Cooking Appliances

Do we need approval or an inspection to move our cooking appliances?

Yes.  Cooking appliances that require fire protection need to be evaluated before moving and/or remodeling the kitchen.  According to NFPA 96, Standard for Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations, 1998 edition Section  9-1.2.2 states “Cooking appliances requiring protection shall not be moved, modified, or rearranged without prior reevaluation of the fire-extinguishing system by the system installer or servicing agent, unless otherwise allowed by the design of the fire-extinguishing system” . The Annex of NFPA 96 states “The effectiveness of an automatic extinguishing system is affected by the placement of the nozzles. For this reason, it is essential that cooking appliances be situated in the area in which they were when the extinguishing equipment was designed and installed. If an appliance is moved from under the equipment for cleaning or any other reason, it should be replaced to its original position prior to initiating a cooking operation”.