ANSI Z83.11-25/CSA 1.8-2025 – Gas Food Service Equipment
Customers in the food service industry care most about one thing, the product (the food), but it can be easy to forget about the many components that help to ensure its arrival in a timely manner. The professionals involved with this process (the kitchen and wait staff) are thrown into intense situations where communication, skill, efficiency, and experience work to deliver food to hungry patrons in a timely manner, but the equipment used is just as essential. Food service equipment must be designed, installed, and used with care, and that is where ANSI Z83.11-25/CSA 1.8-2025, Gas food service equipment comes into play.
What Is ANSI Z83.11-25/CSA 1.8-2025?
ANSI Z83.11-25/CSA 1.8-2025 is the latest revision of the standard for gas food service equipment, specifically covering ranges and unit broilers, baking and roasting ovens, counter appliances, deep fat fryers, kettles, steam cookers, steam generators, and tableside cooking appliances. According to the standard, these are:
- for use with natural gas
- for use with manufactured gas
- for use with mixed gas
- for use with propane gas
- for use with liquefied petroleum gases
- for a tableside cooking appliance only, for use with butane gas
- for use with LP gas-air mixtures
- for use with either natural, manufactured, or mixed gas and convertible for use with either propane gas or liquefied petroleum gases
The document also further differentiates the gas food service equipment by separating them between those used indoors and outdoors. ANSI Z83.11/CSA 1.8 specifies that those “constructed entirely of new, unused parts and materials for use in food service centers of commercial, industrial, institutional, and public assembly buildings” be called appliances, while those “constructed entirely of new, unused parts and materials for outdoor use and/or for installation in either carts or trailers” be called outdoor appliances.
Hazards During Cooking Operations
Fire poses a hazard any time something is cooked. In fact, cooking is the number one cause of home fires. As for the food service industry, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) reported that there were an average of 7,410 restaurant building fires each year in the United States between 2010 and 2014, causing average annual losses of three civilian deaths, 110 civilian injuries, and $165 million in direct property damage each year. 61% of these fires involved cooking equipment.
The majority of these are considered confined fires, with 68% percent of structure fires in eating and drinking establishments being confined to the object of origin. When a confined fire occurs, it can be mitigated by fire safety systems in place. In addition, the safeguards placed into the cooking appliances during manufacturing reduce the likelihood for a fire to occur in the first place.
However, even if the best prevention efforts are in place, kitchen fires can still occur.
Changes to ANSI/Z83.11-25/CSA 1.8-2025
ANSI Z83.11-25/CSA 1.9-2025 is the fifth edition of the National Standard of Canada and American National American Standard for Gas food service equipment. It supersedes the previous editions published in 2016, 2006, 2002, and 1996, and is marked by the following changes:
- clauses have been reorganized throughout to combine requirements for specific appliances
- coverage for heat reclaimer technology has been added
- new definitions for clarity and support of requirements have been added
- requirements for automatic gas ignition systems and components have been updated
- requirements for draft hoods and venting have been updated and added
- high altitude testing requirements have been added
- references to manufactured and mixed gases have been removed
- requirements for compliance of power transformer and current limiting devices have been added
- thermal efficiency testing requirements have been removed
- Canadian equivalent requirements to those of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) have been added
- New Normative Annex I, “Formula for calculation of input,” has been added
- New Normative Annex J, “Provisions for high-altitude conversion kits (optional),” has been added
- An annex for the table of conversion factors has been removed
ANSI Z83.11-25/CSA 1.8-2025, Gas food service equipment is available on the ANSI Webstore.
Questions About ANSI Z83.11-25-CSA 1.8-2025?
This National Standard of Canada and American National Standard was developed by the CSA Group.
Please direct any technical questions relating to this American National Standard to the developer. You can find the contact information for all ANSI-accredited standards developers here: List of ANSI-Accredited Standards Developers (ASDs).
For further information, please refer to: Who to Contact for Standards Related Questions.
