Infrared Burners or Traditional Gas Burners

[eritech1]

I think they get clogged extremely quickly.

And they r a pain in the neck to take apart wen they r all greased up. (Just like every thing else but this especially) 

[ectofix]

I’m not sure what eritech1 is referring to, but I personally prefer infrared type burners.  Their performance is FAR superior to open-type burners.  If a grease source is nearby, they DO require a cleaning of their venturi every few years, but that’s not a big deal.  They certainly don’t get bent and bowed like cast iron burners do.

Where I work we only have IR burners in about a dozen salamanders.  In my seven years here, we’ve never had to replace any.

[eritech1]

I haven’t worked on many that’s true. But the ones I worked on must of been really bad I guess!

[ectofix]

I know what you mean by that.  However, olivero is in-house and I think he can address any problems quite handily.  In such a case, degredation of IR burner performance is easily measurable by the lack of an orange flame.  Therefore a cleaning is necessary once every few…or three or four years – will get them right again.  The alternative with the open style burners is they’ll warp and require expensive replacements in about the same amount of time.  Again – I’ve never had to replace any of my IR burners.

[olivero]

Okay well it sounds like it’s a good alternative, I’m not too worried about grease in that area, it’s kind of the smaller cooking line we have so I think i’ll opt for that.

 

I haven’t dealt with any infrared equipment before, what’s important to know?

 

Probably the most general question I could ask.

[ectofix]

WHAT happened HERE?

It seems that half this thread is gone…

 

 olivero, I’d done some in depth research and composed a detailed & informative post to help you shop for a new salamander.  You’d asked what model I recommend and I answered. 

 

But…it’s GONE now.  Did you get to read it?

[olivero]

No, I never saw it. I didn’t get an email notification about it either.

 

I’m sorry to hear it’s all lost.

[olivero]

No, I never saw it. I didn’t get an email notification about it either.

 

I’m sorry to hear it’s all lost.

[ectofix]

So, you’d asked my recommendation on a Vulcan model.  I’ll try again.

FIRST, I wrote what distinguishes the differences between a salamander and a cheese melter.  They look nearly the same, so they can be easily confused.

 

A cheese melter has limited shelf adjustments – which must be physically removed to adjust the cooking height.  Interior dimensions are smaller than in a salamander.  A cheese melter is limited in its cooking applications.  For instance, it might not be suitable for broiling a steak.  They’re not constructed as robust as a salamander – but are easier to repair.  The burner can be easily removed through the top.

 

A salamander is built more robust, has greater options for cook rack height adjustment – done simply through using a spring-assisted handle.  A salamander weighs more because of the cage to support and operate the shelf.  You can broil a steak in a salamander.  Salamanders are quite a bit more difficult to repair.  The burner is more diffuclt to access and the cage mechanism may get seized up over time.

 

Here’s a blog which explains all of that:

https://www.katom.com/learning-center/cheese-melters-salamanders.html

 

Here’s a Vulcan cheese melter:

https://resources.itwfeg.com/sites/resourcecenter/vfeg/ProductDocumentation/F45425.pdf

 

Here’s a Vulcan salamander:

https://resources.itwfeg.com/sites/resourcecenter/vfeg/ProductDocumentation/F32548.pdf

 

The 36″ version of each both use a 30,000 Btu IR burner.

[olivero]

Thank you Ectofix, we are going to go with the 36SBI, that’s the same one I ended up deicing on so we’ll buy that and put it in.

 

Hopefully outlasts the traditional burner style.

 

Thank you for all your time on this, I very much appreciate it.