have a few TurboChef NGC ovens

[fixbear]

They do require partitions between grills and deep fryers.  Kitchen air quality and hood placement will have a effect as well.  The third thing to look at is the product you are making.  Is it high in fat.

 

As for maintenance,  Daily proper cleaning with Turbochef cleaner is required.  Other cleaners stand to destroy the catalytic filter.  Also if you have a low temp for to long a period the filter will clog.  It has to have heat to work right.  They are a fast unit, but speed comes at a cost. Mainly a higher amount of maintenance.

 

I’ve included a manual in case you need to review cleaning.  Make sure all 3 sources of heat work.

https://www.partstown.com/modelManual/TBC-NGC_spm.pdf

[ectofix]

fixbear‘s response is spot on!

 

We have TurboChef ovens throughout our property’s food venues (I’m an in-house tech).  Our NGCs have all been retired for newer equipment, though.

 

I have a model i3 torn down for repairs in the shop as we speak. 

It was so ill-maintained that, had I been a field tech versus being in-house, the the sum of my LABOR costs (think that @ $100/hr) along with the parts I used, the repair costs would’ve easily exceeded over half the cost of a new oven (at over $12k). 

As of today, I have twenty-five hours in it – MOSTLY to just clean out all forms of grease.  From the sticky stuff coating EVERYTHING in the electrical compartment, inner panels, the cooling fans, etc. …to the hardened, 1/8″ thick crust of baked-on grease inside the cooking compartment.  I’m anticipating another 2-4 hrs to finish it.

For the latter, I worked my fingers raw to remove the crust.  I’ve used up THREE bottles of TurboChef oven cleaner, worn through numerous forms of plastic scrapers…and even used a propane torch to BURN it off – just get it all back to the pristine condition it would otherwise had if only it was cleaned PROPERLY and DAILY.

 

Unfortunately, along with numerous other parts that I typically replace when I have these ovens in the shop (relays, magnetrons, wave guides), the $800 catalytic converter had to be replaced as well. 

WHY?  Because amongst the v-e-r-y infrequent cleanings that it DID get (once every week or two!), they used some hi-powered, off-the-shelf degreaser in it instead of the TurboChef oven cleaner.  WHATEVER it was that they used…it completely RUINED the catalytic converter.

Per TurboChef:

“The catalyst material is very sensitive to certain
chemical compounds. Irreversible damage can occur if
the catalyst is exposed to cleaning chemicals containing
phosphates, NaOH, silicates, Na and
Potassium Salts. These chemicals are found in most
commercial degreasers and cleaners; therefore, only
TurboChef® Oven Cleaner should be used.”

 

FWIW:  If a TurboChef oven is cleaned properly EVERYDAY, the catalytic converter should NEVER require removal for cleaning. 

So, having to REPLACE IT?  After my dozens of these ovens that I’ve done my once-over on, this one was my FIRST.

[tonyd]

It may not be the cat. There is a vent tube that can clog in the right rear corner. If you are cooking a lot of protein this will for sure happen. Take the vent cover off and shine a light down the hole. If it is restricted or clogged then you will need to clean it out. 

[ectofix]

So you’re saying the NGC also has a vent tube?  I haven’t worked on one in ten years, but I don’t it does. 

 

The other ovens I work on (SOTA, i3, Encore and Bullet) all DO have vent tubes – so they each also have an additional, secondary catalytic converter, which is a specially coated, accordion-shaped foil pack surrounding the outlet of that vent tube.  That’s in addition to the main catalytic converter in front of the heating elements.

 

 

When laid flat, the foil pack is slightly bigger than a pack of cigarettes.

 

 

The NGC manual makes no reference to having a vent tube or that foil pack.

[fixbear]

Location and environment it was in?  I’ve seen some collage cafe’s with it right next to the grill.  Wonder why the don’t like them

[tonyd]

 

If you take this cover panel off you will find a tube coming out of the rear of the unit. There may be a secondary cover over the vent tube.

[ectofix]

[james-eldridgeprovidence-org]

I am in similar situation here myself. These were never cleaned or taken care of. grease and build up all over the components has ruined them , getting too hot etc. They cook lots of pizza and sandwiches. I want to know how all of that grease gets from the cooking compartment to the component compartment. My understanding of the catalytic converter is cut cut out the grease and smell. I have also noticed a gap in the door and can see that the smoke/grease escapes out the top. I am new to working on kitchen equipment. I started doing this in house work about a year ago. These were never cleaned and an outside vendor would fix it when it broke but that was all they would do. when I started on these the vents were all completely caked in dust/grease. So when they broke down I took them and cleaned them out with the TurboChef cleaner. I did call customer service to ask about the catalytic converter and the tech told me that they should be cleaned or replaced depending how much they are used. Heavy use was 6 months.

[james-eldridgeprovidence-org]

Tony, I thought that these had that small cat but they dont. There is the vent tube that comes out to the cover but there is no room for that cat. I ordered one because i thought maybe it was just missing  but it would not fit anywhere on the NGCs that I have.

[tonyd]

Shine a flash light down the hole. Is it 100% open? If not drill it out and this will reduce the build up inside. Second you are going to have to get the cavities clean. Starbucks was spending a ton of money with my service company when they first rolled them out. most of the service call sounded like this.

The product was coming out under temp and mag faults. we would clean the unit and inspect the covers located at the bottom of the cook chamber. If you can see stuff under the glass, well this is your call, I would replace the covers guides and mags.  Why? If the guides get contaminated they can and at some point will, A: burn the mag up, B: blow holes in the guide. SO what I would do in you case is order the mags guides and covers. Before you install them clean the all get out out of the cavity. The cleaner and guard they produce is solid and works great.

Once the unit is clean retrain the staff on how to properly clean the unit and stay on top of them. Good luck and hope this helps.

 

Anthony Dileo

University of Richmond

Foodservice Tech

Adileo@richmond.edu<mailto:Adileo@richmond.edu>

571-246-0812

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