--- title: "Restaurant Equipment Burning Smell: Scorched Oil, Hot Wiring or Lint: Causes and Fixes" description: "A restaurant equipment burning smell is hot plastic, scorched wiring, a sharp electrical odor or burning lint coming from a reach-in, a fryer, a dish machine…" url: "https://commercialappliancerepair.center/problems/commercial-burning-smell/" --- # Restaurant Equipment Burning Smell: Scorched Oil, Hot Wiring or Lint A restaurant equipment burning smell is hot plastic, scorched wiring, a sharp electrical odor or burning lint coming from a reach-in, a fryer, a dish machine booster, a combi or a laundry tumbler. ## Gas or fire? Everyone out first. Food at risk? Move it A burning or hot electrical smell means the machine is turned off now and its breaker off from a dry panel. 911 for smoke, flame or a growing smell. It stays off until the wiring and components have been checked on a visit. ## What it usually means. A kitchen is full of cooking smells, so the ones worth stopping for are those that do not belong to food: hot plastic, the sharp odor of wire insulation, or scorched lint in a laundry. They mean something is running hotter than it was built to. In commercial equipment the heat usually comes from a loose electrical connection, where a terminal on a contactor or a heating element works loose and arcs; from a motor laboring against grease, lint or a failed bearing; or from a heater that has scaled over and cannot shed its heat into water. Reach-in condenser fan motors sit in the warmest, greasiest spot in the kitchen, next to fryers. Booster heaters on dish machines cook their own elements when scale builds up. In a laundry, a tumbler with a clogged duct traps hot lint, which is where many laundry fires start. The response is the same for all of them: the machine off, its breaker off from a dry panel without taking the panel cover off, and 911 at once if there is smoke you cannot account for, flame, or a smell that grows after the power is off. The 6 causes, cheapest first Answer these first 01 Which machine does the smell come from, and does it follow that one when others are switched off? 02 Is it hot plastic and wiring, scorched oil, or burning lint and fabric? 03 Is there visible smoke, discoloration or melted plastic around a cord, plug or panel? 04 Did a breaker trip, lights flicker or a motor slow down before the smell began? 05 Does the smell fade with the machine off, or keep growing? ## Check these before you book. Restaurant equipment burning smell: 5 checks, and none of them costs anything. 01 Switch the machine off at its own control, then turn off its breaker from a dry panel without taking the panel cover off. 02 Call 911 at once if you see smoke you cannot explain, any flame, or the smell keeps growing with the power off. 03 Keep a tumbler door closed if there is smoke inside it; opening it lets air feed smoldering lint. ### Also worth checking - Unplug a cord-connected unit only if the plug is cool, dry and easy to reach. - Note which machine, what the smell was like and what it was doing, and leave it off until a technician has looked at it. ## The causes, cheapest first. 6 things restaurant equipment burning smell: scorched oil, hot wiring or lint turns out to be, from food or a spill scorching on a hot surface to scaled booster heater element overheating. [The cost guide](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/cost/) 1. 01 no repair ### Food or a spill scorching on a hot surface Breading on a griddle's edge, sugar in a combi, or a towel left on a warming shelf can smell alarming and is simply cleaned once cool. A burning smell that comes back with nothing spilled is something else. No repair: check it yourself 2. 02 low ### Grease or lint packed around a motor A motor buried in grease or lint runs hot and smells of it. The housing and its cooling paths are cleaned, and the motor is checked for bearing wear and current draw. [Fixed by commercial preventive maintenance plan](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/services/preventive-maintenance-plan/) 3. 03 low to moderate ### Reach-in condenser fan motor overheating Cold cabinets parked beside the fryer line cook their condenser fan motors in hot, greasy air. A seized or overheating motor is replaced and the condenser coil cleaned before it fails the compressor. [Fixed by reach-in and prep table repair](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/services/reach-in-and-prep-table-repair/) [On a commercial cold storage unit](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/types/commercial-refrigeration-repair/) 4. 04 moderate ### Loose terminal arcing at a contactor or element Heavy heating loads on fryers, combis and boosters loosen their terminals over time, and a loose one arcs and chars. The burned terminals and wire ends are replaced with the power off at the panel. [Fixed by commercial controls and board repair](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/services/commercial-controls-and-board-repair/) 5. 05 moderate ### Lint burning in a tumbler duct A laundry tumbler exhausts hot, lint-laden air through a duct that clogs if it is not cleaned. The lint can smolder inside, so the tumbler stays off until the duct and the burner area are cleaned and checked. [Fixed by commercial laundry machine repair](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/services/commercial-laundry-machine-repair/) [On a commercial laundry machine](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/types/commercial-laundry-equipment-repair/) 6. 06 moderate to highest ### Scaled booster heater element overheating Hard water coats the booster element so it runs far hotter than intended until it burns out or chars its wiring. The element and its high-limit are replaced and a water treatment plan is suggested. [Fixed by dish machine repair](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/services/dish-machine-repair/) [On a commercial dish machine](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/types/commercial-dish-machine-repair/) ## What else it could be. Most often confused with commercial fryer fire or grease flare under the hood, then commercial laundry tumbler not heating: loads still damp after a full cycle. [All problems](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/problems/) Codes that come with it - [`E02` Alto-Shaam · Controls and power](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/error-codes/alto-shaam-e02/) - [`E13` Alto-Shaam · Temperature and alarms](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/error-codes/alto-shaam-e13/) - [`E36` Alto-Shaam · Temperature and alarms](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/error-codes/alto-shaam-e36/) - [`E108` Alto-Shaam · Controls and power](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/error-codes/alto-shaam-e108/) - [`E109` Alto-Shaam · Temperature and alarms](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/error-codes/alto-shaam-e109/) - [`Cavity High Temp Error` Blodgett · Temperature and alarms](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/error-codes/blodgett-cavity-high-temp-error/) [35 more codes, by make](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/error-codes/) Also related - [**Reach-In Cooler Not Holding Temperature Through a Shift** 6 causes](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/problems/reach-in-not-holding-temperature/) Gas, fire, food at risk or water near power ### Commercial Fryer Fire or Grease Flare Under the Hood 6 causes ### Commercial Laundry Tumbler Not Heating: Loads Still Damp After a Full Cycle 6 causes ### Dish Machine Not Reaching Temperature on the Wash or Final Rinse 6 causes ## The makes it happens on. 35 makes on this site; restaurant equipment burning smell: scorched oil, hot wiring or lint can show up on any of them. Each mark opens that make's own page. [All 35 brands](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/brands/) ## Restaurant Equipment Burning Smell: Scorched Oil, Hot Wiring or Lint, where we come out. 9 metros, each with its own page. 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Can we turn it back on? No. The heat that caused it is still there, just not running. Leave it off and book a visit so the wiring and the part responsible are checked. ### The reach-in beside the fryers smells hot at the bottom. Is that normal? No. That is usually the condenser fan motor or the coil struggling in hot, greasy air. Switch it off, move the food to another unit, and book. ### How often should a laundromat clean its tumbler ducts? Lint screens every load or every shift, the ducts on a schedule the maker and your fire marshal set. Busy stores find that a PM plan catches buildup before it becomes a smell. ### Should we take the cover off the panel to look for a burned breaker? No. Switch the breaker off with the cover on. Anything behind the cover is live and is checked by the technician. --- **[Read on the site: Restaurant Equipment Burning Smell: Scorched Oil, Hot Wiring or Lint: Causes and Fixes](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/problems/commercial-burning-smell/)** **[Book a visit with CommercialApplianceRepair.center](https://commercialappliancerepair.center/schedule/)**