The cheapest to buy is often the most expensive to use. Compare equipment on running costs and payback, and consumables on cost per use, with the environmental case alongside. Use your own figures where you have them and typical values where you don't.
Applies to both the existing and replacement fryer.
A busy chip shop fryer may cook 70–110 kg a day; a staff canteen fryer often under 25 kg.
Written from the figures above, ready to paste into a purchase request or sustainability report.
Carbon uses UK Government greenhouse gas conversion factors (2026 set): electricity 0.13096 kg CO₂e/kWh, natural gas 0.18231 kg CO₂e/kWh (gross CV). Household comparisons use DESNZ typical consumption of 11,200 kWh gas and 3,400 kWh electricity a year.
A dilution of 1:100 is 50 ml per 5 L bucket; 1:200 is 25 ml; 1:20 is 250 ml.
Bottles count each container bought, whatever its size. Click a product name to see where the price and dilution came from. Zenith Hygiene and Mirius Super Professional floor products are not listed: Zenith sells through account managers without public prices, and no published dilution rate was found for the Mirius maintainer. BioVate's published range is washroom cleaners (1:30), so it will appear when washroom cleaning is added.
0.9 m is roughly eight standard sheets. If better quality paper means people take less, lower the figure for that comparison.
Standard rolls are listed by sheet count; where the maker publishes the sheet length it is used, otherwise the sheet length above. Jumbo and system rolls are listed by length. Sheet-by-sheet and controlled dispensers usually cut use per visit, which this table does not assume: lower "paper per visit" to test it.
Net volume is the usable storage space; it is usually 60 to 75% of the gross volume on the spec sheet. The energy label and the 24-hour figure are on the label or data sheet for cabinets sold since 2016.
The test assumes a 25°C room and standard door openings. Use a factor above 1 for hot kitchens or heavy use. Refrigerant leaks count as carbon only if you set a leak rate; the replacement models listed all use R290, which has a GWP of 3.
Enter your supplier's quote; the default is a placeholder. Electricity prices are the DESNZ averages on the Energy prices tab.
Ranked by energy per 100 litres of storage, so cabinets of different sizes can be compared fairly. The efficiency index (EEI) is the cabinet's energy use as a percentage of a standard cabinet of the same type and size: lower is better.
Each category needs three kinds of data: how the product performs (efficiency, dilution, sheets per roll), what it costs to buy, and what its inputs cost and emit over time. The table shows the UK-relevant sources for each, what is already in this tool and what comes next.
| Source | What it gives | Coverage | Access | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DESNZ Quarterly Energy Prices | Business gas and electricity prices by size band, quarterly since 2004 | All energy-using equipment | Free spreadsheets (OGL) | In use |
| DESNZ greenhouse gas conversion factors | Carbon per kWh, per litre of fuel and per tonne of materials such as paper and plastics | Every category | Free spreadsheets (OGL) | In use for energy; materials next |
| ENERGY STAR product registers | Independently tested performance for certified models | Fryers, dishwashers, ice machines, fridges and freezers, ovens, griddles, steamers, holding cabinets | Free open-data API | Fryers in use; other kitchen equipment next |
| UK Energy Technology List | The top 25% most efficient products in each class, with performance data | About 8,000 products: refrigeration, boilers, heat pumps, HVAC, motors and drives, lighting, compressed air, combi and convection ovens, dishwashers | Free API (key on registration) and public product pages | In use for refrigeration (sample); full API next |
| EPREL (EU energy label database) | Label data for products sold in the EU and Northern Ireland | Commercial refrigerated cabinets and display fridges, light sources, motors and more | Free public API | Next |
| Product data sheets and labels | Dilution rates, pack sizes, sheets per roll and roll length | Cleaning chemicals, paper, most consumables | Manufacturer and wholesaler websites | In use (36 products) |
| Safety data sheets | Hazard classification, which helps compare how "nasty" chemicals are | All cleaning chemicals | Published by suppliers by law | Next |
| EU Ecolabel and Nordic Swan catalogues | Which products hold a recognised eco-label | Cleaning products, tissue paper, many consumables | Free online catalogues | Next |
| CHSA accreditation schemes | Independent checks that sheet counts, roll lengths and chemical claims are as stated | Paper and chemicals from accredited UK manufacturers | Public member lists | Next |
| Wholesaler price lists | Current trade prices and pack sizes | Consumables and equipment | Websites; bulk use needs supplier agreement | In use (sample) |
| Customer spend data | What each organisation actually buys, at what price and in what quantity | Everything a procurement team buys | Uploaded by the customer | The procurement view |
Commercial refrigeration first, because the ETL, EPREL and ENERGY STAR all cover it, fridges run around the clock and old units are often very inefficient. Then commercial dishwashers and combination ovens, which add water as a resource alongside energy. On the consumables side, hand drying (paper towels against hand dryers) is a natural next comparison because it combines a consumable with an energy-using appliance. Lighting, motors and compressed air would follow for factories.
Consumable prices here are single listings from UK trade suppliers, collected in October 2026 and converted to ex VAT where needed. They show the method, not a market average. Procurement teams will get far more accurate results by entering their contract prices, which is why the procurement version of the tool is built around uploading spend data.
Average prices paid by UK non-domestic consumers, all size bands, including Climate Change Levy, from DESNZ Quarterly Energy Prices (tables 3.4.1–3.4.2). Some early periods were published excluding the levy; for those the main CCL rate has been added and the row says so. Edit any value, or overwrite the latest row with your own tariff.
| Period | Electricity (p/kWh) | Gas (p/kWh) | Basis |
|---|
The organising idea is that every piece of equipment, whatever it is, resolves to the same thing: a yearly quantity of each fuel or consumable it uses. A fryer uses kWh of gas or electricity plus litres of oil; a dishwasher uses kWh plus water and chemicals; a compressor uses kWh. Once everything is expressed that way, a single pricing, carbon and payback engine works for all categories, and a uniform comparison view follows naturally.
What differs between categories is only how that yearly quantity is calculated. So the category-specific parts are kept as data (attribute definitions and a named energy model) rather than as separate tables per product type. Adding a new category means defining its attributes, its usage inputs and its calculation, with no change to the schema.
erDiagram
CATEGORY ||--o{ ATTRIBUTE_DEF : "defines"
CATEGORY ||--o{ USAGE_INPUT_DEF : "asks for"
CATEGORY ||--|| ENERGY_MODEL : "calculated by"
CATEGORY ||--o{ PRODUCT_MODEL : "contains"
CATEGORY ||--o{ BASELINE : "has typical units"
PRODUCT_MODEL ||--o{ ATTRIBUTE_VALUE : "has"
BASELINE ||--o{ ATTRIBUTE_VALUE : "has"
ATTRIBUTE_VALUE }o--|| SOURCE : "cited from"
ASSET }o--o| PRODUCT_MODEL : "is a known model"
ASSET }o--o| BASELINE : "or a typical unit"
ASSET ||--o| USAGE_PROFILE : "used like"
ASSET ||--o{ METER_READING : "may have"
SCENARIO }o--|| ASSET : "existing"
SCENARIO }o--|| PRODUCT_MODEL : "candidate"
SCENARIO }o--|| PRICE_ASSUMPTION : "priced with"
ENERGY_MODEL ||--o{ RESOURCE_FLOW : "outputs"
RESOURCE_FLOW }o--|| RESOURCE : "of"
RESOURCE ||--o{ PRICE_POINT : "priced by"
RESOURCE ||--o{ EMISSION_FACTOR : "emits"
PRICE_POINT }o--|| SOURCE : "from"
Category is a hierarchy (Catering › Frying › Open-pot fryer) carrying a functional unit, such as kg of food cooked, litres of chilled storage or m³ of compressed air. The functional unit is what makes a "per unit of useful work" comparison possible across very different products.
Attribute definitions list the performance figures a category needs, with unit, test standard and whether the figure is required. For fryers: cooking efficiency, idle rate, preheat energy, production capacity and oil capacity, measured under ASTM F1361. Values are stored once in a single attribute-value table, each with its source and test method, so new and old products sit side by side.
Product models are specific makes and models from registries (ETL, EPREL, ENERGY STAR, GEMS) or test reports. Baselines are "typical unit of this type and age" records, such as a conventional gas fryer from 2005–2012. Baselines answer the hardest question users face: what is my old one actually using?
Assets are the user's own equipment. An asset points either to a known model or to a baseline, and the user can override any attribute or supply metered consumption, which then takes priority over the calculation. Usage profiles hold the category's usage inputs (hours, throughput, preheats) with defaults offered per business type.
Resources are anything bought: electricity, natural gas, LPG, cooking oil, water, refrigerant. Price points are time series by region, customer size band and tax treatment; emission factors are by year. A scenario pairs an existing asset with a candidate replacement and a price assumption (a historic year, the latest price or a custom forecast), and produces annual flows, costs, carbon, payback and NPV.
{
"category": { "id": "catering.frying.open_pot", "functional_unit": "kg_food_cooked" },
"attribute_defs": [
{ "key": "cooking_efficiency", "unit": "fraction", "test": "ASTM F1361" },
{ "key": "idle_rate", "unit": "kW", "test": "ASTM F1361" },
{ "key": "preheat_energy", "unit": "kWh", "test": "ASTM F1361" },
{ "key": "production_capacity","unit": "kg/h", "test": "ASTM F1361" },
{ "key": "oil_capacity", "unit": "L" },
{ "key": "fuel", "unit": "resource_id" }
],
"usage_input_defs": ["food_kg_per_day", "hours_on", "days_per_year",
"preheats_per_day", "oil_changes_per_week", "oil_topup_l_per_day"],
"energy_model": {
"id": "fryer_fstc_v1",
"outputs": {
"fuel_kWh": "days * (food*0.368/eff + preheats*preheat + idle*max(0, hours - food/capacity - preheats*0.25))",
"cooking_oil_L": "52*oil_capacity*changes + days*topup"
}
},
"baseline": { "id": "fryer.gas.conventional.2005_2012", "fuel": "natural_gas",
"cooking_efficiency": 0.35, "idle_rate": 4.10, "preheat_energy": 4.69,
"production_capacity": 27.2, "oil_capacity": 25,
"source": "ENERGY STAR CFS calculator, conventional gas fryer" }
}
Consumables add one step: a conversion chain from the purchase unit to the functional unit. A 5 L bottle of concentrate at 25 ml per bucket becomes 200 mop buckets; a case of 6 jumbo rolls of 300 m becomes 1,800 m of paper, or about 2,000 toilet visits. The engine then prices the purchase unit, and adds any labour the format drives (mixing, changing rolls) and packaging per year. There is usually no up-front cost, so the result is a saving per year rather than a payback period.
For a commercial fridge the energy model is simpler (rated kWh/day × a usage factor), the resources are electricity and occasionally refrigerant, and the functional unit is litres of storage. For a motor it is rated power × load factor × hours ÷ efficiency, and the functional unit is kW of shaft output. The pricing, carbon, payback and comparison layers are untouched. Every result also records which inputs came from the user, from a baseline or from a product test, so the tool can show how confident each answer is.
Daily fuel use follows the method used in independent fryer testing (ASTM F1361) and the ENERGY STAR commercial kitchen calculator. Energy to cook the food is the food weight × 0.368 kWh/kg, the standard figure for frozen chips, divided by the fryer's cooking efficiency. Preheat energy is added once per preheat. For the rest of the time it is switched on, the fryer idles at its idle rate; a preheat is assumed to take 15 minutes.
If you know your existing fryer's metered consumption, tick the box and enter it; that replaces the calculation for the existing fryer only. Oil use is a full change of the vat each time oil is discarded, plus daily top-ups for oil absorbed by food.
Simple payback is the net cost of replacing divided by the yearly saving. Net present value discounts the yearly saving over the expected life. Both hold prices flat at the chosen period. Carbon is reported for the energy used at the fryer only.
The UK Energy Technology List does not yet include fryers; its foodservice category covers combination and convection ovens and dishwashers. The models offered here are from the ENERGY STAR certified commercial fryers register (version 3.0 specification), which publishes independently tested cooking efficiency and idle rate. They are brands sold in the UK, but the register lists North American model numbers, so UK and CE-marked versions should be checked with the supplier. The register does not publish preheat energy or hourly capacity per model, so typical values for efficient fryers are used for those two figures.
Typical older units use the conventional-fryer assumptions in the ENERGY STAR commercial food service calculator: gas 35% efficient with a 4.1 kW idle rate, electric 75% with 1.05 kW.
Prices are averages across all non-domestic consumers. Smaller businesses usually pay more per kWh than this average and very large users less, so entering your own tariff gives a more accurate answer. Standing charges are left out because replacing a fryer does not change them. Periods published before 2023 were reported excluding Climate Change Levy; the main CCL rate for that year (electricity 0.775p, gas 0.465p in 2021–22 and 0.568p in 2022–23) has been added. Late-2022 prices reflect the government's Energy Bill Relief Scheme discounts. Early figures are as first published and may since have been revised.
Maintenance and labour for oil changes, savings on kitchen extraction and cooling, water, waste oil collection, and the carbon footprint of producing cooking oil.