If you own commercial kitchen, it is important to not neglect cleaning your kitchen exhaust system. Regular cleaning of your commercial kitchen hood will help to prevent the build up of grease which is a dangerous fire hazard.
Why is Commercial Hood Cleaning Important?
Cooking is one of the leading causes of fires. As you are cooking in your commercial kitchen, vaporized grease solidifies and builds up in the ventilation ducts over time. If you do not clean your cooking equipment, grease deposits will create a fire hazard inside of the hood, ductwork, and exhaust fan. When a fire occurs in a kitchen hood that is not cleaned, grease deposits allow the fire to spread and become very damaging.
Benefits of Kitchen Hood Cleaning
- Reduce risk of kitchen fires
- Reduce risk of injuries, deaths, and property damage due to kitchen fires
- Compliance with NFPA standards and local codes
- Lower insurance premiums with some insurance companies
- Improved ventilation for smoke and odor removal
- Better working environment for kitchen staff
NFPA 96
NFPA 96 is the Standard for Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations. To remain compliant with NFPA 96, you must regularly have your kitchen hood cleaned.
Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Frequency Requirements
The minimum kitchen exhaust cleaning frequency requirements according to NFPA 96 is:
- Monthly: Systems serving solid fuel cooking operations
- Quarterly: Systems serving high-volume operations such as 24-hour cooking, charbroiling, or wok cooking
- Semi-Annually: Systems serving moderate-volume cooking operations
- Annually: Systems serving low-volume cooking operations, such as churches, day camps, seasonal businesses
What Happens During Hood Cleaning?
During a hood cleaning, the entire kitchen exhaust system must be cleaned from top to bottom. The steps of a commercial kitchen hood cleaning may include:
- Clean and degrease kitchen hood(s) including the filter tracts, plenum area, grease troughs and all removable grease cups.
- Remove roof or wall mount fan from duct work and degrease the base, shroud and fan blades.
- Clean all accessible parts of the duct work from the exhaust fan to each of the hoods.
- Clean and degrease all filters.
- Apply food grade polish to all exposed areas of the hood.
- Cleanup and mop in all areas in which the work was performed.
- A complete written report will be left on site with any deficiencies or recommendations noted.
- A certificate showing the name of the company, the name of person performing the work and the date of the cleaning will be affixed to each hood cleaned.
Schedule a Hood Cleaning with All State Fire & Security
All State Fire & Security provides commercial kitchen hood cleaning services. We can clean a wide variety of kitchen hoods including hospital cafeterias, fast food chains, restaurants, churches, school cafeterias, hotels, nursing homes, and more. We perform hood cleaning in accordance with NFPA standards and local codes. Contact us today for commercial kitchen hood cleaning in New York State and Northern Pennsylvania.
