Laconia Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning
Laconia Restaurant hood cleaning is vital to keeping the efficiency of your exhaust system high. I would like to talk about the hoods themselves in this article. The hood is designed to do two things:
- Act as a fire protection device by removing the grease
- Remove smoke and heat from cooking area below
The kitchen exhaust system is designed to pull grease laden smoke up into the hood and to the filters where it is filtered, turned back into grease then emptied into a catch tray. The three basic hood designs are the canopy, the galley and the downdraft. The closer the hood is to the cooking surface, the more efficient it is.
The most common type of hoods seen in restaurants today are canopy style. They are a simple design, do a good job and are easy to maintain. Restaurant hood cleaning is normally a simple task with these hoods. Just make sure that your hood cleaning company is cleaning the entire exhaust system and not the hood only.
Laconia Restaurant Hood Cleaning
There are plenty of shows on "do-it-yourself" techniques for everything from retiling a bathroom to installing a new kitchen sink.
But when it comes to commercial kitchens, there is no substitute for professional hood, fan and duct cleaning services
The International Kitchen Exhaust Hood Cleaning Association is a Maryland-based trade association dedicated to educating its members about safety and cleaning techniques. The association has established stringent standards and practices for contractors engaged in kitchen exhaust cleaning, conducted a variety of educational programs and worked with influential code setting bodies such as the National Fire Protection Association to improve existing codes and regulations.
Even something that sounds as simple as cleaning a filter is not a job for a novice, as filters capture grease and other debris and when cleaning them, proper disposal of the effluent washed from the filter is an important consideration.
Federal law states that none of that wastewater can be put into a public sewer. But city and state guidelines also must be taken into consideration so the application of that law can vary from state to state for this reason.
Recommended cleaning schedules vary according to the type of equipment, cooking methods and volume of food cooked. However, there are recommendations that restaurant managers and owners can follow to determine how often to have kitchen hoods, ducts and fans professionally cleaned.
Restaurants should be cleaned every six months at a minimum. Restaurants that use deep fat fryers and/or charbroilers should clean these systems every three months at a minimum.
Eating establishments that use smokehouses or wood fires should undergo monthly cleanings at a minimum.
Restaurants that use large amounts of vegetable oils in their cooking processes should go no longer than three months between cleanings. When vegetable oil grease is left to build up, it becomes "glue-like" and removing it is a difficult task.
Kitchen Exhaust Vent Cleaning
Cleaning kitchen exhaust systems, is not difficult to do. It must be done the right however up to the code of the NFPA.
- The first thing that should be done when your hood cleaner arrives at the job is remove any items that may fall on your cooking equipment during the cleaning process.
- If there are any fryolators, they should be covered with sheet pans or cardboard.
- After that, the entire Set of cooking equipment should be covered with plastic.
- Using a process called funneling whenever possible.
- A properly set up funnel system will make 99 % of the mess fall into a bucket this includes water from power washing the kitchen exhaust system.
- The next step is to bring in the equipment, The first thing to bring in is the power washer and it's accessories.
- The technicianwho brings in the power washer should be careful to vent all the exhaust from heating coils i out the door, a window, or the last choice to choose, the hood itself. If they had to exhaust fumes out of the hood itself, they have to be very careful not to burn the plastic protecting your cooking equipment.
- Ok great at this point they are almost done performing the hood cleaning, now all that's left is the filters. We degrease and power wash the filters front and back shake out the water, then place them back in your hood.
- Any Hood Cleaning Company worth their salt at this point dries your hood by hand then shines it with a stainless steel polisher such as Sheila Shine. This last step is the difference between a clean hood and an immaculately cleaned hood.
- After all the equipment is out of your building they should fill out the paperwork. Once signed, they place the appropriate certification sticker on your hood.
- Then they should mop up their own mess if any from where they were working to the exit door.
