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Kitchen Exhaust Vent Cleaning

Kitchen exhaust cleaning in Tennessee  is indeed a vital part of maintenance for restaurants around the country. Kitchen exhaust cleaning is a term describing the process of removing grease build-up from the exhaust fan, duct, and vent hood. NFPA 96 sets specific standards for cleaning and maintenance, but also gives the kitchen exhaust cleaning company a standard for cleaning which is known as cleaning down to “bare metal”. Kitchen exhaust vent cleaning involves the use of different equipment and skills to accomplish the cleaning. In addition, lack of proper maintenance of vent hoods, exhaust ducts, and fans can result in quick and hot burning fires that can result in costly damage.

Industrial Hood Cleaning

NFPA 96 states schedules for grease buildup inspections, which can be quarterly for high volume restaurants to semi-annually for medium volume cooking restaurants. The restaurant owner should schedule cleanings as such to prevent fire hazards and costly damage. The NFPA 96 also gives cooking equipment safety requirements, fire suppression system types, and hood types. In the statement I wrote earlier about cleaning down to “bare metal” I would like to explain the term a little more in depth. So the term cleaning down to “bare metal” means that the grease must be removed down to a specific thickness when cleaned to reduce the chance of the grease igniting resulting in fire. The kitchen exhaust cleaning company will use specific grade degreasers for the job. For example, when cleaning a Chinese restaurant a vent hood cleaning company in Tennessee  most often will use a higher grade degreaser which would be much more potent in strength. For these types of restaurants kitchen exhaust cleaning prices will run higher than other restaurants that don’t use oils of that nature.

Proper maintenance is very important when it comes to vent hood cleaning because of the fire factor and for such reason municipals have set rules and strict standards for the maintenance of the kitchen exhaust system. In some cases if these rules and standards are not followed the violator will be fined. Routine maintenance must be done by a qualified company with the equipment and skill level to achieve the desired results. Fires have all it’s needs within a non-maintained exhaust system and will burn fast if one starts, so proper inspection and maintenance of fire suppression systems, exhaust fans, ducts, hoods, and access panels is vital as recommended by NFPA 96.

Stricter Regulation Vital For Restaurant Hood Cleaning

Industrial Hood 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.