A kitchen exhaust system that needs cleaning puts your restaurant, kitchen and staff at risk. These devices help filter out unwanted pollutants such as grease, and proper maintenance keeps ventilation operating correctly. Hood cleaning is a requirement by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and restaurants that ignore these regulations put working environments in danger of extreme fire hazards.
Fortunately, Certified Fire and Security can help restaurant owners and kitchen managers with our kitchen hood cleaning services. Together, we can establish a safer workplace for your business in the states of Nevada and Utah.
What Is Hood Cleaning?
Kitchen exhaust systems consist of a hood and fan mounted over stoves, grills, ovens and other cooking appliances. As smoke, heat and grease travel upward, the hood system captures cooking residue through ventilation and ductwork. When clean, these systems are effective in eliminating potential toxins.
Restaurants will typically have a choice between wet and dry chemical systems based on their application. A wet chemical system combines liquid in the case of a fire by cooking oil, while dry systems are suitable for fires around electrical equipment. Regular maintenance of hood systems includes upkeep of the following components:
- Hood
- Filters
- Links
- Exhaust Duct
- Fans
- Drip Cup
- Diverter
- Air Makeup Device
Benefits of Hood Cleaning
Kitchen hood cleaning improves the air quality of your restaurant for workers. Reducing smoke around grills and cooking areas cuts back on fire hazards. These ventilation systems also improve worker visibility on the job.
The chance of a grease fire increases the more you allow buildup within an exhaust. Hood cleaning services ensure that your restaurant and kitchen are fire code compliant based on the NFPA Code 96 requirements.
Keeping kitchen hood systems clean also saves you money. Grease buildups along key components cause your ventilation system to work harder to remove odors and airborne pollutants from your restaurant. Schedule routine hood maintenance and prevent system shutdown with Certified Fire and Security.
Our Hood Cleaning Process
Certified Solutions works to eliminate grease and debris from hood system vents, fans, filters and ducts. A kitchen exhaust system might appear clean on the outside, but our technicians identify and remove grease accumulation all the way through the roof of your ventilation structure.
We first conduct a pre-cleaning inspection of your hood system. This is where our technicians look for damaged parts or components that need replacing prior to cleaning. Depending on the industry, we may ask your team to clear the area, remove filters and cover nearby appliances for unexpected grease spills.
All lights, gas valves and appliances will be turned off as our experts clean units with hot water and potentially flammable substances. Certified Fire and Security will spray down hood system fans and ducts with degreaser prior to rinsing, and our technicians drain buildups into a collection device. If necessary, the process is repeated until all grease is removed from internal components.
Our professionals then scrub the exposed metal from the inside of the kitchen until all parts are free of grease. Certification stickers are applied, and the post-cleaning inspection starts with a review of the system maintenance report for your records.
Contact Certified Fire and Security for Hood Cleaning Services
If you are a restaurant owner or manage a team in the kitchen, regular exhaust system maintenance is crucial for fire safety compliance. Contact Certified Fire and Security today for more information about our fire safety systems, as well as hood cleaning services from our locally owned company.