The hood exhaust system above the cooking equipment in a restaurant is key in removing smoke, grease vapors, cooking gas vapors and odors, providing a safer and pleasant work area. It’s key that your exhaust system be properly inspected, maintained and cleaned by a licensed hood cleaning company. Most fires in a restaurant, not surprisingly, occur when you have flare-ups from cooking oils catching fire. These fires can reach up to the filter area of the hood exhaust system. Restaurant kitchen hood cleaning is important and if not done regularly regularly can accumulate large deposits or pools of grease which will ignite during a flare-up.
• Systems with solid fuel cooking operations like wood or coal: Monthly
• Systems with high-volume cooking operations such as 24-hour cooking, charbroiling, or wok cooking: Quarterly
• Systems with moderate-volume cooking operations: Semiannually
• Systems with low-volume cooking operations, such as churches, day camps, seasonal businesses, or senior centers: Annually
The best companies will:
• Remove all the filters for the hood system
• They will secure plastic to both protect your equipment and to serve as a funnel to direct any cleaning products in to a receptacle
• They will use heated pressure washers, steam cleaners and industrial strength degreasers to thoroughly clean your system from the filters all the way to the roof exhaust fan
• They will hand clean any stubborn or sensitive areas
• They will completely clean the work area after they are done.
Our company, Focus Fire & Safety, has been called out to inspect many new places of business over the years. It’s easy to spot a system that hasn’t been cleaned regularly. Some of the things we’ve seen on the suppression system are:
• Fusible links so encapsulated with grease that they may not correctly melt at the required temperature
• Many systems have the fuse line traveling through conduit in the hood system. We have seen systems where there was so much grease build up in the conduits, the fuse line was stuck in place. Had there been a fire and if the links melted, the fuse line they are connected to would not have moved and the system would not activate
• Many systems have the fusible links connected to a scissors bracket. We have seen these brackets covered in grease and literally cooked on so that the scissors bracket was frozen in place. Had the fusible link melted due to a fire event, the scissors bracket would not have opened and the system would not have activated.
Hood cleaning is not only a required part of running a restaurant, but it aids in keeping both your employees and your restaurant safe. Although Focus Fire & Safety does not clean hoods, call us anytime for a referral. If you’re not sure if your current cleaning company is doing a good job, we’ll come out and take a complimentary look for you.
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