Safety Starts with Clean Kitchen Exhaust Systems

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Prevention starts with routine inspections, cleanings, and preventative maintenance, which can only be performed by trained, qualified, and certified professional technicians.  

Exhaust systems collect grease, ash, and soot, and when they build up, the extractor may fail, which then reduces the air flow within the kitchen, which increases the chances for a fire to start.  Protect your restaurant, staff, customers, equipment, and property and stay compliant!

Your cooking equipment is one of the most important things inside your restaurant. Build up of grease  in vent hoods and exhaust system or improper maintenance could ruin a busy dinner service. If you have solid fuel cooking operations, this presents an additional hazard because of the potential build up of creosote in your vent hoods. A kitchen fire could put you out of business for days, or even weeks. It’s important to note that vent hood and duct cleanings should be performed by a certified hood cleaning service at required service intervals.

Lack of maintenance or improper cleaning of kitchen exhaust systems are a fire hazards and are the an unseen danger in commercial kitchens.  Beneath the choreographed movements and performances of an expert kitchen staff lies a level of potential tragedy that can manifest as fines, fires, and potentially much worse.

As a restaurant owner or manager, you make sure that your staff  cleans exterior surface areas by which is essential for maintaining general hygiene, it is not sufficient to prevent fires in the kitchen exhaust system. 

Only certified professionals have the expertise, tools. cleaning products, and knowledge to thoroughly clean and maintain these systems, ensuring safety and compliance. 

Regular professional cleaning is an investment in the safety, efficiency, and longevity of your kitchen operations. 

Grease is extremely flammable and nearly ubiquitous on your restaurant kitchen’s surfaces. It quickly spreads and builds up on cook-tops, in exhaust-hoods, in ducts, etc. making many surfaces in your kitchen the ideal fuel and pathway for fire to spread.

The kitchen is the heart and soul of a restaurant. It’s where the unique foods and flavors that give the restaurant its character are dreamed up and created.

Yet, it is also the restaurant business’s greatest risk.

The Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Co. is committed to providing restaurant and commercial kitchens with professionally trained, qualified, and certified cleaning and preventative maintenance services.

The NFPA 96 is the Standard for Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations. NFPA 96 provides preventive and operative fire safety requirements intended to reduce the potential fire hazard of both public and private commercial cooking operations.

A well-maintained kitchen hood and exhaust system should ideally involve professional hood cleaning services ensuring regular removal of heavily contaminated portions that pose an increased risk for fires. Remember folks, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Specializing in commercial kitchen exhaust system cleaning and preventative maintenance for exhaust fan, vent hood, and more!

All of our professional kitchen exhaust system maintenance technicians, are professionally trained, qualified, and certified and have the extensive training. experience, and the correct equipment, tools, and products to ensure a proper cleaning, every time.  In addition, our work adheres to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA 96) standards and regulations.

According to NFPA 96, section 8-3.1: Hoods, grease removal devices, fans, ducts, and other appurtenances shall be cleaned to bare metal at frequent intervals prior to surfaces becoming heavily contaminated with grease or oily sludge.

With our team of trained, qualified, and certified professional kitchen exhaust system maintenance and cleaning technicians, state-of-the-art equipment and top of the line cleaning products, we ensure your kitchen remains safe, clean, and compliant with all health and safety regulations and standards.

 The cleaning process described in NFPA 96 can only be performed by a trained, qualified, certified, insured kitchen exhaust cleaning service provider.

Exhaust hood cleaning requirements and best practices are outlined in Table NFPA 96 Section 8-3.1 

Exhaust System Inspection, cleaning, and preventative maintenance as per the Schedule in NFPA 96:

Monthly – Systems serving solid fuel cooking operations.

Quarterly – Systems serving high-volume operations, such as 24-hour cooking, charbroiling, wok cooking, etc.

Semi-Annually – Systems serving moderate volume cooking operations.

Annually – Systems serving low volume cooking operations, such as day camps, churches, seasonal businesses, etc. 

Our professionally trained, qualified, and certified maintenance and cleaning technicians clean your entire system, not just what you can see on the exterior surface areas.  It is imperative that the entire system be inspected and cleaned from rooftop to cook top for grease build-up, by a professionally trained, qualified, and certified professional that adheres to NFPA Standard 96.

We are devoted exclusively to kitchen exhaust systems and ventilation maintenance, cleaning, and fire protection of commercial cooking operations.

The professionals at The Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning  Co. clean the entire kitchen exhaust system ensuring that all maintenance and cleaning services are complete and compliance is achieved.

Are kitchen exhaust system professionals document the entire process from the time they arrive and set up the work area, placing plastic sheathing to protect other areas of your kitchen, the entire cleaning process, through clean up and completion, in order to provide you with a service report with photographic verification.  

We want you and your staff to feel safe and comfortable in your kitchen, so we are consistent and transparent, so that you can ensure that standardized procedures ensuring the cleaning process complies with the provisions of NFPA 96, so that all insurance, fire inspectors, health departments, and all federal, state, and local laws are in compliance.

Our risk control team is available to help facilitate your safety and health efforts.

The kitchen is nothing short of a giant fire hazard with all of its flammable liquids, high temperatures, plentiful paper products, electrical equipment, and motorized tools at risk of overheating. There are approximately over 8,000 restaurant fires annually, causing over $240 million in property damage every year, not to mention injuries and fatalities.

Non-Compliance: The Fallout

If you think grease-laden vapors are scary, the consequences of non-compliance with NFPA 96 can be a real horror show. Legal implications, fines and even increased insurance premiums can result from not following these safety standards. Moreover, nothing kills a business faster than bad PR due to safety negligence.

Understanding and adhering to NFPA 96 is key in maintaining safety in commercial kitchens. It covers all areas from ventilation control to cleaning schedules, emphasizing cleanliness to prevent fire risks. Different cooking operations need different levels of attention but the golden rule remains – cleaner kitchens have fewer ‘flaming’ surprises. Ignoring these guidelines can lead not only to fires, but also potential legal consequences.