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 hood cleaning 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 kitchen exhaust cleaning 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.
- Then they should bring the rest of the equipment inside your establishment.
- All filters are removed and brought to wherever they are going to be cleaned. This may be outside, this may be in a commercial sink, or against the equipment.
- The hood cleaning technician should then evaluate what is necessary to clean your kitchen exhaust system.
- Including, checking out how bad it is behind the filters, inside the grease duct, locating the fan, doing a process called flipping the fan.
- After, reevaluate what is needed to clean the kitchen exhaust system up to the NFPA 96 codes.
- If panels are needed they should offer to cut them in. If There are preexisting panels they should be removed in order to expose the duct work.
- Any necessary scraping with scrapers is done at this point.
- Due to the nature of gravity it is good practice to start at the fan unit, The exhaust fan is flipped to give us access to clean the blades. the next step is to begin to degrease scrub and power wash as necessary to make the fan spotless not just the outside of the fan or the inside top, But under the fan blades where grease laden vapors accumulate.
- The next part of your kitchen exhaust system to tackle is your duct work, hood cleaners scrape degrease and power wash as necessary to clean your duct work. Some times an attachment called a mosmatic spinjet is required to clean your ductwork. This item attaches on the end of a power washer hose. It spins sending out water and chemical under high pressure. This is used if cleaning can not be done under the normal method of using a power washer gun.
- Once your fan and ductwork is cleaned the greaser, can then move on to the inside work namely your kitchen exhaust hood. They scrape, degrease, scrub with a steel scrub pad and power wash the inner part of your kitchen exhaust hood, Behind where the filters sit. Then repeat the process for the part of your hood in front of where the filters sit.