Why Is Kitchen Hood Cleaning So Important?

If you are a restaurant owner in the Houston, Texas area, you probably know that you need to have a hood system installed in your kitchen—this is a basic requirement not only for compliance with local and national fire codes but also for keeping your building safe. But simply having a kitchen hood system installed is not enough—you need to make sure it is kept clean and well maintained at all times.

The purpose of your kitchen hood is to trap grease, smoke, and grime before any of the pollutants escape into the rest of your kitchen and out into your restaurant. Needless to say, the kitchen hood can become a firetrap if the grease and oil is not cleaned out regularly. Over time, grease and grime deposits can coagulate and turn into a sticky, extremely flammable glue-like substance inside the kitchen hood system that, with enough heat, can potentially ignite. This puts your employees, customers, assets, and building in danger of a fire emergency. In addition to the fire hazards associated with dirty kitchen hoods, there are a number of reasons why having regular kitchen hood cleaning is important. Here are the top reasons:

• Clean fire hoods prevent potentially dangerous particulates from escaping into your restaurant’s air, lowering the air quality and potentially posing a health hazard to your customers and restaurant staff.
• Fire codes, as well as local fire officials, require that kitchen hoods be kept clean and well maintained at all times. If a restaurant is found with a dirty hood, it may be fined or shut down (or both!).
• Insurance carriers require restaurants to comply with all fire safety codes. If a restaurant is found in violation of code, the insurance carrier can drop the restaurant’s coverage or increase its premiums.

Benefits of Professional Kitchen Vent Hood Cleaning

One question we get quite often is whether or not professional kitchen vent hood cleaning is really necessary. The truth is if you really wanted to, you could clean your kitchen hood by yourself. However, it is strongly recommended that you let a professional fire protection services or kitchen hood cleaning company perform the task for the following reasons:

• Time and effort: Hood cleaning is dirty, difficult, and time consuming, and usually involves taking apart the system and cleaning the parts with special grease cutting chemicals. Experts know kitchens hoods very well. They know how to take them apart. They know how to clean them. They know how to put them back together. Hiring an expert can ensure that this is done efficiently and correctly.
• Intricate design: Kitchen hoods are very intricate and someone who does not know how they work can overlook certain crucial areas while cleaning—see the comment above!
• Potential repair issues: People who aren’t intimately familiar with kitchen hood systems may not be able to tell if certain parts of the kitchen hood system are working properly and it’s extremely important to make sure that each part of the kitchen hood works perfectly.
• Following fire codes: Professional kitchen hood cleaning companies are well-versed in fire codes and know how to make sure your system is compliant at all times. They can do the job faster and more effectively—in most circumstances—than the restaurant owner or restaurant staff.

When it comes down to it, the risks of not properly and thoroughly cleaning your kitchen—when you do it yourself—are likely to outweigh any money saved. Once you’ve had your kitchen hood cleaned by a professional, you’ll never think again about doing it yourself.

While we don’t provide vent hood cleaning services, we provide commercial vent hood inspections throughout the Houston area. Call now to schedule!