How often should my commercial kitchen’s flue be cleaned?

September 23, 2018

Did you know that it’s absolutely essential to make sure your commercial kitchen’s flue is cleaned on a regular basis? A dirty flue and exhaust system in general can be extremely unhygienic, inefficient, and even dangerous. That’s because a flash fire can easily result from built-up grease. One strike of a match or one towel that catches fire during the cooking process can result in a disastrous flash fire that not only results in someone getting hurt, it means a call to the fire department, a huge interruption in your business, and necessitates the repair of your pricey commercial kitchen appliances. Skip that entire hassle by signing up for commercial kitchen exhaust system cleaning services from Flue Steam. You’ll save yourself so much hassle and stress!

How often?

You may be wondering how often your commercial kitchen’s flue should be cleaned to prevent a dangerous situation from arising. For most commercial kitchens, we recommend signing up for hand scraping services on a monthly basis, and supplementing it with steam cleaning services 2-4 times per year. Hand scraping involves the simple, effective hand scraping of all grease deposits in accessible areas. While this method is great, it’s not as thorough as steam cleaning, which utilizes hot, pressurized water to reach every nook and cranny of your commercial kitchen exhaust system. Steam cleaning requires more effort on the outset, and costs more, but it also delivers better results. Most commercial kitchen managers opt for hand scraping services on a monthly basis, with steam cleaning services supplementing it 2-4 times per year.

How will my kitchen’s flue be accessed?

This is a question we often receive from people who are signing up for flue cleaning services. Well, our flue cleaning technicians will access your flue through access panels. The most obviously apparent one is the exhaust hood, then the duct access panels, which will be remove for cleaning and then sealed back in place using a special fire-rated caulking compound. Then, the exhaust fan will be cleaned. If it was installed according to fire code requirements, it has a hinged base and extra electrical cable. Our technicians will simply tip it over on its side for cleaning.

Concerned about your access panels?

If your flue doesn’t have enough access panels, or they haven’t been placed correctly, we would be happy to install them for you according to all applicable rules, regulations, and materials according to NFPA 96 and California Mechanical Code.

Code obligations

When you partner with Flue Steam, you won’t have to worry about meeting your code obligations in relation to your exhaust system anymore. After each cleaning, we’ll place a “Certificate of Performance” sticker on your system that shows the date of service, the service frequency, and whether any inaccessible areas exist in your system. We recommend keeping this sticker as proof that you have fulfilled your code obligations.