Get the Facts About How Often Flue Cleaning Should Be Completed in Southern California

Did you realize that cleaning your commercial kitchen’s flue on a regular basis is extremely essential? In general, a filthy flue and exhaust system may be unsanitary, inefficient, and potentially hazardous. This is because accumulated grease may quickly create a flash fire.

A single strike of a match or a single towel catching fire during the cooking process can cause a devastating flash fire, resulting in a call to the fire department, a major disruption in your operation, and the need to repair your expensive commercial kitchen appliances. Sign up for Flue Steam‘s commercial kitchen exhaust system cleaning services to avoid all of that. You’ll save yourself a lot of time and effort!

How often do you do it?

You might be asking how frequently the flue in your business kitchen should be cleaned to avoid a harmful situation. We recommend signing up for hand scraping services on a monthly basis for most commercial kitchens, and complementing with steam cleaning services 2-4 times a year.

Hand scraping entails scraping all grease deposits in accessible places using a simple, efficient hand scraper. While this approach is effective, steam cleaning, which uses hot, pressured water to reach every crevice of your commercial kitchen exhaust system, is more comprehensive. Steam cleaning necessitates more work at first and is more expensive, but it produces superior results.

Hand scraping services are preferred by most commercial kitchen managers on a weekly or monthly basis, with steam cleaning services augmenting it 2-4 times per year.

How will the flue in my kitchen be accessed?

This is a common inquiry we get from customers who are interested in flue cleaning services. Our flue cleaning specialists will get access to your flue through access panels. The exhaust hood is the most visible, followed by the duct access panels, which will be removed for cleaning and then reinstalled using a special fire-rated caulking compound.

The exhaust fan will be cleaned after that. It features a hinged base and additional electrical wire if it was installed according to fire code standards. For cleaning, our specialists will simply turn it on its side.

Are you concerned about the security of your access panels?

If your flue doesn’t have enough access panels or they’re not in the right position, we’ll gladly install them for you in accordance with all applicable laws, regulations, and materials, as specified by NFPA 96 and the California Mechanical Code.

Obligations under the Code

When you work with Flue Steam, you won’t have to worry about satisfying your exhaust system’s code requirements anymore. We’ll put a “Certificate of Performance” label on your system after each cleaning that shows the date of service, the frequency of service, and whether your system has any inaccessible places. We urge that you preserve this sticker as proof that you’ve followed the code’s requirements.

If you need help with flue cleaning, kitchen fire prevention, and other commercial kitchen needs, contact Flue Steam at 800-700-FLUE for help.