hood cleaning
Restaurant hood cleaning is vital to keeping the efficiency of your exhaust system high. I would like to talk about the hoods themselves in this article. The hood is designed to do two things:
- Act as a fire protection device by removing the grease
- Remove smoke and heat from cooking area below
The kitchen exhaust system is designed to pull grease laden smoke up into the hood and to the filters where it is filtered, turned back into grease then emptied into a catch tray. The three basic hood designs are the canopy, the galley and the downdraft. The closer the hood is to the cooking surface, the more efficient it is.
The hood is where the first filtration of the smoke takes place. The size of the hood depends upon the type of cooking equipment and actual size of the equipment being utilized.
There are two types of commercial hoods in restaurants. First is the Type 1 which is used over grease producing equipment. By law, these hoods must be continuously welded and must be suspended by non-combustible hangers.
Type 2 hoods may be used over appliances that only produce steam, fumes and odors only! They also do not require filters. It is a restaurant hood cleaning company’s responsibility to inform the owner in writing that a Type 2 system over grease producing equipment is not fire safe because of its construction.
If dampers are installed in the throat of the hood, there must be access for proper cleaning. The access is suppose to be as close as possible to the hood but should not exceed 18 inches according to NFPA #96.
Down-draft hoods are rare nowadays, but there are still a few of them out there. A hood cleaner must be very careful with these systems because they collect a heavy amount of grease because of gravity. The air current takes the smoke down under the restaurant before exiting the building.
The most common type of hoods seen in restaurants today are canopy style. They are a simple design, do a good job and are easy to maintain. Restaurant hood cleaning is normally a simple task with these hoods. Just make sure that your hood cleaning company is cleaning the entire exhaust system and not the hood only.
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