Just because you can’t see something, it doesn’t mean it can be overlooked. Essential commercial kitchen maintenance is vital with ductwork, extraction and ventilation. It might look clean, but if deposits of grease are allowed to accumulate in extract ductwork, a flash flame or high temperature may cause them to ignite.
To protect your staff, visitors and your equipment, ductwork and extraction should be regularly checked and cleaned.
A fire can spread rapidly
If deposits are ignited, the flames can then spread rapidly, setting fire to the flammable materials along the ductwork path. As the flames travel along the ductwork, it spreads the fire to other parts of the building, causing significant damage.
Often, kitchens are on the ground floor of a building, so imagine the risk to residents in a care home or a hotel, for example. In addition to the safety of residents or visitors, the work to repair your extraction and kitchen can be both lengthy and costly.
More reasons to keep ductwork clean
As well as reducing the risk of fire, regular duct cleans will:
- help keep your energy bills down by as much as 35%
- reduce airborne carcinogens and carbon monoxide
- keep your staff healthier and more comfortable at work
- be needed to validate your insurance, and
- ensure you’re not at risk of prosecution under fire legislation.
How will extraction and ductwork be cleaned?
While daily cleaning should keep the outside of extractor hoods clean, accumulated grease needs more than just soap and water. Special cleaning chemicals and tools are needed to ensure ductwork is cleaned properly to TR19 standards.
And the ductwork needs to be properly checked inside, which means a team that is trained to work at height.
At TWO Services, we don’t just clean canopies and filters. We carry out a thorough ventilation and internal ductwork clean to BESA standards. It’s the only way to give you (and your insurers) complete peace of mind. We can also check that ductwork has been properly fitted.
How often should ductwork be checked?
It depends on the kitchen and the intensity of equipment use – how many people are being catered for, how many days per week and how many hours is the kitchen is in operation. At TWO Services, we advise that ductwork checks are carried out quarterly, but at a minimum, every 6 months. Don’t gamble and leave it to chance, make ductwork checks part of your planned kitchen cleaning and maintenance.
Working with TWO Services
Very few other UK companies can give you the simplicity and convenience of one expert team who can take care of maintenance as well as cleaning. We offer bespoke cleaning regimes where we tailor our approach to suit your finances and your schedule – it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
All our work is carried out in accordance with the European, Food Safety & Hygiene (England) Regulations (in all cases, the latest issue applies) and COSHH. And we’re accredited to BS EN ISO 9001:2015, BS EN ISO 14001: 2015 (environmental) and OHSAS 18001: 2007 (health and safety).
Hospitality cleaning for Covid-19
Cleaning and maintenance for safe kitchens
Protect your kitchen with combined cleaning and maintenance
If you would like more advice on keeping your ductwork, extraction and ventilation safe, call us on 0800 22 44 33 or visit www.two-services.com.
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Essential commercial kitchen maintenance – 18 August 2020 – Essential commercial kitchen maintenance