Michigan | Ohio | Restaurant vent a hood system Cleaning | Pizza Oven | Rooftop grease containment

Easy way to get an employee to clean restaurant hood baffle filters on a daily basis

Dave Ott — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:36:15 GMT

    Keeping employees productive in a restaurant is always an ongoing task, and below I will offer a simple solution for one area.
Cleaning is another responsibility that the kitchen staff usually hates. Sometimes it can be the amount one is given to clean in the kitchen on any given day. Many restaurant operators will wait until the cooking, and other kitchen equipment is heavily caked with grease, and dirt to finally get on the staff about cleaning.
    This is the same way with the hood filters, and it is usually a cook that complains about the smoke, and heat that are not leaving the kitchen through the exhaust system. The reason is the filters have been neglected and not cleaned on a regular basis or cleaning schedule, and are now not doing their job. The restaurant exhaust fan's motor is overloaded, and straining to pull heat and smoke through the clogged filters. An overloaded motor on any day, especially on a hot day will cause motor breakdown, and possible restaurant closure until the motor can be replaced. Depending on the situation you may have another fan on the same hood system to help take the place of the failed motor which will eventually also overload, or having just a one fan hood system which will surely stop food production, and revenue for the restaurant.


The hood filters have a job to do for your hood system. Filters are designed as a flame block in the event of a cooking grease fire below, and to catch grease laden vapors before it reaches the duct system. The filters capture the grease in the baffles and allow the grease to run down the baffles into the bottom of the filter. There the filter has small holes that drain the grease into the lower filter track, that is also know as the trough. The grease runs down the trough and into one end of the hood system where there is a grease cup for the grease to drain into. The grease cup is emptied on a regular basis to keep the process from flowing onto the floor, or onto cooking surfaces.

    When the filters are clogged, and have been neglected the grease will make it past the baffles and into the duct system, and up to the kitchen exhaust fan, and grease laden vapors is then sent into the outside air, and onto the roof. If the exhaust fan has no grease box to catch the grease that enters the bowl of the fan, it then drains onto your roof. Grease on any roof system will lead to many costly repair problems down the road.

    Filters that are cleaned on a regular basis, will help eliminate most of the grease laden vapors from entering the kitchen exhaust system. The tip that I have told many restaurant operators, and/or management is to implement a regular filter cleaning schedule preferably on a daily basis.
This tip will make an employee more productive, and able to accomplish other tasks set for them. Instead of dumping a whole set of neglected filters on the kitchen staff, simply clean one( minimum) filter a day, every day. This will alleviate an entire day of scraping and scrubbing. It is always better to maintain the filters on a daily schedule which will make employees more inclined to keep doing it on their own without having to be told.

    The best way that I have always recommended, is to have the employee remove one filter from the system at a time every day. This procedure can start from either side of the hood filter rack.

You will remove one filter from the high cooking area (e.g. fryers or charbroilers) while equipment is cool and have the employee clean the filter
At the safe opposite end you will push the filters to close the space where the other was removed
Then install the cleaned filter in the end you are pushing from

This process will repeat every day with the clean ones always replaced in the same area, and the dirty ones pushed into the same corner of the hood system. This way you know which ones are cleaned, and which are dirty for the next day. Eventually your filters will be maintained, and it will be impossible to notice the difference from a cleaned filter and a dirty filter. This is why you always take, and replace in the same order every time while doing this process. I have included an image below to help you better understand.

NOTE : Always use caution, and common sense when working around fryers, and all other cooking equipment. Standing or leaning over any cooking equipment especially fryers is never recommended, and is dangerous. It is always best to remove a filter before the equipment is on. It is also easier to replace the clean filter on the safest end of the hood, and this is the place where you would be pushing the dirty filters back over the area of high cooking where you took the original filter out.

Restaurant vent a hood system cleaning facts | Michigan Exhaust Cleaning

Dave Ott — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:35:00 GMT

Quicks Facts Restaurant hood cleaning from Michigan Exhaust

To be in compliance with your insurance company, fire inspectors, health departments, and all federal, state and local laws. Your Exhaust system must be routinely inspected and then cleaned if found to be grease laden

NFPA #96 Industry Standards (Bare Metal is Industry Standard)

The Inspection Schedule Recommended by NFPA is Here

If you pay a cheap price for the cleaning of your system there may be a reason.

Do they clean the entire kitchen exhaust system or just what you can see; like the hood? Remember the saying you get what you pay for?

Well in this instance you may be getting more than you were NOT bargaining for, like a devastating fire

Due to the liability of this service many contractors are not insured for what they do. Power washing insurance is not the same as KEC (Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning) insurance. It is expensive and hard to obtain without credentials. A certificate stating liability coverage will not protect you if it is not for KEC. Are you protected?

Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning should always include the fan top and bottom, grease box, ductwork and any access panels all the way down to the hood .

Cleaning just your hood is not fire prevention, cleaning your complete exhaust system as stated to bare metal is the proper procedure.

If your present company does not completely remove the fuel (grease) from your ductwork, then there is still fuel to feed the fire.

Inaccessible areas are just an excuse a shoddy vent a hood cleaning contractor will use to keep from having to clean a system properly

If the area is visible it is usually accessible in your grease ventilation system

The more grease and oil buildup present in a duct system the hotter the exhaust which in turn can result in a flash fire. Both carbon monoxide and grease laden vapors are unhealthy and a disaster waiting to happen.

In most cases if a flash fire occurs past the fire suppression system and reaches the roof; you then are at the fate of the local fire department. Do you know what the average response time is? Do you want to risk a Fire Fighters life, your customers, neighbors, yourself?

Michigan Exhaust Cleaning | Advertisement Video hood cleaning

Dave Ott — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 20:29:00 GMT

Let us kick this blog off with a quick video advertisement, from your hood cleaning company in Michigan, and Toledo Ohio