Regular maintenance and cleaning of your exhaust hood system is something that most kitchen staff can handle on a semi-regular basis. If you keep up with daily clean ups, and a decent deeper clean every week or so, your kitchen and your exhaust hood system should be relatively clean the majority of the time. But at least once or twice a year (sometimes even by law) you will be required to have your exhaust hood system thoroughly deep cleaned by a professional cleaning service. These cleaning services can properly clean your exhaust system very quickly and most importantly - efficiently - to ensure that everything is being cleaned and maintained. Here is a step-by-step process of what you an expect when you hiring a professional exhaust hood cleaning service.

1. Prep The Equipment

Before any cleaning takes place, the exhaust hood cleaning company should prep the kitchen for the cleaning. This helps to ensure that all equipment and materials inside the kitchen at the time of cleaning are not damaged or contaminated. Everything is covered in protective plastic wrap and tarps, and a funnel is constructed to guide any grease and water to the disposal to help prevent mess and residue being left behind. 

2. Hood Filter Deep Clean

A good exhaust hood cleaning company will not focus strictly on the exhaust hood system itself, and should perform a thorough cleaning of the hood filters, ductwork, and fans before they start pressure washing or even spraying on cleaning agents. This helps to remove the majority of gunk and build up that can leave quite a mess when pressure washed but also makes it easier for the cleaning agents to work by reducing the amount of contaminants they need to break down and loosen.

3. Cleaning Agent

Once the filters and ducts are cleaned, and the other appliances and kitchen area are prepped, a degreasing cleaning agent is applied. The degreasing will help break down and make grease much easier to be removed, while the cleaning agent helps ensure that no residue is left behind after the cleaning.

4. Pressure Washing

After the cleaning agent has had time to do it’s magic, the entire exhaust hood system and fan are pressure washed from top to bottom. The high pressure water removes any and all grease, dirt, oil, and other contaminants that have been collecting.

5. Detailed Clean Up

Once the pressure washing has been completed, it’s time for a thorough clean up. This should include going through the harder to reach places to ensure that those areas have been sufficiently cleaned. Excess water should be drained and dried up, the tarp funnel created to divert the water and grease should be broken down and tossed out, and all plastic covers and tarps should be removed to restore the kitchen itself back to how it was prior to the cleaning. 

6. Wipe & Polish

After the main clean up is over it’s time for a wipe down of the hood and fan’s themselves, and then hit them with a nice polish to ensure they are looking immaculately clean. 

7. Test Equipment

Before they leave the cleaning service should turn on and test the exhaust hood system to ensure everything is working correctly.

8. Certify The Cleaning

Last but not least is the certification sticker to show when the deep clean was performed and the company responsible for the cleaning. Make sure to leave this sticker visible and to not remove it as the sticker serves as a quick reference for a fire marshal or health inspector that wants to check to ensure that a professional deep cleaning was performed. Many companies will also provide the kitchen owner with before and after photos and other reports that detail what was done during the deep clean. These should be kept for record’s sake but also in case a marshal or inspector does ask for it.

Knowing what a professional exhaust hood deep cleaning entails not only helps you as the restaurant or kitchen owner from being knowledgable on what is going to happen, but it also helps prepare you to know what to look for when hiring a professional cleaning service. If the cleaning service isn’t providing all of the services above you may be wasting your money on a poorly done hood cleaning that can leave you with an even dirtier kitchen space when you hired them, as well as at risk of failed health or fire inspections, and / or your equipment being improperly cleaned and damaged. HoodMart provides our customers with a wide range of exhaust hood systems - from Compensating (Short Cycle) to Perforated Supply Plenum PSP - as well as all exhaust hood accessories such as no weld Grease Duct, hood filters, canopy hood lights, and curbs. If you still have questions regarding the purchase of your hood system, please feel free to contact one of our experts today by calling us at 1.800.715.1014 or by contacting us through our live chat system.