Kitchen duct cleaning tips
If you’re responsible for premises with a kitchen, you’re also responsible for the proper management of the equipment – including the kitchen ducting. Kitchen duct cleaning might seem like a time-consuming chore that you can dismiss with little consequences but failing to make sure they are adequately cleaned at appropriate intervals could mean you’re not complying with regulations. But don’t worry we have all the information and tips you need.
Why do you need to clean a kitchen duct?
When people are busy cooking away the kitchen ducting and extraction system works to remove all the grease, heat, and steam that it creates. The filters built into the system are designed to protect against grease deposits building up but small particles do get through and can accumulate over time.
When left uncleaned, kitchen ducts can become significant fire risks, violating the regulations you should be adhering to. All your extraction ductwork would need to meet TR19 regulations, which specify there should be no grease along any part of the duct that exceeds a thickness of 500um, as any more than this could result in a fire. Your legally obliged to clean ducts under both the Regulatory Reform Order 2005 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations. You needed to regularly assess for fire risks due to these regulations and checking the kitchen ducts is a core part of this.
Cleaning kitchen ducts
So, how frequently and how should you be undertaking kitchen duct cleaning? Firstly, there’s no one rule for how often your kitchen ducts will need to be cleaned it will depend on a huge range of other factors, including installation date, size of the cooking area, how often the kitchen is used, whether other filtration systems are installed, and local building regulations.
However, these cleaning schedules provide you with a rough guide for how frequently you should be checking and cleaning your kitchen ducts.
- Used two to six hours per day – Annually
- Used seven to 12 hours per day – Every six months
- Used 12 to 16 hours per day – Quarterly
Luckily, cleaning your kitchen duct shouldn’t disrupt your usual business or working hours. It’s a task that should be undertaken out of usual operating hours to not only minimise the disruption to your business but to protect workers too.
Effectively cleaning a kitchen duct should incorporate numerous different elements, such as brushing, vibration, and vacuuming. For the best results, you should contact a professional team, who have specialist approved cleaning equipment. Here at Rainbow International, we keep ducts under negative pressure during the cleaning process, this stops the accumulated dust and dirt from contaminating other parts of the system and kitchen and provide an air change before staff and customers return, ensuring that your establishment is kept clean and fresh.