Compelling Reasons Why You Need Your Commercial Kitchen Exhaust Vent Cleaned

Constant cooking in the commercial kitchen leads to excess grease, smoke, and grime buildup. It may settle on vents, fan blades, and surfaces if not cleaned regularly. This poses a huge fire and safety risk for everyone inside the building. Over time the kitchen ventilation system and fire suppression system will accumulate grease. And we all know how dangerous grease fires can be in a commercial kitchen. 

Some fires may become a risk to the nearby buildings and lead to massive damages. The accumulation of grease in the commercial kitchen ventilation system, both the kitchen exhaust hood and the make-up air system, is a normal part of operations. This may start as negligible buildup but over time accumulate on the kitchen exhaust hoods, exhaust fans, fire suppression, and make-up air. This build up inside the commercial kitchen exhaust is quick fuel waiting for an open flame. Once the fire starts the kitchen ventilation system acts like a jet engine pulling in air through the exhaust hoods and shooting it out the exhaust fans. This is why you need to regularly clean and maintain your hood systems.  

All these reasons are compelling enough to keep your exhaust vents clean. However, in case you are still not convinced, we have discussed some more reasons below. Furthermore, the maintenance of the kitchen hood system and exhaust hoods is essential to keep the business running and ensure people are safe. 

Why do you need to clean exhaust vents?

Restaurant owners may not always understand the safety and cleanliness requirements of the commercial kitchen ventilation equipment. Moreover, they may neglect some minor issues that may become considerably bigger with time. Here are some detailed reasons why you need keep your commercial kitchen exhaust hood system vents cleaned for an optimal workflow. 

Improve the Productivity of your staff

Not dealing with exhaust vent clean-up at regular intervals may affect your work. You may need to schedule an appointment when there are serious issues, and that may impact the workflow. Moreover, these emergency clean-ups may take more time and money. Therefore, it is ideal for cleaning the exhaust vent regularly so that you can maintain productivity. 

Improve ventilation 

Now you may have excellent and well maintained kitchen AC but, if your kitchen exhaust hood is full of grime, it will decrease the exhaust hood flow allowing the hot cooking air to stay in the kitchen or worse to fill the dinning room with cooking odors and hazy smoke. Proper cleaning of exhaust vents will ensure good ventilation in the kitchen and healthy airflow. This will prevent any smoke in the air and eliminate any potential breathing hazards. 

Reduce particle emissions

If your kitchen hood becomes grimy, it may become less efficient in trapping grease and smoke. This may lead to higher particles in the building air. As a result, it will cause a potential health risk for your staff and other people in the building. 

Keep insurance costs lower

For the insurance companies to be on your side, you need to comply with all the commercial kitchen exhaust safety codes. In case of a violation, they may not be able to cover your insurance, and your premiums will increase. 

Save Time and effort

When you inspect and clean the exhaust vent on a regular basis, it will be easy to maintain. You will not have any unnecessary repairs that may have occurred due to the irregular inspection. Moreover, you will have lesser grease and dust to deal with, which will result in a quick clean-up. The professionals you hire will spend fewer efforts and time cleaning. Therefore, you will be back to work sooner. 

Fire safety codes

You may need to clean the exhaust vents in order to comply with the fire safety codes. Moreover, you may need to consider all the recent changes in fire safety regulations to ensure the kitchen hood and exhaust system are of an acceptable design. Cleaning the vent hood will ensure the sticky layer of grease is removed. 

Over time this layer can become dangerous as it may heat up to a high temperature and ignite a fire. Grease fires are hard to contain as they burn very hot. Apart from this, look into areas that may need repairs if you operate from an old building. Make the necessary changes, such as better access to the exhaust vents and hinge installation. 

Maintain kitchen hygiene

Cleaning your exhaust vents will ensure your kitchen remains free from unwanted pests such as insects and rodents that get attracted to the oils. In an unclean kitchen, these insects may be the reason for disease spread. 

Besides, the airborne contaminants may spread onto other surfaces, walls, and equipment. This may lead to potential fire and breathing hazards for the whole building. It will also be a sanitation concern as the buildup may start showing on ceilings, floor, tables, chairs, and fans.

In a Nutshell

Now you know all the compelling reasons why you need the exhaust vent cleaned. You will save a considerable amount of time and money with regular cleanups. Moreover, the ventilation will work at maximum efficiency and stay durable for a long time. Schedule a clean-up with professional kitchen hood and exhaust vent cleaning services to make sure your kitchen passes the authority inspection.