Why Should I Clean the Kitchen Hood?
Also called a range or exhaust hood, a commercial kitchen hood resides over equipment such as fryers, ovens, and broilers to filter smoke, steam, and grease particles out of the kitchen air while cooking. Smoke and other carcinogens can be safety hazards to both employees and patrons.
If you don’t regularly clean the hood, these smoke, steam, and grease particles can build up on the hood. Layer after layer, it will begin to pile on. As the layers build up, the less functional the hood will be at removing the pollutants from the air.
Eventually, the contaminants won’t be able to escape, and it will ruin the air quality in the building.
Not only is this an air quality safety hazard, but it is also a fire hazard. Both are big problems that you want to avoid. So, how do you clean a greasy range hood?
How to Clean a Kitchen Hood
You must perform exhaust hood cleaning frequently and then put it back together correctly to best serve its function. A clean range hood will perform its job much better than a dirty one.
Degrease Inside and Outside
For starters, you must clean all grease and debris on and around the hood. If food or grease particles have started to build up, you may need to start scraping. Don’t be afraid to use some elbow grease to help battle any buildup.
Clean the Hood Filters
Next, remove the filters from the hood and scrub them down. If the equipment accommodates it, you can even put the range hood filters through the dishwasher. Make sure to use a degreaser to scrub the filters to ensure the removal of all grease.
Clean the Grease Trap
This step typically applies in a two-hood system. The grease trap helps keep fats, oils, and grease particles from the fryer or the stove from clogging up the ventilation system or the pipes in the sewage system.
Note: a hood’s grease trap shouldn’t be confused with your restaurant’s grease trap.
Start cleaning the grease trap by responsibly disposing of the grease and other particles collected there. Then, scrub out the grease trap thoroughly with a degreaser.
Clean the Hood Exhaust Fan
The hood fan also needs to be removed in the cleaning process. Scrub the fan to remove all the large particles first. Then, send it through the dishwasher for further cleaning.
Clean the Hood Duct
The hood duct is the visible part of the hood over the grill. Clean this inside and out with the same degreasing solution you used on the other parts of the kitchen hood.
Remember, a degreaser will be your best friend throughout this process.
Once everything is cleaned and dried, reinstall it all. It should be squeaky clean and ready to go.
When Should You Clean Your Hood System?
Regular cleaning should happen daily, and there is no exception when it comes to your hood system. Perform a light, superficial cleaning on the hood duct every single day. Leave the thorough cleaning, where you disassemble the hood, to once a week.
It is also good to do intense, deep cleaning of the hood system quarterly or even monthly. You may contract professional hood cleaning services to perform your deep cleaning.
Call Darling Ingredients Canada for Sustainable Kitchen Solutions
Inevitably, you and your staff will have to perform specific cleaning duties regularly. It is simply a part of the game, but there are ways to ease the burden of cleaning and lighten the load.
Darling Ingredients Canada is a company that can help with that. Darling Ingredients Canada has solutions for handling your grease waste so you can spend more time managing your kitchen and focusing on other parts of your business.
No matter what industry your business is in, if you handle food (and grease), Darling Ingredients can take on some of the work and help make your work easier.
Darling Ingredients: For Your Industry Needs
Darling Ingredients works with all kinds of industries handling food, and grease, from restaurants and supermarkets to stadiums and industrial operations and everything in between, to pick up the grease and meat byproducts that would otherwise go to waste and recycle it into something new.
Darling Ingredients makes the disposal of your used cooking oil easy while helping you contribute to a greener tomorrow. If you want one less thing on your to-do list and to see your waste turned into sustainably sourced quality products utilized worldwide, call today at 1-800-263-0302.
A Greener Tomorrow
You can be a part of the solution for the climate crisis. Darling Ingredients Canada can make it easy for you to play your part.
If you want your used cooking oil, that you already have to dispose of in some way, to be used to create healthier alternatives for our earth, such as biofuel and graphene, Darling Ingredients Canada can make that happen.
Darling Ingredients Canada is an established and trusted company that will guide you through the process of choosing the best set up and used cooking oil container for you and your needs. We will work with your schedule to come collect the used oil and give in new, valuable life by repurposing it.
Our convenient approach to recycling will ease some of your stress and contribute to a greener tomorrow. Call today at 1-800-263-0302 to give nature a second life.