Keeping Your Kitchen Well Aired – The Benefits of Your Ventilation Ductwork, Cleaning and More

 When it comes to the health and safety within your commercial kitchen environment, ventilation is essential to take away the fumes, vapours and large amounts of heat that are produced within a busy commercial kitchen. Without adequate ventilation, either as a result of a system that isn’t quite fit for purpose, and because of poor or no ductwork cleaning, these fumes and hot air can build up to a critical point, and may result in the very real risk of a potentially lethal fire.

Your commercial kitchen ventilation system is highly complex, managing and regulating the air flow through specially installed ductwork, all in what is usually a very restricted space.

It is typically made up of an exhaust hood or canopy to capture the fumes, vapour and heat; ductwork to carry the contaminated air away to the fan; the fan itself which moves the contaminated air out of the building; and a way of making up the air to contain the right elements for safe combustion, either through a separate and independent system or via an existing heating, ventilation and air conditioning system within the building.

What to Expect From Your Commercial Kitchen Ventilation System

When it comes to what you should be looking for in an effective commercial kitchen ventilation system, these are many and varied:

·     Removing fumes – the fumes that are created when cooking food can be harmful to your health in large doses. Smoke from cooking, and especially from frying and grilling, can contain particles that are known to pollute the air and to cause cancer, as well as other pulmonary problems. Your commercial kitchen ventilation system will take away these fumes as they are created, drawing them up from the stove top and into the canopy above.

·     Taking away hot air – the hot air from your cooker will be taken away in the same manner as the fumes and vapours, replaced by cooler make up air brought back into the environment in relatively equal amounts. This helps to stop heat building up in the ductwork and potentially triggering a fire.

·     Keeping the air movement in the kitchen comfortable – in moving the heat, fumes and vapours, and the air that contains them, away from your commercial kitchen, and pumping cooler air back in, your ventilation system will also keep a more regulated, temperate air moving around your kitchen, rather than having areas of intense warmth and cool.

·     Preventing the risk of carbon monoxide accumulation – the air brought in by your ventilation system will contain the correct levels of each element to ensure that when your gas needs to be ignited, it works quickly and efficiently, and results in complete combustion, without leaving carbon monoxide behind.

·     Easy to clean – as a matter of course, your ventilation system will include sections that are not easy to clean, such as your ductwork and the internal workings of the canopy and fan. And with ductwork cleaning a legal obligation, when looking into your commercial kitchen ventilation it is a good idea to bear cleaning in mind.

·     Quiet and vibration free – older or poorly installed systems may be noisy, but high levels of noise may also contravene health and safety standards. A well maintained, correctly mounted ventilation system should not create high levels of vibration and should therefore be much quieter.

Commercial Kitchen Ventilation and Ductwork Cleaning – A Legal Requirement

As we have seen above, the vapours and fumes within a commercial kitchen may contain significant health risks if left to build up.  And as a potentially volatile place, with flames regularly being ignited, the harmful vapours can easily turn into a fire risk as well. For this reason there is strict legislation when it comes to commercial kitchen ventilation, with requirements for regular ductwork cleaning, as well as the rest of the system including every element of the canopy and fan. This cleaning should be carried out by a professional ductwork cleaning company, who will issue a full safety certificate with which you can prove you have met your obligations.

Ingot Services – Commercial Kitchen and Ductwork Cleaning Specialists

Whether for a small free standing site or for a large institutional kitchen, and from Michelin star restaurants through to cafes, Ingot Services have been working with commercial kitchen clients throughout he UK for over 25 years.

For kitchen extract cleaning, kitchen deep cleaning, canopy cleaning and for your ductwork cleaning (links to www.ingotservices.co.uk) , we are fully trained and qualified by the HVCA. So with us you can rest assured that we understand your commercial kitchen ventilation, and that we will work with you to ensure it is working as well, and as efficiently, as it possibly can.

Find out more about the ventilation system in your commercial kitchen and about the commercial kitchen services, including your ductwork cleaning services available from Ingot Services.