COMMON PROBLEMS TROUBLESHOOTING

BELOW ARE EASY SOLUTIONS TO YOUR SHEPHERD FILTERS PROBLEMS

SCORCHING / HOLES IN FILTERS

Is the fan turned on whenever cooking equipment is in use?
Are your staff using flambe cooking where the flame gets close to the filters?
Is the scorched filter above a fryer and can you get a photo of this to us? (A deflector often can help in this situation to disperse heat.)
Is the scorched filter above a combi oven where the steam outlet is directly scorching the filter? (A deflector may help with this).
Do you have a variable speed switch that you can turn up?
It’s best to avoid flame cooking, can you do this?
If any filters are scorched, change this filter to a new sheet the next time cooking equipment is switched off.

SMOKE IN KITCHEN

Is your fan turned on?
Do you have a variable speed switch that you can turn up?
Has airflow changed significantly since changing from a honeycomb filter to our new baffle filter?
Are filters being changed when they are due or are they blocking up? Send us a photo please and say how many days the filters have been in for showing equipment underneath.
Is the dishwasher hood extracting lots of air?
Do you think your pass is sucking air out of your kitchen or is your back door open?

WHISTLING FILTERS

Slight gaps either side of the baffle frame may allow a whistling sound.
Take a pair of tongues or rod, and move the filter left to right, up and down.
Take filter out and flip filter 180 degrees side to side.
A change of gap location can help. Send us a photo showing cooking equipment underneath and we will reply with advice.
Do you have a variable speed switch that can be made milder and see if the whistling is less when turning this switch down and up?

FILTERS IN BACKWARDS (ZEBRA STRIPES)

This wastes wool as the airflow pulls the wool into the baffles and the grease isn’t captured there.
Take the filter out of hood, take outer frame face off, turn over to the mesh side, put the wool then the outer frame face back on. Refer to: https://shepherdfilters.com/shepherd-filters-change-guide/

HORIZONTAL FRAMES (SQUARE FRAMES)

This can reduce airflow and unbalance filters.
Ask the customer to take frame out of hood, take frame face off, rotate frame 180 degrees, put frame face back on so that the handles are on the sides, then put back into hood. Refer to https://shepherdfilters.com/shepherd-filters-change-guide/

CUSTOMER WANTS TO SWAP / ROTATE FILTERS

We don’t recommend this because if that part of the filter is already saturated, it can lead to contaminated frames and the fresh part of the filter will fill up very fast.
It’s our experience that the frames can become dirty because that part of the filter has already reached capacity.

CUSTOMER CONCERNED ABOUT HOW MANY FILTERS ARE BEING CHANGED

We change more filters in the first week to see grease on different days and familiarise staff with changes. This is proven to REDUCE YOUR FUTURE CHANGES.
I would love to remind you that grease is now being stopped 365 days a year and just how much grease is being stopped! The old way only stopped 20%, etc.
Your duct cleaning costs can be reduced now you are stopping so much more grease at the filters – up to 98% compared to 30-40%.
Make sure staff take turns at changing filters not just all on one person!
We review your usage at 30 days and help with an order plan that works for you!