Prolong the Life of your Commercial Kitchen Exhaust System

April 19, 2023

Prolong the life of your commercial kitchen exhaust system by performing these five simple steps as part of your daily, weekly and monthly routines.

1. Reducing Downtime

Scheduled maintenance checks should include inspections of the filters, hood and any other visible areas within the system for high levels of grease build-up. Airflow checks are also important (i.e. is it too hot in the kitchen) and is the fan making any unusual noises? By dealing with any potential problems early on, it can avoid costly breakdowns. Your commercial kitchen exhaust system’s fan is constantly in battle with its external environment to remove the airborne cooking byproducts from the air in your kitchen. If the fan is loaded with grease, it has to work harder and can mean it’s not working properly. Maintenance checks ensure that your fan is in good working condition to avoid increases in energy bills as well as equipment failures, which are not only expensive but disruptive to trade.

2. Regular Maintenance Maximises your Return on Investment

Just like regular check-ups at the dentist help to keep our teeth in good condition, regular maintenance checks on your commercial kitchen equipment means you’ll have a functional kitchen for a lot longer. An exhaust fan can be an expensive piece of equipment, so paying to look after it makes good business sense. And imagine if you have to replace it unexpectedly and it causes delays to your service. You don’t want to disappoint hungry customers!

3. Using Less Energy

Planned maintenance checks ensure your equipment is running efficiently. Small changes can affect how hard your commercial kitchen equipment has to work, and as a result, how much energy it uses. Not only is energy consumption important for your budget, but it’s also a contributing factor to climate change.

4. Meeting Health & Safety Regulations

A poorly maintained kitchen exhaust system increases the risk of breaching health & safety regulations. So not keeping up with regular maintenance can be costly in a number of ways. Imagine dishes not being cleaned properly or equipment that is unsafe for staff to use. Don’t cut corners. Instead, come out on top with the reputation as a cafe or restaurant owner who prioritises the health and safety of your customers and employees.

5. Reducing the Risk of Fire

With all the grease and other airborne particles being extracted on a daily basis, you cannot forget to service the commercial kitchen ductwork and ventilation system regularly. Just because you can’t see it, it doesn’t mean the grease build-up isn’t there. If you haven’t arranged for regular inspections and cleans (when required) by reputable commercial cleaners, any insurance policies will potentially be invalidated. Accumulated grease and oil within a commercial kitchen’s exhaust system builds up fast. Flash flame or very high temperatures within the duct can ignite the grease, causing fire to spread rapidly, igniting flammable materials at various points along the ductwork path.

How to Minimise Grease Accumulation in your Commercial Kitchen

As opposed to metal kitchen grease filters that only stop 20-40% of grease vapours to enter the hood, Shepherd Filters capture up to an impressive 98%. Greatly reducing the grease build-up that enters the plenum, ductwork, fans, and roofs minimises the risk of potentially catastrophic fires.

Quick and easy to install and disposed of in seconds, changing a Shepherd Filter is dramatically more straightforward than degreasing a filter or cleaning a kitchen exhaust system.

With airborne grease heavily reduced from entering the kitchen hood exhaust system, immediate savings occur in labour costs associated with cleaning metal grease filters and the number of kitchen duct cleans. With less grease build-up, businesses can greatly reduce the amount of water and harsh chemicals required to maintain a clean kitchen exhaust system.

Energy savings are made as well! Rooftop fans, HVAC and other extraction equipment results in their more efficient operation, not to mention less maintenance.

Wool is also a renewable natural resource and as Shepherd Filters are made from 100% wool, the filter media is carbon-neutral and will break down in landfill.