Hood Cleaning and Fire Suppression on One Schedule for South Florida Kitchens

What’s in the program

• Hood and duct cleaning covers the hood, plenum, filters, ductwork through the access panels and the rooftop exhaust fan, on the inspection schedule that fits how you cook. More on our hood cleaning page.
• The kitchen fire suppression inspection comes every six months. We check the detection line and fusible links, nozzles and caps, the agent cylinder, the pull station and the gas or electric shutoff. Once the system passes, we tag it and leave the report. See kitchen fire suppression inspection.
• Preventive maintenance covers filters and fans. We swap your hood filters for clean ones on a set schedule. The sticker shows when they were last replaced and when the next set is due. See filter exchange. While we’re on the roof, we check the exhaust fan and its belt and look for grease escaping around it.

Two more services from the same office have their own pages. The kitchen air balance check is for a kitchen where the AC can’t keep up, and restaurant hood installation is for a new store.

One calendar for every kitchen

Each part of the program runs on its own clock.

For the hood system, fire-marshal guidance based on NFPA 96 ties grease inspections to how you cook:

• Monthly for solid-fuel cooking.
• Quarterly for high-volume kitchens such as 24-hour, charbroil or wok operations.
• Every six months for moderate volume.
• Once a year for low-volume operations like churches, day camps and seasonal businesses.

That schedule is for inspection. When an inspection finds grease buildup, the system has to be cleaned.

The suppression system runs on a six-month cycle. Florida fire department checklists look for a hood suppression service tag less than six months old. Filters run on whatever cycle your volume calls for.

We put all of those dates on one calendar per location and line them up, so each visit covers as much as the schedules allow. You get a reminder before every visit. Past reports and upcoming appointments for every store are online through our customer service portal.

What each person gets

The general manager gets a date on the calendar before anything comes due, a reminder ahead of the visit, and a crew that works around service.

The owner or operator gets the same report format at every location, with before-and-after photos. Each store’s past reports and upcoming visits are online, so you can see whether every kitchen is current.

The landlord or property manager gets proof of service. The report is in the portal, ready to forward when they ask.

The fire inspector finds what Florida checklists ask for. Broward County’s local fire code calls for fire inspections of buildings and premises at least once a year. On inspection day, you’ll have:

• A suppression service tag less than six months old. The technicians who do this work in Florida need a state permit. The service tag shows the technician’s name and permit number.
• The signed inspection report. After each inspection or service of a pre-engineered system in Florida, the technician completes an inspection report and a signed copy goes to the owner.
• A hood cleaning certificate to keep on site, plus labels near the access panels.
• In Broward County, a copy of the cleaning report, with before-and-after photos, goes to the local fire authority. Our reports carry those photos.

Why fewer vendors means fewer missed dates

In South Florida, hood cleaning and kitchen fire suppression service are usually sold by different companies. They’re regulated differently, too. In Florida, a business that services, inspects, installs or recharges pre-engineered fire suppression systems must be licensed by the Division of State Fire Marshal. Hood cleaning falls under the fire code, which requires a grease-contaminated kitchen exhaust system to be cleaned by properly trained, qualified and certified people who are acceptable to the local fire authority.

That’s how one kitchen ends up with two or three vendors, each with its own reminders, report format and idea of when you’re due. Dates drift. A manager leaves, and the schedule leaves too. One store’s tag runs out while another store’s cleaning comes a month early.

With one company, each kitchen has one set of dates and one report. We’re licensed by the State Fire Marshal for kitchen fire suppression systems, and our crews clean the hoods too. The company that cleans around your suppression system is the same one that tags it.

Tenant kitchens on one schedule

If you manage a plaza or a mixed-use building with restaurant tenants, every tenant’s exhaust ends up on your roof. A tenant’s missed cleaning becomes your problem.

Broward County’s local fire code lets the fire department order grease buildup in kitchen exhaust ducts removed as a hazard. Florida fire inspection checklists, such as Charlotte County’s, look for a grease catch container on the roof vent and no grease on the roof surface.

We can put every restaurant tenant on one calendar, with the rooftop fans and grease containment on the same cycle and a report for each kitchen.

Licensing, reports and emergency repairs

• Reports with before-and-after photos, scheduled service reminders, and online access to past reports and upcoming appointments.
• Work scheduled around your kitchen’s hours, including overnight.
• Licensed by the Florida Division of State Fire Marshal to service, repair, install and inspect pre-engineered kitchen fire suppression systems.
• A CaptiveAire TANK certified technician on staff.
• Emergency repairs, with rapid response across South Florida from our Plantation office.
• We service electrostatic precipitators (pollution control units), which few companies are licensed to do.
• Installs with the city filing handled for you.
• A staffed South Florida office in Plantation.
• 5-star rated on Google.

Questions we hear about the program