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Squeaky Hoods

The standard

NFPA 96: how often, and what you should be left with

Your fire inspector cites NFPA 96. It sets an inspection schedule rather than a cleaning calendar, and it asks for three records at the end of a clean. Here is what each one is, and how to check you got it.

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  • Baffle filters seated in a commercial kitchen hood, still carrying a brown film of grease, with overhead pipework crossing in front of them.
  • A commercial hood section and a row of baffle filters stood out on a car park at night, lined up on the tarmac ready to be washed.
  • Looking up into the inside of a commercial kitchen hood after cleaning, the plenum and its baffles down to bare stainless metal.
  • The duct collar in the top of a commercial kitchen hood after cleaning, with the ductwork running away above it and bare metal around the opening.
Filters, hood and duct collar from one job — greasy on the left, and the same system opened up and washed down.

01How often

The standard does not set a cleaning calendar

It sets how often the system has to be looked at. What the inspection finds is what decides whether it gets cleaned.

InspectCooking volume
MonthlySolid fuelWood or charcoal, whatever else is on the line
QuarterlyHigh volumeCharbroiling, wok cooking, a line running around the clock
SemiannuallyModerate volumeMost restaurants sit here
AnnuallyLow volumeSeasonal kitchens, church halls, day camps, senior centres

Those are the rows of Table 11.4 in the 2021 edition — the one Florida adopts through Fla. Admin. Code 69A-60.005. The examples under each row are the standard’s own illustrations, not a test you can score yourself against, and there is no covers-per-day threshold anywhere in it.

Cleaning is triggered by what the inspection measures. The line is a grease depth of 0.078 in. (2,000 µm) on the surfaces of the system, and 0.125 in. (3,175 µm) inside a fan housing. Past that, it comes off.

Which row a kitchen sits in is a judgement about that kitchen, and not one to make from a web page. The way to find out is to open an access panel and look — tell us what you cook and we’ll take it from there.

What a clean should leave behind

Three records, and the standard asks for all three. They are also the simplest way to check any contractor’s work, ours included — handed none of them, you have no record that the job happened.

  1. A label on the hood

    A sticker on the equipment itself, carrying who cleaned it, the date, and any areas that were not cleaned. It is the first thing an inspector looks for, because it is the only one of the three that lives on the hood.
    A Certificate of Performance sticker on the stainless steel of a cleaned hood, carrying the Squeaky Hoods badge, a phone number, and the line “in accordance with NFPA 96 standards”.

  2. A certificate for your records

    The servicing company, the person who actually did the work, and the date — issued to you and kept on the premises. Ours is headed Certificate of Performance.

  3. A written note of what could not be reached

    Where a run of duct has no access panel, the standard asks for that in writing rather than left unmentioned. It is the record most kitchens have never been handed, and the one that tells you what is still up there.

Start with a look inside

Find out what your system actually needs

Tell us what you run and how hard it runs. We’ll come back with a quote that says how far up the system the clean goes.

Get a free quote(321) 497-7793