A restaurant extraction system is easy to forget because most of it sits out of sight: the inside of the hood plenum, the filters, the fan housing, and the duct run above the ceiling. Grease in those places is what fire officers and hygiene auditors ask about, and the only defensible answer is a written record that says what was cleaned, when, by whom, and how the result was verified. This article sets out an inspection-and-logging routine that a kitchen manager or a facilities contractor can put into practice immediately.
1. Set the standard before you clean
Write down, for each surface type, what "clean" means for your site. A workable standard is descriptive rather than numeric: no visible grease film, no drip or build-up at joints and seams, filter mesh free of sticky residue, and fan blades and housing inner surfaces free of soft deposits. Agree the wording with whoever audits you, and put it in the same document as the log form so inspectors see the rule and the proof together.
Then list the surfaces as a walk-down route, starting where grease is hottest and thickest: hoods and canopy edges, grease filters, the plenum interior, the fan and its housing, the duct up to the first access panel, and the exterior terminal. Number the items so your log refers to them consistently.
2. Inspect before cleaning to size the work
Before any cleaning starts, photograph each numbered item under the same lighting and from a similar distance. Note the condition in plain words: thin film, heavy build-up, deposit at a joint, standing grease in a low point. This pre-clean record does two jobs. It proves the starting condition, and it tells the crew which surfaces need a longer dwell time and which need a second pass.
Where a surface cannot be seen from the floor, open the access panels or use a mirror or borescope and record that you did. An inspection note that admits a panel was not opened is far safer than a blank field that looks like an omission.
3. Clean with a method you can repeat
For hoods, filters, and accessible duct surfaces, high-temperature steam is a practical option on a live site because it works with far less water than a pressure washer, so there is no flood across the kitchen floor and no wet grease run-off travelling into drains. On our own catalogue this is the job of the Fixed Steam Cleaning Machine PowerDe HW02, a 220 V unit that switches between dry and wet steam: dry steam for loosening baked-on film on hot surfaces and around seams, wet steam for the heavier coat on filters and panels. If your site needs a wheeled or mobile option instead, see our PowerDe cleaning equipment range, and for the wider food-service equipment line see food industry cleaning equipment.
Whichever machine you use, write the method into the procedure: which mode, which nozzle, how long the steam dwells before wiping, and what the operative does with the wiped residue. Repeatable method is what makes the after-clean photos comparable from one visit to the next.
4. Verify the result, do not assume it
Verification is a second inspection after the surface is dry, run by someone other than the cleaner wherever the rota allows. Check the same numbered items, from the same positions, with the same lighting, and wipe-test a small area with a clean white cloth to reveal a film the eye misses on stainless steel. Record the outcome as pass or fail per item, not as a single overall tick.
Any failed item gets a defined action: re-clean, re-inspect, and log both steps. A log that shows one fail followed by a corrected pass reads as a working system; a log with no fails ever is the kind of document an auditor distrusts.
5. What the record must contain
Keep one row per surface item, with these columns: item number and location; last cleaning date; this cleaning date; method and equipment used; operative or contractor name; inspector name; pass or fail; action taken on a fail; photo reference; next due date. Store the photographs under the matching reference number rather than in a shared camera roll, and keep the file for the retention period your insurer or authority asks for.
Add a short contractor sheet for outsourced work: company, contact, date of visit, equipment brought, and sign-off. Keep this in the same file as your own checks so the history of one duct run reads continuously.
6. Turn the log into a schedule
Set the interval from what the record shows, not from a generic rule of thumb. A single-restaurant kitchen with light grilling, a busy grill line, and a central production kitchen all load grease into their extraction systems at different rates. Look at the build-up you actually photograph between visits, and set filters, hoods, and ducts on intervals that keep build-up minor. Review the intervals whenever the menu, the equipment, or the hours change.
Finally, read the log quarterly. Recurring failures at one elbow or one joint point to a design or access problem worth fixing, and that fix belongs in the next maintenance plan rather than in more scrubbing.
Getting equipment support
Shenzhen PowerDe Automation Precision Equipment Co., Ltd. builds steam cleaning machines in Shenzhen and supports customised configurations, so a food-service operator specifying a hood and filter cleaning routine can match machine type, steam mode, and access arrangement to the kitchen layout. Send your surface list and photographs to sales@powerde.net or call +86 13023198376 and we will recommend a machine and method for that scope.
