Start with the surfaces, not the machine
Write the surface list first. In a typical restaurant extraction system the list runs: removable grease filters and baffle panels; the inside and outside of the hood canopy; the grease trough and collection cups; the horizontal lip where the canopy meets the duct; the accessible section of ductwork; the fan housing and any access door; and the floor and wall tiles directly under the canopy. Deposits differ across that list. Fresh grease film on a filter behaves differently from hardened, baked-on grease on a canopy interior that has not been stripped for months. A machine selected for one of those conditions may be badly matched to the other.
Once the surfaces are listed, the accessory question becomes concrete: which nozzle, wand, extension and containment item lets an operator reach each surface without dismantling the kitchen, and which items must be excluded from wet work.
Nozzles and lances: the accessories that decide reach
Ask, in writing, which fixed steam cleaning machine and which mobile steam cleaning machine options are offered, and which nozzle set is quoted with each. The accessory details that matter for extraction work are usually these:
A flat or fan-spray nozzle for wide flat faces such as canopy interiors and filter panels, because a narrow jet drives grease mist into the air instead of lifting the deposit. A rounded or blunt nozzle for tiles and uneven surfaces. A bent or angled nozzle for the horizontal lip of the duct, where a straight lance pushes steam back toward the operator. Extension lances and a short flexible section for reaching over the canopy and into the first metre of duct. A scraper or spatula and a stiff brush for baked-on grease, used before the steam pass rather than as a substitute for it. A squeegee or scraping blade for pulling the loosened film into a container. Hose length and wand length determine whether an operator can work from the floor or needs a platform, so confirm those lengths for the exact unit quoted; the cleaning product pages do not publish hose or wand lengths, so they belong in the written specification.
Containment and run-off: the accessories most quotations forget
Loosened grease has to go somewhere. Before any wet work, agree what the quotation includes for containment: plastic sheeting and tape to protect cooking equipment, switch panels, sockets and lighting below and beside the hood; a collection trough or tray clamped under the duct lip; absorbent pads and waste sacks for the recovered grease; and a named route for the run-off to a suitable drain. Run-off is a cost and a permission question, not an afterthought, and the site has to sign it off. If the kitchen has no drain within reach of the canopy, the job needs portable collection, which changes both the accessory list and the time estimate.
Ask whether the machine has a wet-mode and dry-mode steam selection. The fixed units in the PowerDe cleaning range are described on their product pages as switching between dry and wet steam, and that choice matters here: drier steam is generally used where water volume has to stay low, such as near electrical enclosures and insulation, while wetter steam carries more heat into a thick deposit. Confirm which mode the quoted machine offers, and do not assume the mode labels mean the same across models.
Access equipment and personal protection
Extraction work is mostly above shoulder height. Confirm who provides the access: steps, a rolling platform or a tower, and whether the floor under the canopy can carry it. Extraction fans and fan housings are heavy, and a canopy interior is worked from below, so a platform usually beats a ladder for anything longer than a short pass. The accessories are usually not part of the cleaning-machine quotation at all, which is exactly why they should be listed in it.
Personal protection for this duty is not the same as for floor cleaning: a hood or full face shield against falling grease and steam, gauntlet-length gloves, a long-sleeved coat or apron, and non-slip footwear for a floor that will be wet and greasy during the job. Ask the supplier whether these are supplied or are the contractor's own items.
What must stay out of the steam
Write the exclusions into the method before starting, with a fallback for each. Motors and fan bearings, electrical enclosures and their cable entries, insulation, light fittings, dampers and their linkages, and any sealed bearing housing should be shielded or cleaned by another method. Sealed electrical and rotating components should be cleaned dry or with a damp cloth, not sprayed. If the deposit behind an access door cannot be reached, that section either gets an opening made and refixed, or it is reported as not cleaned rather than recorded as clean. A written exclusion list with a fallback is what lets an inspector and a client agree about what the work actually covered.
Power, water and utilities at the hood
The accessories are limited by what the building supplies. Record, for the exact machine quoted: available supply voltage and the socket or distribution point nearest the canopy; cable length and whether extension equipment is included; the water source and how the machine is fed; and whether the machine runs on a battery supply, which changes what has to be plugged in and for how long. The published cleaning pages do not state hose lengths, battery capacity or working time for these units, and the temperature and pressure figures on them are written in a notation that the site itself uses inconsistently, so do not carry a number from a brochure onto a method sheet. Get the figures for the unit you are quoting, in writing.
Two cautions worth repeating: the tank volume printed on a machine is not the working time between fills, and a hot generator is not the same thing as a hot nozzle at the surface. Both assumptions inflate a cleaning-time estimate, and extraction work is scheduled around the kitchen's trading hours, so an inflated estimate turns into an unfinished job.
Fixtures and consumables worth asking for by name
Beyond nozzles and lances, ask whether the quotation names: a filter-support frame or stand so removed filters can be laid flat while being worked; a small immersion bath or tray for heavily fouled filter panels, so deposit can soften before steam is applied; spare seals, gaskets and fasteners for canopy access panels, since old fasteners seize and panels distort when refitted; replacement filter media in the correct size and class for the hood, because filters that are cleaned repeatedly eventually fail their seam; and lighting for the interior of the canopy, without which an inspection after cleaning is guesswork. Consumables such as degreasing detergent for use before steam, if any, should be named by product and dilution rather than described as "chemical", and the supplier should say whether their use is compatible with the machine and acceptable to the site.
Because most extraction systems are not standard, ask what can be changed on the machine for this job. PowerDe lists customized steam cleaning equipment as a service, and it is a sensible request when the hood geometry, the access restrictions or the run-off limits rule out a standard configuration: state the duty, the surface list and the site limits, and ask what would be modified.
One bounded trial before the accessory list is fixed
Before a full set of accessories is bought, run one small trial on a defined area: a single filter panel, one short run of canopy interior, and one patch of the duct lip. Mark the trial area with tape, photograph it before and after, and set the acceptance standard in writing beforehand, along with a stop condition for what would make the method unacceptable, such as deposit migrating into an uninspected section, damage to a coating, or run-off escaping the containment. Keep the trial short and let someone other than the operator sign the result. Then review the accessory list against what the trial actually needed, and only then order the rest.
A short accessory list agreed after a trial is worth more than a long list agreed from a brochure, because the trial shows which items are used and which sit in the van. That is the point of asking for the accessories by name in the first place: it turns "steam clean the extraction system" into a method someone can price, perform and sign off.
