A range hood is the item most often left until last in a restaurant cleaning schedule, and the one most often argued about afterwards. Grease layers build up in places nobody can see without a ladder and a light, and the cleaning window is narrow because the kitchen still has to cook. If you are comparing equipment and have asked suppliers for a quotation, the difference between a useful quotation and a useless one is usually the brief. A supplier who knows what you are cleaning, where it is located, and what your site allows can recommend a machine; a supplier who does not will send you a catalogue.
This article is a practical checklist of what to put in that brief when the target is central kitchen degreasing and the range hoods in a working restaurant kitchen, and how to read the answers you get back. It applies whether you run one restaurant or a group of sites.
Start with the objects, not the machine
Write down every item that has to come off the schedule, in the words your own staff use. For a typical back-of-house this means the hood canopy inside and out, the grease filters, the baffle sections, the fan housing and the accessible part of the exhaust duct, plus the equipment directly underneath: grills, ranges, fryers and the wall shields between them. Note which of those items are fixed and which can be taken to a wash area, because an item you cannot move needs a machine that can be brought to it.
For each item, describe the soil as you actually find it. Light surface grease after a week of service behaves differently from a sticky, polymerised layer that has been baked on through a season. That description decides what a supplier proposes: heat, pressure, contact time, or a combination. It also decides whether a general commercial steam cleaner is enough, or whether you need a heavier fixed unit intended for recurring work.
Describe the site, not just the task
Most briefs describe the cleaning job and forget the room. Suppliers need the site facts, because these are what make an installation succeed or fail:
- Power. What supply is available where the work will be done, and where the nearest usable outlet is. Fixed equipment is normally discussed as 220V steam cleaning machine installations; if your supply differs, say so in the brief rather than hoping it will work out.
- Water. Whether there is a tap-water inlet near the machine, or whether water has to be carried in. The supply method changes the tank and plumbing you should be quoted.
- Drainage. Where the wash water will go. Grease-laden water cannot simply run onto the floor, and the answer shapes both the method and the time a job takes.
- Access. Door widths, whether the machine has to travel through a dining area or a service corridor, steps, and anything else between the parking or storage point and the hood.
- Working hours. Whether the work happens before service, after service, or overnight, and whether equipment has to be cold before you start.
- What must stay in service. Electrical panels, gas connections, gas pilots, ignition systems and control wiring. State clearly what the machine must not be aimed at.
Give this information in writing. A supplier who has the site facts can tell you which features of the product are relevant to you and which you do not need to pay for.
State the constraints you already have to work with
Write down the limits that are not negotiable. They usually fall into four groups:
- Chemicals. What your brand standard, your local drainage rules, or your food-safety audit allows. If you want a method that relies mainly on heat rather than on detergent, say so and ask the supplier to explain how their machine handles baked-on grease without it.
- Water. If water use, wet floors, or run-off are a problem in your kitchen, put that in the brief. High-temperature steam works with far less water than a hose, which matters on upper floors and in small rooms.
- Labour. How many people can be assigned, how long each session can be, and how the work continues through staff turnover. Cleaning range hoods is not work you can leave entirely to whoever is free that day.
- Downtime. How long the extraction and cooking line can be out of use before it costs you trade.
Ask for the specification to be written, not implied
Whatever the supplier proposes, the brief should ask for the machine's parameters to be listed explicitly on the quotation, so that two offers can be compared line by line. For steam equipment intended for recurring work on extraction and cooking equipment, ask for the rated heating power and the working voltage; the steam temperature and the delivery pressure, with the units; the tank capacity, tank material and water inlet arrangement; whether the machine can switch between dry and wet steam and what each mode is intended for; the safety protections provided, such as leakage, short-circuit, high-temperature, high-voltage and water-shortage protection; the physical footprint and how the unit moves, so you can check it against your access route; and which nozzles, brushes and extension lengths are included rather than optional.
A fixed unit such as the PowerDe HW02 steam cleaner in the fixed steam cleaning machine range is specified around a 220 V supply with high-temperature, high-pressure steam and a dry/wet steam selection. If a supplier's offer leaves any of those out, ask for the number rather than assuming it. If a number on a datasheet and a number on the product page disagree, make them confirm which applies before you order.
Require a trial and an acceptance method
The single most valuable line in the brief is a request for a trial on your own equipment. Ask the supplier to clean one section of one hood, in your kitchen, with your staff watching. Agree before the trial how success will be judged, so the decision afterwards is not a matter of opinion: compare the cleaned section against the section that was not treated; record the time taken, including preparation and clean-up; note the water used and the run-off produced; check the condition of the floors and adjacent equipment; and write down what your own operators had to do to reach that result, and how many of them were involved.
Ask for the same trial on the hardest item you have, not the easiest one. If a proposal only works on a filter that soaks in a tank, it will not survive a season of cooking on a canopy above a grill.
Set out training, spares and support
Ask, in the brief, how the supplier will train your people and how that training is repeated when staff change. Cleaning a hood with high-temperature steam is a technique: nozzle distance, travel speed, working top down, and knowing when to let heat do the work instead of forcing the jet. Then ask what happens when the machine is down. A kitchen that loses extraction may lose trade, so response times, spare-part availability, and what you are expected to keep on site all belong in the conversation before the order, not after a breakdown.
A short brief you can adapt
A brief that gets useful answers is usually one page. It covers: the kitchen and the number of sites; the list of items to be cleaned and how often; how heavy the soil is; the location and access route; the power and water available; drainage arrangements; working hours and allowed downtime; chemical and water constraints; staffing; a request for a trial on your own hood with agreed acceptance criteria; a request for the full specification written on the offer; and your questions on training, spares and response time.
Send that to two or three suppliers. The comparison afterwards becomes straightforward, because you are comparing proposals built on the same facts. And if you would rather discuss your site with an engineer before you write the brief, contact PowerDe with your item list and site details, and our team will advise which fixed or mobile option fits the job.
