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One of the best investments to maintain this is having a professional install grease duct access panel in your commercial kitchen. Typically, the kitchen exhaust system has three main parts, the hood, fan, and ductwork. You may think that ductwork is just a simple mechanism, but it is one of the most significant parts of the kitchen, making it susceptible to all problems.
Why Install Grease Duct Access Doors?
Installing grease duct access doors allows professionals to easily access the kitchen ductwork system whenever cleaning, maintenance, and inspection are needed. Doing so reduces the likelihood of fats, oils, and grease stockpiling on the surfaces of your ductwork.
How Does Grease Gather in Your Kitchen’s Ductwork?
The accumulation of grease exhaust will vary on your commercial kitchen’s temperature. Grease production is due to extensive fuel, wok frying, grilling, and high-volume fryer cooking. However, even low-volume cooking will accumulate oil, fats, grease, and grime on ventilation ducts.
Even using suitable hood filters, grease will still get inside your ducts. Oil, fats, and grease evaporate while cooking and will travel into your exhaust system. Grease vapor will eventually seep into your ductwork through the filter.
Here are also some of the benefits you can experience when installing grease access doors for your kitchen:
Ensure Kitchen Safety
Build-up grease is one of the most common causes of kitchen fires. This build-up usually happens when you’re not regularly cleaning your exhaust system or ductwork. Duct grease fires can be very structure-damaging and life-threatening.
According to the National Fire Protection Association’s reminder, grease and creosote mixed in exhaust ducts can spark and burn easier and more potent than creosote. The grease fire traverses so fast that it won’t allow heat to trigger any fusible links of a fire suppression system.
Factory-manufactured duct access doors are safer compared to self-made options. They are also subjected to multiple tests to keep the risks down or eliminate them. In addition, grease access panels also minimize corrosion levels in the ducts and grease deposition, enhancing kitchen safety.
Save Money
Prioritizing kitchen safety can help you save money in the long run. Not having regular maintenance on your kitchen ductwork can compromise your kitchen’s indoor air and your exhaust system’s quality. Regularly cleaning without duct access panels will be complicated and require professional assistance, which can cost more.
However, if your ductwork has access panels, reaching hard-to-reach areas that require cleaning and checkups will be easy! In addition, since grease duct access doors increase your commercial kitchen’s safety, you will be less likely to pay for replacements or injury costs.
Swift Installation and Maintenance
One thing you’ll love about grease access panels is that they are easy to install. You don’t need extensive tools to install this in your ductwork. Professionals manufacture grease access doors with modular and no-weld designs for an easy-to-fit right into your exhaust system. Their design and construction features allow you to check, maintain, clean, and repair an existing system.
Follow Local Regulations
Depending on your area’s jurisdiction, your business needs to follow a few fire and health regulations to avoid any issues. For instance, sanitary or proper cleaning is vital for commercial kitchens. This is stricter for restaurants with menus that involve food catering and deep-frying.
One of the essential standards you need to follow is the NFPA-96 Standard which involves the capacity and design of the exhaust system and its installment location depending on the cooking equipment available and utilized in the establishment.
If you’re having difficulty choosing what grease access door you should purchase, ensure that you inspect your kitchen area and the number of cooking equipment and methods you have. It is also much better to consult with a professional and trusted manufacturing company that can deliver quality products at reasonable prices.