Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning in Brampton
Kitchen exhaust cleaning is the work that happens past the duct collar, where nobody in the kitchen can see it: the vertical riser climbing through the building, the horizontal runs above the ceiling, the access panels along the way, and the exhaust fan sitting on the roof. Brampton Hood Cleaning Pros cleans that whole path and photographs it at every access point. A hood is judged by eye every day. A duct is judged once a year by somebody with a camera and a scraper, and that is the only reason anyone finds out what is in it.
Where grease actually collects in a duct run
It is not spread evenly. Three places take most of it, and all three are out of sight.
The first bend above the hood. Vapour leaving the plenum hits the first change of direction still carrying its full grease load, and the outside of that turn takes the heaviest deposit in the whole system. It is also the section a quick clean is most likely to reach into and declare done.
Horizontal runs. Gravity works against a horizontal duct. Grease that condenses on the top surface runs down the walls and pools along the bottom seam, and long horizontal runs in a plaza unit or a large institutional building can hold a surprising volume before anything is visible at either end. These runs are why access panels exist, and why a duct without enough of them cannot honestly be certified along its full length.
The fan housing and blades. Every particle the system moves passes the fan. Deposits build unevenly on the blades, which throws the fan out of balance, and an unbalanced fan runs louder, moves less air and wears its bearings out early. Grease on the housing then finds its way onto the roof, which is a separate problem covered on the rooftop grease containment page.
The symptom operators notice first is almost never grease. It is airflow. When a kitchen gets hotter, smoke starts hanging over the line, or the back door needs propping to make the hood draw, the duct is usually the reason and the hood is usually blameless.
Hood-only cleaning vs full duct and fan cleaning
Both are real services. Choosing between them should be a decision, not an accident.
| Question | Hood only | Duct and rooftop fan |
|---|---|---|
| What gets cleaned | Canopy, filters, troughs, plenum. | Riser, horizontal runs, access panels, fan housing and blades. |
| What it fixes | The grease you can see and the surfaces an inspector opens first. | Airflow loss, fan noise and vibration, and the fuel load in the concealed path. |
| Roof access needed | No. | Yes, and roof height and access route affect the quote. |
| Certificate covers | The hood assembly only, stated as such. | The full exhaust path, which is what an insurer usually assumes it means. |
| Sensible when | The duct was cleaned recently and only the hood is due. | Airflow has dropped, the duct has never been opened, or a certificate needs to mean the whole system. |
Most Brampton kitchens book both together as one overnight visit, which is the scope described on the full exhaust system clean page. Pricing starts at $385 per visit for a single-hood kitchen, with duct length, riser height and roof access measured on the free walk-through.
Access panels: the thing that decides whether a duct can be certified
A duct can only be cleaned where it can be reached, and reach is a design decision somebody made years ago.
Access panels are removable openings in the duct that let a technician get a hand, a light and a scraper into the run. NFPA 96 expects a system to be cleanable along its whole length, and in practice that means panels at each change of direction and at intervals along long runs. Older Brampton plaza units and buildings that have been through several tenancies frequently come up short, because the kitchen was refitted and the duct was not.
Where panels are missing, the walk-through says so in writing rather than cleaning what is reachable and issuing a certificate that implies more. The report identifies the unreachable sections, and installing additional access panels is recommended as duct work carried out by the appropriate trade. That is the honest version, and it is the one that holds up if a claim is ever examined.
The same applies to the fan. A rooftop fan should hinge back on its curb so both faces of the blades and the inside of the housing can be reached. A seized or missing hinge kit is recorded in the report, because a fan that cannot be opened cannot be fully cleaned.
Questions about ducts and rooftop fans
How do I know the duct has actually been cleaned?
Ask for the photographs taken inside the duct at each access point, not just of the hood. Brampton Hood Cleaning Pros photographs every access opening before and after, and the report names which sections were reached. A certificate with no interior duct photography is a certificate about a hood.
Our hood barely pulls any more. Is that the fan or the duct?
Usually both, and the walk-through separates them. Loaded baffle filters and a grease-narrowed duct both reduce airflow, and a fan with uneven blade deposits moves less air while working harder. Measuring at the hood and inspecting the fan on the roof is what tells you which one to spend money on.
Can you get on our roof safely?
Roof access is checked before any booking, including height, the access route and whether a ladder, an interior hatch or lift equipment is required. Where a roof cannot be accessed safely, that is stated rather than worked around. Proof of WSIB coverage and liability insurance is provided before the crew arrives.
What happens to the grease and wash water?
It is contained and removed from site. Runoff is captured at the hood and at the fan rather than being flushed onto the roof or into a drain, which matters both environmentally and because grease on a roof membrane becomes a landlord problem quickly.
We share a riser with the unit next door. Whose job is it?
Shared and multi-tenant risers are common in Brampton plaza and industrial units, and the answer usually lives in the lease rather than in the fire code. The walk-through documents the shared section and photographs its condition, which gives a tenant something concrete to take to a landlord or a neighbouring operator instead of an argument about assumptions.