Explore articles from Facilitec Southwest covering kitchen exhaust cleaning, hood cleaning, NFPA 96 compliance, grease containment, fire safety, inspection readiness, and commercial kitchen maintenance.
Find articles on kitchen exhaust cleaning, NFPA 96, compliance, fire safety, and commercial kitchen maintenance.
COMPLIANCE & REGULATIONS One sentence of NFPA 96 governs how often your kitchen exhaust system gets inspected — and one section governs when it needs cleaning. Most operators have heard “quarterly” or “every six months” and stopped there. The full rule is more useful, and it lives in Section 12.6.1.1
COMPLIANCE & REGULATIONS NFPA 96 requires that commercial kitchen exhaust cleaning be performed by a “properly trained, qualified, and certified person” — but doesn’t name which certification. Two credentials dominate US recognition. Here’s what each covers, how they differ, and how operators can verify the person cleaning their hood actually
COMPLIANCE & KITCHEN MAINTENANCE The two services sound alike, get confused in every operator survey, and end up on the same monthly invoice — but they address different parts of the exhaust system and carry different responsibilities under NFPA 96. Here’s the plain-English breakdown, with the section citations for both,
VETTING & COMPLIANCE Seven specific questions every restaurant operator across the Southwest should ask before signing a hood cleaning contract. Each one is tied to a specific NFPA 96 section, so you can verify the answer against the standard itself — not just take the salesperson’s word for it. July
COMPLIANCE & REGULATIONS “Can I just have my kitchen staff handle the hood cleaning to save money?” is one of the most common questions operators ask. The answer is no — and it lives in one specific sentence of NFPA 96. Here is what the rule actually says, what counts
OPERATIONS & EQUIPMENT Two hours on a high-volume kitchen is not a full NFPA 96 cleaning. Twelve hours on a single-hood deli is overkill. The right answer depends on the system — and the time the cleaning takes is one of the clearest signals about the quality of the work
PRICING & BUSINESS PLANNING Five factors drive the price. Four cooking-volume tiers anchor the typical ranges. And a “hood-only” quote at half the price of a full NFPA 96 cleaning is not actually the same service. Here is the plain-English version, written for operators pricing the work for the first
COMPLIANCE & KITCHEN MAINTENANCE The filters above the cookline do more grease-removal work than any other part of the exhaust system — and they are the one part NFPA 96 expects the kitchen to maintain, not the kitchen exhaust cleaning service. Here is what they do, who is responsible for
A practical guide to NFPA 96 kitchen exhaust compliance for restaurant groups and multi-location operators across the Southwest.
PRE-INSPECTION CHECKLIST An inspection date on the calendar usually means one of three things: a routine visit, a reinspection, or a permit renewal. The list of what gets checked is shorter and more predictable than most operators realize. Here is the pre-walk-through, in the same order the inspector will use
2026 NFPA 96 COMPLIANCE GUIDE The short answer depends on what the kitchen is cooking — and the standard sets the inspection cadence, not the cleaning cadence. Here is the plain-English version, the distinction inside the rule, and what it means for a typical 2026 restaurant or facility kitchen. June
FIRE MARSHAL RESPONSE A fire marshal walked through your kitchen and left with concerns. You have a deficiency notice in your hand and a reinspection date. Here is what that means, what to do this week, and how to bring the right documentation back. June 05, 2026 · By Facilitec
