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 · FIRE PREVENTION A commercial kitchen fire almost never begins the way most operators picture it. It starts small, hides in a place nobody can see, and travels through the exhaust system before anyone in the kitchen knows the flames have moved past the cookline. Here’s how
OPERATIONS & EQUIPMENT Everything a restaurant owner, facility manager, or corporate compliance lead needs to know about commercial kitchen exhaust hood cleaning under NFPA 96 — what the standard actually requires, what a compliant cleaning includes, what it costs in 2026, and how to choose a certified vendor. August 6,
OPERATIONS & EQUIPMENT A pollution control unit is the piece of exhaust equipment that removes smoke, grease vapor, and odor from a commercial kitchen’s discharge before it exits the building. If the kitchen sits under residential floors or inside a mall, the PCU is often what makes the operation legal
OPERATIONS & EQUIPMENT A rooftop exhaust fan that stops working shuts the kitchen down. Whether to repair or replace it depends on which component failed, how old the fan is, what the parts and downtime cost, and whether the unit meets current NFPA 96 requirements. Here’s the plain-language decision framework.
OPERATIONS & EQUIPMENT Fifteen years ago, a rooftop grease containment system was a nice-to-have. Today, it’s a lease requirement, an insurance underwriting condition, and a fire-code expectation across most of the Southwest. Here’s what these systems are, why they matter, and who’s responsible for keeping them working. July 28, 2026
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
