Resource
Professional Hood Cleaning vs DIY
There is real work your staff should be doing, and real work they should not touch. The line is not about skill — it is about access, containment and consequences.
The split, task by task
| Task | Who | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Hood exterior and visible canopy | In house | Daily wipe-down at close. |
| Grease cups and drain trays | In house | Emptied every day. |
| Baffle filters | In house | Weekly or more; soak or dish machine. |
| Filter track and hood lip | In house | Weekly, while filters are out. |
| Plenum behind the filters | Professional | Requires degreasing to bare metal and runoff containment. |
| Duct runs and risers | Professional | Needs access panels, containment and confined-space practice. |
| Exhaust fan and housing | Professional | Roof work, electrical isolation, fan handling. |
| Roof curb and surrounding area | Professional | Grease containment and disposal. |
| Written service documentation | Professional | What an inspector or insurer expects to see. |
Why the line falls there
Access
Duct interiors and fan housings are not reachable without opening panels, working at height and, in many buildings, coordinating roof access. A kitchen crew has none of that as part of a normal shift.
Containment
Degreasing an exhaust system produces contaminated runoff. Professionals contain and dispose of it. Sending it down a roof drain or a kitchen floor drain creates a second problem — sometimes a regulatory one.
Chemicals and equipment
Effective exhaust degreasing uses concentrated chemistry and pressure equipment that is unsafe in an occupied kitchen without proper protection, isolation and training.
Documentation
In-house effort produces no service record. When an inspector, insurer or landlord asks for maintenance history, a professional service report is the answer; a claim that staff clean it regularly is not.
What DIY genuinely accomplishes
A disciplined in-house routine is worth having. It slows accumulation upstream, keeps airflow closer to design, makes the kitchen more comfortable to work in, and reduces the labor on each professional visit — which shows up in the price you pay. It does not, at any level of effort, clean the duct or the fan.
The practical arrangement
Staff own daily and weekly tasks on the visible parts. A professional crew handles plenum, duct and fan on an interval set by what your system actually holds. Both parts logged, both parts documented. See hood cleaning maintenance for the in-house routine and kitchen exhaust cleaning for the rest.