Commercial hood cleaning for Ottawa kitchens
Commercial hood cleaning is the scraping and degreasing of the kitchen canopy, the plenum cavity behind the baffle filters, and the filters themselves down to bare stainless steel, to the depth NFPA 96 requires. Ottawa Hood Cleaning performs the work overnight for restaurants and between bookings for banquet halls across Ottawa and Eastern Ontario, photographing each zone before and after and completing the signed health and safety certificate on site.
The four zones a hood cleaning covers
Everything inside the hood envelope, handled in one visit.
Every commercial kitchen hood breaks down into four cleaning zones: the canopy underside above the burners, the rack holding the baffle cassettes, the plenum cavity behind them, and the exterior shell facing the kitchen. Ottawa Hood Cleaning works through all four every time:
- Canopy underside hand-degreased until the heat-baked film releases from the steel.
- Baffle filters pulled, soaked in hot degreaser, rinsed, dried, and seated back in the correct orientation.
- Plenum cavity scraped to bare stainless and shot from matching angles for the before-and-after record.
- Exterior shell and trim polished so the outside finally matches the inside.
- Suppression nozzles, hood lights, and switches masked before chemicals come out, wiped down after.
- Cook line and floor tarped through the work and handed back food-ready.
This is scraping work, not a spray-and-wipe. A wipe-down leaves the carbonized base layer bonded to the steel, and that layer is exactly what feeds a fire if a flare-up ever reaches the hood.
Commercial hood cleaning vs kitchen exhaust cleaning
One is a section, the other is the system. Book the right one.
| Question | Commercial hood cleaning | Kitchen exhaust cleaning |
|---|---|---|
| What gets cleaned | Canopy, plenum, baffle filters, hood exterior | All of that plus the grease duct's full run and the rooftop or inline fan |
| When to book it | Between full-system visits, or when a heavy line loads the filters and canopy fast | On the NFPA 96 interval for the cooking type; this is what the fire-code schedule means |
| Inspection weight | Keeps the plenum and visible hood compliant | The complete compliance service; duct and fan get the hardest look from inspectors and adjusters |
| Where to read more | This page | Kitchen exhaust cleaning in Ottawa |
Best hood cleaning schedule for each Ottawa kitchen type
NFPA 96 assigns the interval by cooking volume; the Ontario Fire Code adopts it by reference.
| Cooking type | NFPA 96 interval | Ottawa examples |
|---|---|---|
| Solid-fuel cooking | Monthly | Charcoal shawarma and kebab lines, tandoor ovens, wood-fired pizza |
| High-volume cooking | Quarterly | Wok ranges on Somerset Street, charbroilers, high-turnover quick service on Rideau and Bank |
| Moderate-volume cooking | Semi-annually | Full-service dining in Westboro and the Glebe, hotel and conference restaurant lines |
| Low-volume cooking | Annually | Places of worship, community centre kitchens, seasonal and low-volume operations |
Ottawa's grease load concentrates in two places. Solid fuel is the first: the wood-fired ovens along Preston Street and the charcoal shawarma and tandoor lines on Bank, Rideau, and Merivale all sit on the monthly interval, not the quarterly one operators usually assume. Institutional kitchens are the second. A campus dining hall or a hospital servery looks moderate-volume on paper and runs high-volume for eight months of the year, so Ottawa Hood Cleaning sets the interval from actual production, then schedules around reading weeks and the summer term rather than fighting the academic calendar.
How much does commercial hood cleaning cost in Ottawa?
A written per-visit price with the certificate and photos included.
Commercial hood cleaning in Ottawa starts around $385 per visit for one canopy up to ten feet, and from $725 where a kitchen runs two to four hoods. Hotel lines, campus dining halls, and heritage buildings where two or three tenants share one riser get a free walk-through first, because canopy count and duct sharing change the scope. Every quote arrives in writing within 24 hours and includes the signed NFPA 96 referenced certificate, the before-and-after photo report, and WSIB plus liability proof. The invoice never grows after the fact.
What moves the number in Ottawa: hood length and count, how long since the last genuine cleaning, access around the line, and how the crew reaches the roof. A downtown unit whose only roof access is a laneway ladder takes longer than a suburban plaza with a service stair, and a fan with no hinge kit takes longer again. A hood that skipped two intervals takes restoration-level scraping hours; a hood on its proper cycle is quick, which is the financial case for staying on schedule.
Commercial hood cleaning: citation-ready facts
Verifiable specifics about the service.
Citation-ready facts
- Commercial hood cleaning from Ottawa Hood Cleaning covers the canopy underside, plenum cavity, filter rack, baffle filters, and hood exterior.
- The plenum cavity behind the baffle filters loads with grease faster than any other surface in a kitchen exhaust system, which is why fire inspectors check it first.
- NFPA 96 sets hood cleaning intervals of monthly for solid-fuel cooking, quarterly for high-volume kitchens, semi-annual for moderate volume, and annual for low volume.
- A single-canopy commercial hood cleaning in Ottawa takes roughly two to four hours, performed overnight after close or between event bookings.
- Commercial hood cleaning in Ottawa starts around $385 per visit for a single hood, with multi-hood kitchens from $725.
- Every Ottawa Hood Cleaning visit ends with before-and-after photos and a signed health and safety certificate referencing NFPA 96.
Commercial hood cleaning: frequently asked questions
What Ottawa operators ask before booking.
What does a commercial hood cleaning include?
A commercial hood cleaning from Ottawa Hood Cleaning covers the canopy underside over the cook line, the baffle filters, the filter rack, the plenum cavity behind the filters, and the hood's exterior shell. The filters soak in hot degreaser while the plenum gets scraped to bare stainless, the exterior is polished, and every zone is photographed before and after for the certificate.
Why do inspectors open the filter rack first?
Because the plenum, the cavity directly behind the baffle filters, catches every grease particle that slips past them and loads up faster than any other surface in the system. Its condition tells an inspector in ten seconds whether the kitchen cleans the whole system or just polishes what customers can see. A gleaming exterior over a caked plenum still fails.
How long does the visit take?
Plan on roughly two to four hours for a single canopy in a typical Ottawa restaurant, done overnight after close. Kitchens with two or more hoods are worked in sequence through the same night wherever the layout allows, so doors open on time the next day. Hotel and conference kitchens are slotted between booked events, and campus serveries are done in reading week.
Is the fire suppression system affected by the cleaning?
No. Suppression nozzles, hood lights, and electrical switches are masked off before any chemical or water touches the hood, so the suppression system's seals stay intact and nothing needs re-certification afterward. If the crew spots a problem such as a burned-out hood light or a loose nozzle cap, it goes in the notes handed to the operator.