The importance of kitchen exhaust system cleaning:
As per Australian Standards AS 1851-2005 (maintenance of fire protection systems) every commercial kitchen exhaust system must be cleaned on a regular basis. Cleaning of your kitchen exhaust system remains one of the primary defences in combatting fire hazards and health hazards in your kitchen. The grease and oil residue from cooking is drawn up through the filters coating the internal surface of the system and continues to build up rather quickly. During the cooking proces the hot exhaust air heats this residue increasing its ability to ignite. A simple flare up is all that is required to ignite this residue resulting in a catastrophic kitchen fire. The three elements required for fire - oxygen, heat and fuel, are all present in the kitchen exhaust system waiting to be pushed to the point of ignition - hence, the importance of regular kitchen exhaust cleaning. The continual around-the-clock use of kitchen exhaust systems at mining camps and villages drastically increase the grease, fat and oil build up and, therefore, require cleaning on a more frequent basis than kitchens in the city.
Benefits of kitchen exhuast system cleaning:
- minimised product contamination
- enhance public image
- reduced fire risk
- improved ventilation for smoke control
- improved ventilation for odour control
- removal of the food source for insects and rodents
- compliance with insurance regulations
- compliance with Australian Standards
- compliance with health and safety regulations
- prevention of costly breakdowns
- extended equipment life
- increased energy savings
- clean environment for kitchen staff
Reasons and benefits of cleaning and decontaminating fridge/cool room coils
A commercial refrigerator is the heart and backbone of every kitchen. It is the most indispensible unit in a commercial kitchen or restaurant. Keeping a commercial refrigerator up and running is therefore very essential. In turn, proper care must be taken to keep your FDC (Forced Draft Cooler) clean. The FDC is the evaporator unit of the cool room and contains the cooling coil and fan unit. The air within the cool room is continually circulated through the FDC unit to keep the room cool. Therefore, it is essential that the coils and unit are clean and free of microbiological contaminats such as bacteria mould and fungi that colonise on the cooling fins creating toxic allergenic organic fragments otherwise known as macromolecular organic dust. This contaminated dust is then distributed throughout the cool room by the fan. In turn, the quality of the air within the cool room is compromised and can result in food contamination, costly customer complaints and in some cases can lead to a large range of chronic health complaints such as headaches, nausea, respiratory complaints and eye and skin irritaions.
The biofilm dust and grime build up on the cooling fins of the FDC can have a detrimental effect to your business. Biofilms will attach themselves to the fins on the cooling coil and etch into the surface to provide a secure holding. In turn, this etching can eat away at the cooling coil and will, over time, degenerate the cooling coils ability to perform efficient heat transfer. Biofilm presence also acts as an insulation medium between the cooling coil and the air flowing through the unit. This results in the temperature fo the air flowing through the FDC not being reduced enough to keep the cool room cool - in which the compressors run continuously to compensate for the poor temperature transfer. This poor heat transfer results in increased energy consumption and increased cost or running. Lack of efficiency and increased energy consumption can also be attributed to blockages in the coil caused by dust and dirt that gets caught on the biofilm buidling up over time.