Question 1

What does commercial duct cleaning involve?

Accepted Answer

Opening the ductwork at intervals along its length, cleaning the internal surfaces back to the metal, and measuring what was removed. On a kitchen extract system that means access panels at every bend and change of direction, mechanical agitation and scraping of the grease deposit, and grease depth readings in microns before and after at named points.

Question 2

Do you clean air conditioning or general ventilation ductwork?

Accepted Answer

No. We clean grease-bearing kitchen extract ductwork to the BESA TR19 Grease standard. General ventilation and air handling hygiene is covered by TR19 Air and is a different service with different competencies. If that is what you need, we will tell you rather than take the work.

Question 3

How much of the ductwork actually gets cleaned?

Accepted Answer

Only as much as can be reached. This is the single biggest difference between quotes and the reason a cheap clean is cheap. Where there are no access panels, whole runs of duct are left untouched, and the certificate should state which sections those were.

Question 4

How often does kitchen extract ductwork need cleaning?

Accepted Answer

BESA sets the interval by cooking hours per day: every 3 months for heavy use at 12–16 hours, every 6 months for moderate use at 6–12 hours, and every 12 months for light use at 2–6 hours. Ductwork is cleaned on the same visit as the canopy and fan, as one system.

Question 5

What is ductwork hygiene?

Accepted Answer

The general term for keeping the inside of ductwork clean and documented. For kitchen extract it means controlling grease accumulation, because grease inside a duct is fuel in a sealed channel that runs through the building. The evidence of it is the post-clean report and certificate.

Question 6

Can ductwork be cleaned without access panels?

Accepted Answer

Only the first stretch, reachable from the canopy or the fan. Anything beyond the first bend needs a panel. We supply and fit BESA-specification access panels as part of the work, which is a one-off cost that makes every future clean cheaper and verifiable.