Post by post
cda, when you look for the label all you know is the company has a label and paper punch. From your postings on other boards, I know you look at more than a piece of paper.
peach, open all of the access panels and tip the fan. What about inaccessable panels and non-compliant panels and fans that are screwed down?
cheyer, filters can be clean because they are run throught the dishmachine. PJ cleaners may only clean the filters on one side and clean only the visible part of the hood and up the duct about 3 feet.
FM Burns, a good response. How do you know the McD pictures they submit are for the McD they claim to have cleaned.
Mac, see my response to cheyer
TimNY. so far, the best response. Are you really going to climb on the char broiler & look up the duct and at the filter tracks? In your white shirt?
cda, unfortunatly, you have seen the work done by most cleaners.
Senior Member, Or the fan is a downblast, or there is no grease containment, most likely, thePJ cleaner never made it to the roof.
Insurance Engineer, The business owner very seldon knows or cares. They are looking for a cheap price, because there is no enforcement. At least the cleaner was honest and admitted to not cleaning the entire system. And, it may be the owner was made aware of the problem but chose not to spend the money.
Builder Bob, The best resonse so far, but you need to have the knowledge and desire to perform a real inspection.
Now that you have slammed the cleaners, I will tell you what I have seen in 25 years + cleaning exhaust systems, installing suppression system and servicing suppression systems. . The posters above seem to blame the hood cleaners. And most of the cleaning work I have seen is criminal. Work is being charged for and not done. A large number of the fans, and ducts have never been cleaned. But poor hood cleaning is only a part of the problem. Installing contractors must accept part of the blame for non-compliant exhaust systems. Most of the installing contractors work is not done to any resemblance of the code. The next group at fualt are the builing inspectors. As a group, the building inspectors knowledge is just slightly above the contractors. Fortunatly, building inspectors are not held responsible for their actions, as are contractors. The last group the is the group who has the most to loose, the fire inspectors. No, I am wrong. The group that has the most to loose are the firefighters. They die, just like the 3 in Boston, or the 3 in Coos Bay, Oregon who died in a fire. Not a resturant fire, but the result of poor work and poor inspection procedures.
I am working on 2 new resturants at present. We are installing the fire suppression systems, & will be responsible for the service work.
Job #1, used exhaust system by Captive Aire. the hood is not listed for char broiler use, the duct is too small, the fan will not pull the required air flow. I brought this to the building inspectors attention. He chose to allow a non-compliant system to be installed. The make-up air is not powered, but gravity feed. There is only one layer of 3M 15A insulation, banded properly but not taped. Most importantly, not the 2 layers required. The right side of the hood is against a wall. There is not 3" of air space to the wall, the wall is only 1 layer of 5/8 rock with something that looks like Fire Tex or Cello Tex for the second layer. Those of use who have used a line on cello tex are very aware it is combustable. The ceiling has 2 penetrations through 3 layers of sheet rock. I have not gone on the roof to look for grease containment or a hinge kit.
Job # 2 is a Mexican Resturant. The hood is a used non-listed canopy hood. We started the new fire suppression system yesterday. The side curtains are too light of gauge, screwed to the hood and the joints silconed. My helper noted the screws holding the duct to the hood and asked if that was code. I told him no, and then scraped what looked like a welded joint with my fingernail. I showed him the red silicone under the silver paint. The HVAC guy had used red silicone to seal the duct and painted it silver. My guy told me the silicone at the last hood joint had not even been painted. The red silicone will degrade in the presense of the grease, heat and the sodium hydroxide cleaning chemical. The silicone is rated for about 650°F. But, it passed the inspection. The local FD does not have an commercial building inspection program.
I want you to meet Randy Carpenter. His Dad had about 35 years as a volunteer fireman, his older and younger brothers were volunteers. One brother is at the Nampa ID fire department as an inspector. Randy & I were both shift rounders. I had more seniority, he got layed off, but went to work at Coos Bay. You can read about Randy
http://rfallenbrother.com
