The honest answer is: it depends on how hard your kitchen cooks. NFPA 96 — the national fire-code standard — sets cleaning frequency by cooking volume, not by a single blanket rule. Here is how to find the schedule that actually applies to your kitchen.
NFPA 96 Table 11.4 lays out four inspection-and-cleaning intervals based on the type and volume of cooking. Every commercial kitchen falls into one of them.
Ask two questions. First: what are you cooking? Charbroilers, woks, and solid-fuel ovens produce the heaviest grease and creosote, which pushes you toward monthly. Second: how many hours a day is the line running? A 24-hour or late-night kitchen loads grease far faster than a lunch-only café.
If you are between tiers, err toward the more frequent one. It is cheaper than a failed inspection or a fire.
Your schedule may be on paper, but the grease tells the truth. Watch for these:
NFPA 96 does not just set frequency — it requires the entire exhaust system to be cleaned to bare metal where accessible, and it requires documentation: a dated certificate and, in practice, a service sticker on the hood. A surface wipe of the visible hood is not a compliant cleaning. The duct run and the rooftop fan have to be cleaned too.
Greater Houston fire marshals actively check hood-cleaning records, and insurers increasingly require proof of a current schedule to keep a policy in force. The practical move is to put your cleaning on a recurring schedule matched to your tier, so you are never scrambling before an inspection. Most Houston-area sit-down restaurants land on quarterly; bars, grills, and late-night kitchens on monthly.
Quarterly. Most moderate-volume sit-down restaurants fall into the quarterly tier under NFPA 96. High-volume, charbroil, wok, and 24-hour kitchens move up to monthly.
Yes. Wood- and charcoal-fired cooking produces creosote and is treated as a high-priority category, typically requiring monthly or tighter service.
NFPA 96 sets the tiers by cooking volume, and your local fire marshal enforces them. A hood-cleaning company can assess your kitchen and recommend the correct tier.
You risk a failed inspection, a voided insurance claim, and — most seriously — a grease fire in the duct or fan. Grease buildup is the leading cause of commercial kitchen fires.
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