If you run a restaurant or other business with a food-preparing kitchen, then you know of the importance of having a clean, dependable vent hood. Vent hoods capture vaporized kitchen grease, smoke, steam, and other exhaust, carrying it outside where it can safely be expelled into the atmosphere. But what you may not realize is that the grease which floats up into your vent hood like this could wind up becoming a serious fire hazard, make your air ducts dirty, and even haunt you by creating an ugly, difficult-to-clean coating on your roof.
But what if there was a way to prevent all that? Not only is there a way to do so, but it’s easier and cheaper than you might think. WoolGuard filters are small, easy to-change filters designed to protect your ventilation system from this airborne grease, preventing it from getting into your exhaust system. Instead, a WoolGuard filter traps up to 98 percent of all airborne grease, keeping it contained in an easy-to-change wool sheet that’s disposable and environmentally safe.
Here are four reasons why you need a WoolGuard filter system for your commercial kitchen.
1. Reduced Vent Hood Cleaning Costs
We know vent hood cleaning services can add up, but as a business owner you can’t just skip this service. Not doing so could result in a failed fire safety inspection, and that shuts your doors for good until you can get the issue fixed. Likewise, not doing so could result in a dangerous fire that damages your building and could cause serious injuries. So you have to get it done.
But with a WoolGuard filter system, you don’t have to get it done nearly as often. In fact, you will see vent hood cleaning frequencies be reduced by 50-75%. WoolGuard filters trap almost all of the grease that would otherwise find its way into your ventilation system, potentially creating a fire hazard.
2. Reduced Maintenance Costs
In addition to getting into your ventilation ducts and the underside of your vent hood, grease can get just about everywhere else in your kitchen as well, including all over the floors, on the ceilings, on the outside of your vent hood, all over just about everything else in your kitchen, and so much more. This is a pain to clean, and cleaning it can get expensive when you figure in the costs of material and labor. However, straining this grease out of the air before it can escape will keep your entire kitchen cleaner, meaning fewer maintenance costs, reduced cleanings, and a more-efficient and safer kitchen.
This also has a number of benefits on your rooftop fan as well. When grease can become trapped in your ceilings and vent hood, it can certainly find its way into your ventilation ducts as well. Greasy vent ducts are a real pain to clean, and that makes maintenance tedious and expensive. A WoolGuard hood filter helps keep these maintenance costs down and extends the life of your rooftop fan.
3. Reduced Odds of a Grease Fire
We briefly mentioned this before, but grease can get into the ventilation ducts that lead outside—the same ducts which are depended on to remove extremely hot exhaust like smoke, steam, and more. The more grease builds up in your ducts, the higher your risk of a fire becomes. All it takes is one stray spark or too much heat to make contact with grease, and suddenly you could be dealing with a kitchen fire. And that’s a risk no restaurant or commercial kitchen manager wants to take.
According to the National Fire Protection Association’s report Structure Fires in Eating and Drinking Establishments (2017), from 2010-2014 there were an average of 7,410 structure fires in restaurants and bars reported to the U.S. fire departments per year. These fires caused an average of three civilian deaths, 110 civilian injuries, and around $165 million in direct property damage every year. Cooking equipment is the leading cause of these fires, accounting for 61% of them, and “failure to clean” was the contributing factor in 22% of these fires.
4. No More Grease on Your Roof
You may not even realize it, but grease can actually come out of your exhaust vents, where the temperature outside can cause it to quickly condense back to liquid form and cause it to fall on your roof. Have you ever seen a restaurant that seems to have an oddly-shiny or stained-looking roof? This is usually from years of grease escaping the exhaust vents and then cooling and falling back onto the roof. This leads to not only unsightly smells and sights but could even shorten the life of your roof. Cleaning your roof is a dangerous and extremely labor-intensive job, and one you more than likely want to avoid at all costs. By filtering out nearly all of the grease before it even reaches the exhaust vents, let alone your exhaust spout at the top of your roof, you can do exactly that.
In summary, WoolGuard Hood Filters are the smarter, cleaner, and greener way to manage your grease issues. These 100% wool filters are naturally fire retardant and capture 98% of airborne grease before it enters your system. Once the a WoolGuard filter reaches the end of its life cycle, you simply remove it, replace it with a new filter, and throw the grease-filled filter in your ordinary trash. It’s that simple.
Installing these filters in your kitchen will save you money on repair and maintenance, vent hood cleanings, and other operating costs. You’ll also see savings in water, chemical and labor costs as well thanks to your team no longer needing to take the filters down and clean them daily or weekly.
Learn more about WoolGuard vent hood filters by calling the Dallas vent hood cleaning experts from Guardian Services at (214) 637-1520 today!