Filters that are uniform, shiny, undamaged, fit perfectly and are bare-metal-clean tell your staff and customers that you run a clean and safe kitchen. Customers remember what they see of the kitchen, and staff work ethic can be positively influenced by surroundings that are well cared for.

Without specialized equipment, in-house filter cleaning rarely results in safe and beautiful filters (that is bare-metal-clean filters). Common in-house methods of soaking, scrubbing and dishwasher cycles are ineffective because water is not hot enough and doesn’t stay hot, standard chemicals are not strong enough, and cleaning cycles are usually not lengthy enough or regular enough. The result is that the fats, oils and grease (FOG) are never fully penetrated and loosened, leaving a layer of FOG that is hardened and added to upon the next cooking cycle, making it even more difficult to remove. Over time, you will have to entirely replace the filters because they cannot be cleaned, and meanwhile your filters are dangerous and unsightly.

Direct dollar costs of in-house filter cleaning include labor, power, water and chemicals. There are also indirect costs in the form of risk to staff: burns, chemical exposure, falls on slippery floors, injury from climbing on appliances. Additionally, due to the innate ineffectiveness of in-house cleaning, there are costs associated with unnecessary wear and tear on capital equipment: hood systems have to work harder, greasy waste-water clogs dishwashers and plumbing, and airborne contaminants damage walls and ceilings over time.