Commercial Kitchen Hood & Exhaust Cleaning in Tampa & Orlando — to the NFPA 96 Bare-Metal Standard
VentWash cleans commercial kitchen exhaust systems hood-to-roof across Tampa Bay and Central Florida — canopy hood, baffle filters, grease duct, rooftop exhaust fan, and make-up air, degreased to bare metal per NFPA 96. Every service ends with before/after photo documentation, a certificate of performance, and a service sticker your fire marshal, landlord, and insurance carrier will accept. Crews work after hours, quotes are free, and the phone is answered around the clock.
Every part of the grease path — documented
Grease doesn't stop at the hood, and neither do we. A compliant NFPA 96 cleaning covers the entire exhaust path, because the fire risk lives in the duct and fan you can't see from the cookline.
NFPA 96 cleaning frequency — set by how you cook
The Florida Fire Prevention Code adopts NFPA 96 statewide, which sets professional exhaust cleaning frequency by cooking volume and fuel — your busiest cooking style sets the tier, and your local fire marshal checks the sticker. Read the full Florida NFPA 96 guide.
| Cooking operation | Typical examples | Required frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Solid-fuel cooking | Wood-fired ovens, charcoal, mesquite, smokers | MONTHLY |
| High-volume cooking | 24-hour kitchens, charbroiling, wok cooking | QUARTERLY |
| Moderate-volume cooking | Typical sit-down restaurants, hotel kitchens | SEMI-ANNUALLY |
| Low-volume cooking | Churches, day camps, seasonal businesses, senior centers | ANNUALLY |
Hood cleaning across the I-4 corridor
Route crews cover Tampa Bay and Central Florida — one company, one standard, from the Gulf beaches to the theme-park corridor.
Built for inspection day
- Bare metal, verified. Hood, plenum, duct run, and fan scraped and degreased to the NFPA 96 standard — not a wipe-down that stops at the visible steel.
- Photo-documented, every panel. Timestamped before/after photos of each component, a certificate of performance, and a dated service sticker — the package fire marshals and insurers ask for.
- After-hours crews. Overnight service windows mean zero lost service hours — the only morning evidence is clean steel and the report in your inbox.
- Licensed & insured. Certified technicians, straight answers, and a free exact quote — by phone or form, any hour.
Straight answers
How often does NFPA 96 require kitchen hood cleaning?
NFPA 96's frequency table sets four tiers: monthly for solid-fuel cooking (wood, charcoal, mesquite), quarterly for high-volume operations (24-hour kitchens, charbroiling, wok cooking), semi-annually for moderate-volume kitchens, and annually for low-volume operations like churches and seasonal businesses. Your busiest cooking style sets the tier — not your average week.
Is hood cleaning required by law in Florida?
Yes. The Florida Fire Prevention Code — adopted statewide under Florida Administrative Code Chapter 69A-60 — incorporates NFPA 96, making professional kitchen exhaust cleaning a legal requirement for commercial kitchens across the state. Local fire marshals enforce it during inspections, and non-compliance can mean citations, fines, or closure.
What is NFPA 96?
NFPA 96 is the National Fire Protection Association's Standard for Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations. It governs how commercial kitchen hoods, ducts, fans, and filters must be designed, inspected, cleaned, and maintained. It becomes enforceable law wherever a fire code adopts it — which in Florida is statewide.