West Sussex · Grease filter exchange
Grease filter exchange in Thakeham, West Sussex
Looking for grease filter exchange in Thakeham? We diagnose first, fix the price and book the work around your hours, then sign off with a report and photos.
- Weak extraction at the canopy
- Damaged filters letting grease past
- Filter washing that keeps being missed
Kitchen extracts in Thakeham
Fire safety in Thakeham falls to West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service. The Fire Safety Order puts the duty on whoever runs a kitchen to control its fire risk, and a greasy duct is fuel. In Thakeham, food businesses are inspected by environmental health officers from Horsham council. An officer looking round a kitchen will see the canopy, and grease there is hard to miss. A TR19® certificate and photo report after each clean gives you a record to show an inspector.
School kitchens, at schools like Rydon Community College for example, are usually cleaned in the holidays so no lunches are lost. Older buildings often hide long, awkward duct runs, and if you run a kitchen at a historic venue in the area (Parham House is about 3.6 miles south-west), access may need planning.
Thakeham is about 8 miles north of Worthing, in West Sussex. Across the RH20 area, we cover grease filter exchange for commercial sites. Our West Sussex coverage runs to 371 places, Thakeham among them. Brighton is in our area too, about 15 miles from Thakeham.
Our technicians cover all of RH20 for grease filter exchange and the roads nearby. That includes premises on The Street, Bramble Lane and Cray's Lane and the roads around them. We also cover Abingworth (1 mile south-west), Warminghurst (1 mile south-east), Goose Green (1 mile north-east), West Chiltington (1 mile north-west) and Heath Common (1 mile south). Further out, we also cover Crawley (15 miles north-east), Horsham (9 miles north-east), Worthing (8 miles south), Haywards Heath (15 miles east), Burgess Hill (13 miles east) and Littlehampton (10 miles south-west).
Local landmarks in Thakeham
For rail, the closest station is Pulborough station, roughly 4.1 miles west. Other landmarks nearby include The Storrington And District Museum (2.2 miles south-west). For a walk, there’s Knepp Wildland and Chanctonbury Hill.
Grease filter exchange in Thakeham, done properly
Washing filters in the kitchen sink is messy and easily missed on a busy week. An exchange service means clean filters arrive and greasy ones leave and the canopy is refilled straight away. The work covers school and hospital kitchens, wall canopies and mesh filters, and the jobs we see most are filters that come out of the sink still dirty and grease building up behind the canopy filters.
In a small place like Thakeham, kitchens are often in older or extended buildings, with long single-storey duct runs, where grease settles in the flat sections. We agree access and timings in advance.
Nothing is signed off by word of mouth: a dated report with photos of the work, and for TR19® Grease cleans, a certificate issued through the BESCA VHE portal. It shows what was done and what, if anything, couldn’t be reached.
- Location
- Thakeham (RH20)
- Wider area
- West Sussex
- Records
- Written report with pictures
- Quotes
- A fixed price before work begins
- When we work
- After hours by arrangement; emergencies any time
- Phone
- 0345 646 2711
- Updated
- 30 October 2026
Managing agents and facilities teams in Thakeham
When the building owner and the occupier are different, it’s worth checking the lease for who maintains the systems. We can quote either party and send the paperwork to whoever needs it.
Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the responsible person must assess and reduce fire risk, and that can be the employer, the owner, a landlord, a facilities manager or a managing agent. With shared responsibility, good records help everyone.
What staff can safely do
When your team notices a problem between visits, such as dripping grease, a noisy fan, a smell or a filter that will not come clean, it’s best reported rather than tackled in-house. We can diagnose it and quote.
Your own staff can handle the daily basics: wiping canopies, washing grease filters and recording it in a log. What they can’t safely do is clean inside the ductwork, the fan or the risers, which is where we come in.
Towns and villages near Thakeham
Other services in Thakeham
Do you need grease filter exchange in Thakeham?
Wherever you are, Thakeham included, filter washing is the job that gets skipped when the kitchen is busy. It only takes a couple of missed weeks for a filter bank to clog.
Keep an eye out for these warning signs:
- Hand-washed filters that still look greasy
- Bent or damaged filters that don’t sit properly
- Missing filters in the filter bank
- Blocked baffle filters
Church and community hall kitchens, near The Parish Church of St Mary or anywhere around Thakeham, are easy to forget, but their extracts collect grease like any other.
Questions to ask before booking
- What paperwork you get at the end
- How VAT is shown on the quote
- When the next visit should be, and why
- Their accreditations, such as BESCA Vent Hygiene Elite, CHAS or SafeContractor
How the job changes from site to site
The plenum
Clean filters reduce the grease reaching the plenum, but it still needs cleaning as part of TR19.
Mesh filters
Mesh filters use layers of metal mesh to trap grease. In a busy kitchen, mesh soon blocks, so they need changing often.
How we price grease filter exchange
You will get a fixed price before work begins. It’s based on:
- A single visit or a regular plan
- Travel, parking and unloading
- Site requirements such as sign-in and permits
- The condition of the system
What you pay reflects the actual work. That’s why every job is surveyed first, and the price is agreed before work begins.
Helping us quote
We can often survey from pictures. The most useful are:
- Anything you’ve noticed, such as smells, noise, drips or poor airflow
- How we’d reach plant on a roof or in a plant room
- The site address and the type of premises
- Detail shots of panels, filters and grilles
Photos are enough for some jobs, while others need a look on site. Big or complicated sites, and systems that are hard to see in pictures, get a survey first. Either way, the quote is fixed before any work is booked.
Your questions about grease filter exchange in Thakeham
Do you cover smaller places like Thakeham?
Yes, smaller places are covered as well as towns. Let us know about access, parking and anything unusual about getting there when you book.
Which fire authority looks after Thakeham?
Fire safety enforcement in Thakeham is handled by West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service. If a fire safety officer visits a commercial kitchen, they may ask about the fire risk assessment and how the extract is kept clean.
How long does grease filter exchange take?
We’ll confirm the time with your quote. In most cases, the work takes well under an hour for most canopies.
Do you offer emergency callouts?
Yes, 24/7. Our office is open from 8am to 6pm on weekdays, with the emergency line covering every other hour.
What happens to the waste?
We contain it and take it with us. Grease, debris and waste water are collected as the work goes on rather than letting it spread.
Which sectors do you work in?
Any site with a kitchen or a ventilation system to look after, from a small pub to a hospital. Hotels, schools, care homes, offices, shops and leisure sites are all part of our work.
Do we need to close the kitchen while filters are changed?
Not for long, and we can time it to avoid service. Cooking shouldn’t happen with the filters out so the swap is done promptly.
Can we skip TR19 cleans if the filters are changed regularly?
No. Filter exchange works between full cleans, not instead of them. A TR19® clean deals with the whole system and comes with a certificate and photo report.
Why act early in Thakeham
Washing filters in-house is an option for kitchens in Thakeham, and that can work if it’s done thoroughly and on time. Where it slips, an exchange service takes the job off staff. Rural sites can’t always move to another kitchen or room when something fails.
Combining work into one visit or one programme can make for a more efficient booking. Tell us about everything you’d like looked at and we will price it together.
What you get with us
- We diagnose before we treat
- Fully insured
- Ventilation hygiene specialists since 2009
- A written report with pictures after each visit
Read how cleaning jobs are priced and how to check a contractor.
How it works
We work around your opening hours, not the other way round. We book the visit for a time the area is closed, whether that’s an evening, overnight or a weekend. When the team arrives, the work area is protected and the relevant equipment is switched off to cool, and the work takes anything from a few minutes to an hour or so, depending on the number of filters. Somewhere like Thakeham, lanes, gates and parking are worth mentioning in advance.
- We count and measure the filters in every canopy.
- We agree a schedule that suits how much the kitchen cooks.
- On each visit, the dirty filters come out of the canopy.
- Clean filters go straight back in, seated properly with no gaps.
- We flag any damaged filters or anything wrong with the canopy.
Before we arrive
- Mention any sign-in, permit or induction we need
- Arrange a key holder or contact on site
- Mention any parking or loading restrictions
Ask for a quote
To help us quote: where the site is, what it is and its opening hours, photos of the system and the last certificate or report, if there is one. Once you have those, phone us on 0345 646 2711, or email photos.