West Sussex · Kitchen extract cleaning
Kitchen extract cleaning in Houghton, West Sussex
Kitchen extract cleaning for businesses, landlords and public buildings in Houghton. CHAS, SafeContractor and ISO 9001, and fully insured.
- Stale cooking odours from the system
- Heavy grease build-up inside the duct runs
- Fat running down the canopy edge
Kitchen extract cleaning for kitchens and businesses in Houghton
The canopy over the range is only the start of a kitchen extract system. Behind it sit the plenum and grease filters, then the ductwork, risers, extract fan and discharge, and grease settles in every one of them. Our clean follows the air from canopy to discharge, cleaning to BESA TR19® Grease. If you have proof of cleaning requested by an insurer and fat running down the canopy edge, we can put it right, from vertical risers, plenums and filters and extract fans onwards. Some call it canopy cleaning, others extract cleaning or duct cleaning, but in Houghton, as everywhere, the insurer wants the full system cleaned, not just the hood.
The fire risk in a kitchen extract sits in the parts nobody sees: the plenum, the duct and the fan, so that is where most of the work in Houghton goes.
For a kitchen in or near Houghton, the visit is planned around opening hours and the journey, and the clean covers the whole system, as it would anywhere: canopy to discharge, then a TR19® certificate and a photo report.
We are CHAS and SafeContractor accredited, we hold ISO 9001 and we are fully insured. We’re also a BESCA Vent Hygiene Elite member, cleaning to BESA TR19® Grease, trading since 2009.
- Location
- Houghton (BN18)
- Region
- West Sussex
- Records
- TR19® certificate and photo report
- Price
- A fixed price before work begins
- Working hours
- Out of hours as standard, 24/7 emergency line
- Telephone
- 0345 646 2711
- Last updated
- 30 October 2026
How it works
We start by comparing what we find with the survey or your photos. If anything is different, we talk it through with the person on site before carrying on. From there, it takes a single shift for most kitchens, with long duct runs and tall risers needing more time. Somewhere as small as Houghton, the date and timings are agreed with you well before the day.
- You send photos or we visit, and the system is surveyed from canopy to discharge.
- Grease thickness is measured and the price is fixed before work starts.
- On the night, the equipment is off and cool and the kitchen is sheeted.
- We work through the system from the canopy to the fan and discharge.
- We re-test, photograph and send your certificate and photo report.
How to prepare
- Move anything stored near the system
- Make sure equipment near the work can be switched off and left to cool
- Make sure someone can let us in and lock up afterwards
How to get a quote
The quickest way to a quote is to send photos: the system from a couple of angles, plus any access panels or hatches. Tell us what kind of site it is and when it’s open, and we can price many jobs without a visit.
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Multi-site and managed buildings
Facilities teams in offices, schools and healthcare sites book us too in Houghton and across West Sussex. Work can be phased by floor, building or site to keep disruption down.
Whether it’s one building or many, the standard is the same: a survey first, a fixed quote, the work timed around the site and a report with pictures.
What affects the quote in Houghton
We quote each job individually. These are the things that affect it:
- Site rules, permits and inductions
- Access, including roofs, risers and ceiling voids
- Whether it’s a one-off visit or part of a schedule
- The size of the system
Several systems or sites on one quote can make for a more efficient booking. Tell us about everything you’d like looked at and we’ll price it together.
What we need to know
To speed up the quote, please include:
- The paperwork from the last visit, if you have it
- The roof, plant room or outside wall the system runs to
- Detail shots of panels, filters and grilles
- Wide photos of the system and the area around it
Want a quote for kitchen extract cleaning? Please phone us on 0345 646 2711 or use the quote form and tell us about the site. We’ll explain what we’d do and send a fixed quote before you commit to anything.
Between visits
Once we have finished, these simple steps help:
- Keep the extract on whenever the range is lit
- Clean the grease filters regularly between TR19 cleans
- Wipe the canopy down at the end of each day
- Refit filters properly after cleaning
The report gives a recommended date for the next clean, set from your daily cooking hours and the readings we took. We can put the system on a 3, 6 or 12-monthly plan, so the date is not missed.
Run the extract whenever the kitchen is cooking. Cooking with the extract off lets grease and heat settle in the canopy, and the next clean has more to do.
Grease, kitchens and Houghton
According to Food Standards Agency records, there are about 3 pubs, bars and clubs within about 1.5 miles of central Houghton. Where they serve hot food, their kitchen extracts need cleaning to TR19® like any restaurant’s. The fire and rescue service for Houghton is 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. It’s Arun council that sends environmental health officers to food businesses in Houghton. A greasy canopy or dripping filters are the sort of thing an inspection can pick up. A TR19® certificate and photo report after each clean gives you a record to show an inspector.
Where a hall near The Parish Church of St Nicholas, or anywhere in Houghton, hosts lunch clubs or events, its extract gathers grease just as a café’s does. If you run catering at a healthcare site, such as a hospital like Arundel and District Hospital about 2.7 miles south, the extract may need cleaning more often than a part-time kitchen.
Houghton is about 6 miles north of Littlehampton, in West Sussex. Whatever kind of site you run in Houghton, we can take on kitchen extract cleaning. Visits can be booked for evenings, overnight or weekends so trading isn’t interrupted. We cover 371 places across West Sussex, from busy centres to quieter spots. Brighton is in our area too, around 19 miles away.
Here we cover the BN18 postcode area for kitchen extract cleaning. Other places close to Houghton include Arundel (3 miles south), Warningcamp (3 miles south-east), Crossbush (3 miles south), Tortington (4 miles south) and Poling (4 miles south-east). We also work in nearby towns such as Worthing (8 miles south-east), Bognor Regis (9 miles south-west), Chichester (11 miles west), Selsey (15 miles south-west), Littlehampton (6 miles south) and Shoreham-by-Sea (13 miles east).
Landmarks near Houghton
We work in commercial kitchens and buildings around Arundel Park, among other places. Houghton’s nearest station is Amberley station, roughly 0.5 miles north-east of the centre. A little further out are Arundel and District Hospital (2.7 miles south) and Amberley Castle (1.2 miles north-east). For a walk, there’s Amberley Wild Brooks and Bignor Hill.
Do you need kitchen extract cleaning in Houghton?
A lot of duct grease gets there because the filters let it through. Filters that are bent, badly fitted, missing or left uncleaned let more fat into the plenum and duct, and from there it travels on to the fan.
Clients normally contact us when they notice one of these:
- Grease drips onto cooking equipment
- A TR19 certificate needed for the insurer
- Grease smells coming from the extract
- Missing paperwork after a change of operator
For kitchens close to Amberley station, where the day often starts early and ends late, the extract can be cleaned overnight.
Questions to ask before booking
- How VAT is shown on the quote
- Proof of accreditation you can verify
- How areas they cannot reach will be recorded
- If the quote is a fixed price or an estimate
Nearby places to Houghton
Also in Houghton
Your questions about kitchen extract cleaning in Houghton
Can school kitchens in Houghton be cleaned in the holidays?
Yes, out-of-term visits are normal for schools. Food Standards Agency records list about 3 schools, colleges and universities with registered kitchens within about a mile and a half of Houghton. Booking early in the term gives the best choice of holiday dates.
Do you work at weekends in Houghton?
Yes, we can come after you close and finish before you open. The site is handed back ready to open. Tell us your opening hours when you ask for a quote.
What’s TR19?
It’s the industry benchmark for cleaning ventilation and kitchen extract systems, written by BESA. It covers how systems are inspected, cleaned and checked, and it takes a risk-based approach.
Is there a survey before the work?
Yes, always. Diagnosis comes before treatment: the survey tells us what the system needs and how to reach it and the fixed quote is built on it.
Do insurers need proof of extract cleaning?
Many insurers ask for proof of regular cleaning to TR19, and many policies require it. An insurer may refuse or reduce a claim if there’s no evidence, so it’s worth checking your policy wording.
What’s the right cleaning interval for a kitchen extract?
Under BESA guidance, the minimum depends on how long you cook each day: every 3 months for 12 to 16 hours, 6 months for 6 to 12 hours and 12 months for 2 to 6 hours. Grease readings can show a shorter interval is needed.
Which parts of the extract do you clean?
Everything from canopy to discharge: the canopy, the plenum behind the filters, the filters, horizontal ducts, vertical risers, the fan and the discharge, plus attenuators where fitted. Anything we can’t reach is recorded on the report.
Can you quote from photos?
Normally, yes. Send a few wide photos plus close-ups of panels, filters or grilles, and a fixed quote typically follows within one working day. Some sites still need a visit, and we’ll say so.
What the work involves, part by part
Canopy and plenum
Canopies vary from a single hood to long runs over several appliances, each section is cleaned and photographed before and after.
Ductwork and risers
Risers take the extract up through floors to roof level, and grease runs down their walls and pools at the base. Access panels along the riser let us clean it in sections.
In-house cleaning or a specialist?
A few tasks are always specialist work: opening up ductwork, cleaning fans, drop testing fire dampers and measuring grease call for the right kit, training and safe access. Leave those to us.
If your staff spot something between visits, such as dripping grease, a noisy fan, a smell or a filter that won’t come clean, it’s best reported rather than tackled in-house. We can diagnose it and quote.