Hertfordshire · Kitchen extract cleaning
Kitchen Extract Cleaning in How Wood
Kitchen extract cleaning across How Wood and nearby, booked around your opening hours and finished with a written report and pictures.
- Grease drips onto cooking equipment
- Extraction mentioned at an environmental health visit
- Heavy grease build-up inside the duct runs
Kitchen extract cleaning for kitchens and businesses in How Wood
Few kitchens can stop cooking for a day so the extract can be cleaned. We work evenings, overnight and at weekends, or during holidays where a site closes for them. Equipment is switched off and left to cool, the area is sheeted, and the kitchen is handed back ready to cook. The work covers horizontal duct runs, discharge points and extract fans, and people most often call us about an extract that no longer clears the smoke and grease smells coming from the extract. When a restaurant in How Wood asks for duct cleaning, it’s nearly always the kitchen extract they mean, and that is our main job: the whole run from hood to roof, cleaned to TR19® Grease.
The fire risk in a kitchen extract sits in the parts nobody sees: the plenum, the duct and the fan, which is why a TR19® clean in How Wood goes well beyond the canopy.
In a smaller place like How Wood, many kitchens sit in older buildings or later extensions, where the duct may cross a roof void or climb an outside wall. Long horizontal runs like that hold grease and need access panels to reach.
Insurers, fire officers and environmental health officers all look at records. So every job comes with a written report and pictures, and grease extract cleans come with a TR19® certificate issued through the BESCA Vent Hygiene Elite portal.
- Place
- How Wood (AL2)
- Wider area
- Hertfordshire
- Paperwork
- TR19® certificate and photo report
- Price
- Fixed quote, normally within a working day
- Working hours
- Nights, weekends or holidays to suit you
- Phone
- 0345 646 2711
- Reviewed
- 30 October 2026
What we do, step by step
Before we leave, we walk the area with whoever is on site. We point out anything that couldn’t be reached or needs a follow-up, and the same goes into the written report. The visit takes a few hours for a small kitchen, longer for a large system. Your opening hours decide when we come to How Wood, not ours.
- First comes a survey of the whole system, by pictures or a visit.
- We measure the grease at set points along the system, then give you a fixed price.
- On the day, cooking equipment is switched off and left to cool, and everything nearby is sheeted.
- The whole route is cleaned, from the canopy through the ductwork to the fan and the discharge.
- Readings and photos are taken again, and you receive a TR19 certificate and photo report.
Before we arrive
- Agree a time when the area can be out of use
- Mention any locked doors, roof access or ceiling voids
- Make sure equipment near the work can be switched off and left to cool
Ask for a quote
For a fixed quote, call us on 0345 646 2711, or email photos with the site type, your trading hours and a short description of the system. A few pictures and your last certificate or report help a lot. You will usually have a quote within one working day.
Related advice
Nearby places to How Wood
What else we do in How Wood
How the job changes from site to site
Schools, hospitals and care homes
School kitchens can look lightly used but still need a TR19 clean at least every 12 months under BESA guidance. Holidays make it simple to schedule.
Restaurant and pub kitchens
Losing a service is not an option for most restaurants and pubs. Overnight and weekend cleans keep the kitchen trading, and hand back a clean kitchen ready to cook.
Looking after it afterwards
Results last longer with the right care. We suggest:
- Keep grease collection points emptied
- Keep the baffle filters clean
- Make sure every filter is fitted before cooking
- Give the canopy a daily wipe
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 isn’t missed.
Keep the fan on throughout service. Cooking with the extract off lets grease and heat settle in the canopy, and the next clean has more to do.
What staff can safely do
Staff cleaning doesn’t replace a specialist visit; it supports it. Clean filters and tidy surfaces slow the build-up, but the parts you cannot see still need a specialist at the right interval.
Away from the kitchen, the in-house job is mainly checking: clear grilles, a log of filter changes and reporting anything odd. Cleaning inside ducts and units is specialist work.
What happens if it’s left?
Grease that’s left only gets thicker. Under BESA guidance, grease shouldn’t exceed a mean of 200 microns between cleans, and anywhere reaching 500 microns or more needs a spot clean straight away. The longer it’s left, the bigger the job becomes. In a smaller place like How Wood, a site that has to close is felt quickly.
The cost depends on how big the system is, the condition it’s in and access to every part of it. We give you a fixed price before work begins, so you know where you stand.
Why choose Duct Doctor in How Wood
- Ventilation hygiene specialists since 2009
- Fixed quotes, normally within one working day
- One number for every site across the South East and London
- A written report with photos after each visit
Signs you need kitchen extract cleaning in How Wood
The reason for all this is fire. Flames from a pan or grill can be pulled into the canopy by the fan, where burning grease can carry a fire along the ducts and into other parts of the building. That’s why controlling extract grease belongs in the fire risk assessment.
Signs it’s time to call us include:
- Proof of cleaning requested by an insurer
- Stale cooking odours from the system
- A system with no record of a TR19 clean
- Grease drips onto cooking equipment
A hall kitchen that only cooks for events, whether near Church of the Holy Trinity or elsewhere in How Wood, still needs its extract cleaned, just less often.
Comparing quotes
- Whether they recommend a next date
- What paperwork you get at the end
- Whether the price is fixed
- Whether the whole system is included, or only the parts that are easy to reach
Questions from How Wood
Do you cover smaller places like How Wood?
Yes. How Wood is within the area we cover across London and the South East. The journey is planned ahead, so a few details about the route help.
Do you work at weekends in How Wood?
Yes, out-of-hours work is a big part of what we do. That way a site in How Wood doesn’t have to lose a day’s trading. Your opening times are the first thing we ask for.
Is there a survey before the work?
Yes. We always survey first, from your photos and details, or with a visit where needed. Then you get a fixed quote.
Is TR19 a legal requirement?
TR19 isn’t written into law, but the responsible person still has a legal duty under the Fire Safety Order 2005. Insurers, fire officers and EHOs look to TR19 as the standard, and many policies require it.
Can you look after several sites?
Yes. You deal with one contact for every site in our area, and visits can be set on a regular cycle.
Will my insurer ask for a TR19 certificate?
Extract grease is fuel for a kitchen fire, so many insurers want evidence it’s being cleaned to TR19. Our certificate and photo report give you that evidence.
What do you need from me for a quote?
The site address, the type of premises and your opening hours, plus photos of the system and your last certificate or report if you have one.
How do you keep the site clean during the work?
Floors and surfaces near the work are sheeted before we start, and anything we remove is contained. At the end, the area is cleaned down.
What affects the quote in How Wood
We don’t publish a price list, because sites vary so much. What we look at:
- The condition we find in the survey
- The number of sites or systems
- Any permits to work or inductions
- The size of the system
No two sites are the same, so we price each one individually. The size of the job, how we reach it, its condition and the working hours all play a part.
Helping us quote
A few details help us quote accurately. When you get in touch, it helps to send:
- Wide pictures of the system and the area around it
- How we’d reach plant on a roof or in a plant room
- Problems your staff have spotted
- When the site is open and when it’s quiet
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.
Grease, kitchens and How Wood
Food Standards Agency records list about 11 restaurants, cafés and works canteens and about 13 sandwich bars and takeaways in How Wood and the streets around it, up to about 1.5 miles out. Every kitchen in that count with a canopy has a full extract system, canopy to discharge, to keep clear of grease. Fire safety in How Wood falls to Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service. Fire and rescue authorities enforce the Fire Safety Order in most non-domestic premises, and in a kitchen that fire risk includes the grease in the extract. In How Wood, food businesses are inspected by environmental health officers from St Albans City council. Extraction counts as kitchen equipment, so its condition can come up on the day. A TR19® certificate and photo report after each clean gives you a record to show an inspector.
If you cook for passing trade around How Wood station, the extract can be cleaned between your last and first customer. Kitchens that cook twelve hours or more a day, as some healthcare kitchens do, fall into BESA’s three-monthly minimum; Napsbury Hospital is the nearest hospital to How Wood, about 1.8 miles east.
How Wood is about 2 miles south-west of St Albans, in Hertfordshire. Wherever you are in the AL2 postcode area, we can take on kitchen extract cleaning. Across Hertfordshire, we cover 381 places, and How Wood is one of them. You can also see our page for London, roughly 19 miles from How Wood.
Work in AL2 is surveyed, quoted and booked the same way as anywhere else. Whether your site is on Ringway Road, Alder Close and How Wood or a nearby road, our technicians can take on the work. Other places close to How Wood include Park Street (1 mile north-east), Chiswell Green (1 mile north-west), Frogmore (1 mile east), Bricket Wood (1 mile south-west) and Colney Street (1 mile south-east). We also work in nearby towns such as Watford (4 miles south-west), Hemel Hempstead (5 miles north-west), Stevenage (15 miles north-east), Welwyn Garden City (9 miles north-east), Harpenden (7 miles north) and Hoddesdon (15 miles east).
Near you in How Wood
Typical jobs here are in premises near Marlborough Science Academy and The Falcon pub and the streets around them. How Wood has its own railway station: How Wood station. Well-known places in the area include Hilfield Castle (4.6 miles south) and Hypocaust Museum (2.1 miles north). Not far away are Broad Colney Lakes and Verulamium Lake.