Hertfordshire · TR19 inspections and grease testing
TR19 inspections and grease testing in Aston, Hertfordshire
Looking for TR19 inspection in Aston? We survey first, send you a fixed quote and work around your opening hours, then sign off with a report and photos.
- Insurance renewals needing proof of TR19 cleaning
- Uncertainty over how often to clean
- Extracts that have never been grease tested
Staff cleaning versus specialist work
Good housekeeping makes our visits easier, not unnecessary. Clean filters and tidy surfaces slow the build-up, but hidden parts of the system still need specialist attention.
Day-to-day cleaning is something your team can do: 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.
TR19 inspection in Aston
After a clean, post-clean verification checks the result, with fresh grease readings, photos and a look at the areas that were cleaned. It shows whether the system was left in the condition the paperwork describes. If you have kitchens taken over with no cleaning records and uncertainty over how often to clean, we can put it right.
For a kitchen in or near Aston, the visit is planned around opening hours and the journey, and the clean itself is the same full TR19® job as in any town: canopy to discharge, then a TR19® certificate and a photo report.
For insurers and inspectors, the record counts. So every job comes with a written report and pictures, plus a TR19® certificate through the BESCA VHE portal where the work is a TR19® Grease clean.
- Where
- Aston (SG2)
- Wider area
- Hertfordshire
- Reporting
- TR19® certificate and photo report
- Quotes
- Fixed quote, usually within a working day
- Working hours
- When your site is closed, plus a 24/7 line
- Phone
- 0345 646 2711
- Page updated
- 30 October 2026
Aston: your questions answered
Can school kitchens in Aston be cleaned in the holidays?
Yes. The holidays are the usual time for school work. With about 17 schools and colleges on the FSA’s register within roughly a mile and a half of Aston, it pays to plan holiday dates ahead. Tell us your holiday dates and we will book the visit for when the site is empty.
Who is the fire and rescue service for Aston?
Fire safety enforcement in Aston is handled by Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service. It’s worth keeping your fire risk assessment, TR19® certificates and photo reports together, ready to show.
Which kinds of sites do you work on?
Any site with a kitchen or a ventilation system to look after, from a single café to a large school. Hotels, schools, care homes, offices, shops and leisure sites are all part of our work.
Do we have to follow TR19 by law?
No. TR19® is BESA’s specification and the industry benchmark, not legislation. The law is the Fire Safety Order 2005, under which the responsible person must manage fire risk, and TR19® is what insurers and fire officers look to.
Why survey before a clean?
A survey finds out how the system is laid out, how dirty it is and what can be reached, so the clean goes to plan. Missing access panels are noted ahead of the clean.
What is grease thickness testing?
Grease thickness testing measures the layer of grease on the duct surfaces, by WFTT or DTT. The results are given in microns.
What is post-clean verification?
After a clean, we take new readings and photos to show how the system was left. It can follow our own cleans or another contractor’s.
What’s TR19?
BESA’s ventilation hygiene specification in two main parts: TR19® Grease for kitchen extract systems and TR19® Air for general ventilation. It isn’t law, but it’s the benchmark.
What else we do in Aston
Honest limits
We’d rather tell you now than book work that will not help, so these are the things it will not cover:
- Hidden runs that need access panels first
- Mechanical faults in the extract
- Removing the grease, which is a separate clean
If you are not sure, just call us on 0345 646 2711, or email photos and we will give you a straight answer before booking.
Where we work
- Deposit thickness tests
- Access surveys
- Insurer audits
- Wet film thickness tests
- Post-clean checks
- Pre-clean surveys
For landlords and multi-site operators
From a single site to a large estate, the standard is the same: a survey first, a fixed quote, the work timed around the site and a report with photos.
For anyone managing more than one site, we can plan visits across the whole estate and price them together. Every building has its own written report, so records stay tidy.
Leave it or put it right?
An EHO visit, an insurance renewal or a fire risk assessment is a bad time to find your extract records are thin. An inspection now gives a site in Aston a current picture. Somewhere as small as Aston, losing a kitchen or building to a fault is felt by everyone who uses it.
Every site is different, so each one gets its own fixed quote. Size, access, the condition of the system and when we can work all play a part.
Why Aston businesses choose us
- Full insurance on every job
- We diagnose before we treat
- A written report with pictures after every visit
- Work around your opening hours, with 24/7 emergency cover
Take a look at what affects the cost and our accreditations.
Keeping the system healthy
Aftercare is simple, and it helps at the next visit:
- Don’t box in or cover duct access panels
- Report grease dripping from the canopy
- Share inspection reports with your insurer or broker when asked
- Keep grease filters clean and fitted properly
You get a report with the grease readings, where they were taken and pictures of each point. Keep it with your fire safety and TR19 records.
Fit access panels where the survey finds sections can’t be reached, so every part of the duct can be cleaned.
Kitchen extracts in Aston
Food Standards Agency data counts about 10 restaurants, cafés and canteens and about 20 takeaways within 1.5 miles or so of the middle of Aston. For any of them with a canopy, measuring grease is better than guessing when to clean. Fire safety in Aston falls to Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service. In most workplaces, including commercial kitchens, it’s the fire and rescue authority that enforces the Fire Safety Order. In Aston, food businesses are inspected by environmental health officers from East Hertfordshire council. An officer looking round a kitchen will see the canopy, and grease there is hard to miss. A dated certificate in the maintenance file answers the question before it’s asked.
Older buildings often hide long, awkward duct runs, and if you run a kitchen at a historic venue in the area (Aston Bury is about 0.7 miles south), access may need planning. Where a hall near Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, or anywhere in Aston, hosts lunch clubs or events, its extract gathers grease just as a café’s does.
Aston is about 2 miles south-east of Stevenage, in Hertfordshire. Wherever you are in the SG2 postcode area, we can carry out TR19 inspection at your premises. Aston is one of 381 places in Hertfordshire we cover for TR19 inspection. You can also see our page for London, about 27 miles away.
All of SG2 is covered for TR19 inspection, from busy streets to back roads. We cover sites on Penn Close, Benington Road and Brook Field and nearby roads. We also cover Bragbury End (1 mile south), Shephall (1 mile west), Hook's Cross (1 mile south), Benington (2 miles east) and Knebworth (2 miles south-west). Further out, we also cover St Albans (12 miles south-west), Bishop's Stortford (13 miles east), Welwyn Garden City (7 miles south), Harpenden (10 miles south-west), Hitchin (7 miles north-west) and Hoddesdon (11 miles south-east).
What’s near Aston
Locally, jobs take us to businesses close to The Heathcote School, Rose And Crown Public House and Barnwell School. Aston’s nearest station is Knebworth station, about 2.2 miles south-west of the centre. Other landmarks nearby include Benington Castle (1.5 miles east) and Stevenage Museum (2.3 miles north-west). Open spaces near Aston include Ridlins Mire.
When to call us in Aston
TR19® is the benchmark that insurers, fire officers and EHOs refer to. It isn’t legislation; the legal duty comes from the Fire Safety Order 2005, under which the responsible person must reduce fire risk, and in a kitchen that means keeping grease under control.
The symptoms we’re asked about most are:
- Pre-clean surveys before a first TR19 clean
- Insurers asking for TR19 evidence
- Kitchens whose menu or hours have changed
- Extracts that may be over the 200 micron mean
If you run catering at a healthcare site, such as a hospital like Lister Hospital about 3.6 miles north-west, the extract may need cleaning more often than a part-time kitchen.
Before booking anyone
- Whether the quote is based on a survey or photos
- What happens if part of the system cannot be accessed
- Whether VAT is included
- How they set the interval to the next visit
What happens on the day
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. All told, the work takes a couple of hours for a typical kitchen extract system. Rural roads and tight entrances are worth telling us about before a visit to Aston.
- We agree a time when the kitchen is closed or quiet.
- The system is checked from canopy to discharge.
- We take WFTT or DTT readings at set points along the system.
- Photos are taken at each point, and access gaps noted.
- We send a report setting out the readings, photos and next steps.
Preparing for the visit
- Dig out any earlier paperwork for the system
- Mention any parking or loading restrictions
- Let us know how we reach the system, including roofs, risers and plant rooms
How to get a quote
Photos are the quickest way to a quote: the system from a couple of angles, plus any access panels or hatches. Add the site type and your opening hours, and we can price many jobs without a visit.