Kent · TR19 inspections and grease testing
TR19 inspections in Canterbury
We cover Canterbury for TR19 inspections, grease thickness testing, pre-clean surveys and post-clean verification. Out-of-hours visits, a fixed quote and a written report with pictures as standard.
- Insurance renewals needing proof of TR19 cleaning
- Sites with gaps in their extract records
- Parts of the system left out of past cleans
Kitchen extracts in Canterbury
The Food Standards Agency lists about 52 bars, pubs and nightclubs and about 18 hotels and guest houses as registered food businesses within about 1.5 miles of central Canterbury. Where they serve hot food, their kitchen extracts need cleaning to TR19® like any restaurant’s. Canterbury sits within the area of Kent 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. Kitchens in Canterbury get their food hygiene inspections from Canterbury City council. A greasy canopy or dripping filters are the sort of thing an inspection can pick up. A dated certificate in the maintenance file answers the question before it’s asked.
For schools such as St Peter's Methodist Primary School, kitchen extract cleaning is normally booked for the holidays, when the canteen is closed. Commuter trade near Canterbury East station can mean long cooking hours, and long hours put a kitchen into BESA’s more frequent cleaning bands.
Canterbury is in Kent. Sites in Canterbury get the same service as everywhere we cover: a survey first, a fixed quote, work timed around your hours and a report with pictures. Canterbury is one of 922 towns, villages and districts in Kent where we work for commercial clients. We also work in Maidstone, around 24 miles away.
Work in CT1, CT2, CT4 and CT3 follows the same survey, fixed quote and written report as everywhere else we cover. If you need TR19 inspection at premises on Long Market, High Street and High Street St Gregorys or a nearby road, we can help. Main roads around Canterbury include the A2 and A28, so getting to you is simple for TR19 inspection. Other places close to Canterbury include Wincheap (1 mile south-west), Harbledown (1 mile west), Hales Place (1 mile north), Thanington (1 mile south-west) and Stuppington (1 mile south). Within a short drive, we also cover Ashford (13 miles south-west), Margate (15 miles north-east), Dover (14 miles south-east), Folkestone (14 miles south), Ramsgate (15 miles east) and Whitstable (6 miles north-west). Canterbury is one of the larger places we cover in Kent for TR19 inspection.
Around Canterbury
We work in commercial kitchens and buildings around Canterbury School of Architecture, Bus Company Island and St Thomas of Canterbury Church. You will also find The Old Buttermarket pub (within half a mile south-west) and Barton Court Grammar School (0.5 miles east). There’s a railway station in Canterbury itself: Canterbury East station. Nearby you’ll also find Whitefriars Shopping Centre (under half a mile south-west) and Canterbury Roman Museum (within half a mile south). The countryside around Canterbury includes Blean Woods RSPB Reserve.
TR19 inspection for kitchens and businesses in Canterbury
BESA’s minimum cleaning frequencies depend on how long the kitchen cooks each day: every 3 months for heavy use of 12 to 16 hours a day, every 6 months for moderate use of 6 to 12 hours, and every 12 months for light use of 2 to 6 hours. Those are minimums, and grease readings help set the real interval. If you are dealing with extracts that may be over the 200 micron mean and cleaning intervals that may not suit the kitchen, we can put it right, from pre-clean surveys, deposit thickness tests and wet film thickness tests onwards.
In Canterbury, extract cleaning fits around service: after the last cover, before breakfast or on a day the kitchen is shut. Sites with more than one kitchen can be cleaned in phases.
Duct Doctor has been trading since 2009, and we are a BESCA Vent Hygiene Elite member, cleaning to BESA TR19® Grease. We also hold CHAS, SafeContractor and ISO 9001, and we carry full insurance.
The process
The visit has three parts: getting the area ready, doing the work and signing it off. Set-up means sheeting and making equipment safe, and the sign-off is a written report with pictures. Most of the time goes on the work itself, which takes a morning or less for one kitchen, more where there are several systems. Some sites in Canterbury need contractors inducted or booked in ahead, so tell us the routine when you ask for a quote.
- We go through any past certificates and reports.
- We follow the extract from canopy to discharge.
- Access panels are located and any missing ones noted.
- Grease readings are taken and pictures recorded.
- You get a report and a fixed quote for the clean.
Before we arrive
- Plan for cooking equipment or plant to be off before we arrive
- Make sure someone can let us in and lock up afterwards
- Tell us the best time to work, such as after service or at a weekend
Ask for a quote
Photos are the quickest way to a quote: wide shots of the system, close-ups of anything that worries you and how we’d get to it. Add the site type and your opening hours, and many jobs can be priced from that alone.
Related advice
FAQs for Canterbury
Which fire authority looks after Canterbury?
Fire safety enforcement in Canterbury is handled by Kent Fire and Rescue Service. A recent cleaning certificate and a note of the next clean date show that grease in the extract is being managed.
Can you come to Canterbury after we close?
Yes. We work evenings, overnight and at weekends. The work in Canterbury can fit around your hours. When you ring 0345 646 2711, or email photos, mention when the site is quiet.
What do the grease readings need to be?
Between cleans, the mean should stay at 200 microns or below, and anywhere at 500 microns or more needs spot cleaning straight away.
What do you do with what you remove?
It’s contained and taken away. Grease, debris and waste water are collected as the work goes on, so it doesn’t spread.
Which kinds of sites do you work on?
Any site with a kitchen or a ventilation system to look after, from a small pub to a hospital. We work with hotels, schools, care homes, offices, retail and leisure sites.
How much does TR19 inspection cost in Canterbury?
There’s no set price, as it depends on the job: the size of the system, its condition, access and when we can work. We fix the price before we start.
How often should a kitchen extract be inspected?
We suggest a next test date in every report, taking the readings and the kitchen’s hours into account. A risk assessment based on measured grease should set the interval.
What should I send you?
Where the site is, what it is and when it’s open, along with a few photos and any previous report.
Multi-site and managed buildings
Facilities teams in offices, schools and healthcare sites book us too in Canterbury and across Kent. Work can be phased by floor, building or site around the people who use them.
Records are where multi-site compliance often slips. Each visit produces a dated report with pictures, ready to show insurers, fire officers or EHOs.
Staff cleaning versus specialist work
Day-to-day cleaning is something your team can do: wiping down canopy surfaces, cleaning filters and keeping a simple log. What they cannot safely do is clean inside the ductwork, the fan or the risers, which is where we come in.
For ventilation and air handling systems, in-house care is mostly about checks: keeping grilles clear, noting unusual noise or smells and logging filter changes. Cleaning inside ducts and units is specialist work.
Places near Canterbury
Also in Canterbury
Aftercare tips
No system stays clean for ever, but care slows the build-up. A few tips:
- Wipe the canopy surfaces regularly
- Keep TR19 certificates, readings and reports together
- Report grease dripping from the canopy
- Clean or swap grease filters as often as the kitchen needs
Readings of 500 microns or more are highlighted as needing immediate spot cleaning, and we can arrange it.
Clean, correctly fitted filters stop more grease reaching the duct. Missing or damaged filters let grease straight into the plenum.
Do you need TR19 inspection in Canterbury?
Grease is fuel. Flames from the range can be pulled into the canopy and travel through the ducts to other parts of the building. Measuring it is the first step to keeping it under control.
Any of these means the system needs a check-up:
- Extracts that have never been grease tested
- Sections of duct that cannot be reached
- Kitchens taken over with no cleaning records
- Pre-clean surveys before a first TR19 clean
If you run a church or community hall kitchen, near Church of St Margaret or elsewhere in Canterbury, its extract still collects grease from every lunch and event.
What your quote should include
- What’s included in the scope, part by part
- What paperwork you get at the end
- Whether a survey comes first
- Whether the figure could change on the day
Leave it or put it right?
Skipping grease testing leaves the cleaning interval to guesswork. Any reading of 500 microns or more needs immediate spot cleaning under TR19® Grease, and you can only act on that if you’ve measured it. We can set up 3, 6 or 12-monthly visits so nothing on a site in Canterbury gets missed.
A single site or a whole portfolio, we price it on the same basis: what needs doing, how we get to it and when. You will have a fixed price before work begins.
Why us?
- Every visit written up, with pictures
- Fixed quotes from a survey or pictures
- Every job surveyed first
- Work around your opening hours, with 24/7 emergency cover
See what affects the cost and our accreditations and certificates.
Different parts, different methods
Extract fan and discharge
The extract fan and its housing collect grease too. They’re included in the readings and pictures.
Canopy and plenum
Filters can look fine while the plenum behind them is heavily coated. So we measure behind the filters, not just in front.