PLACENTIA AND LOS ANGELES, CA— This is the time of year when millions of people make personal resolutions.

American Professional Services (APS-Hoods), a Los Angeles and Santa Ana hood sale company, recommends to restaurant owners and managers that they also make at least one work-related resolution this year: schedule their routine hood cleanings for the entire year.

“We do this with most of our existing clients and we have found over the years that this is the best way for restaurants to stay on target with this highly important task,” said Massoud Farazandeh, chief executive officer of APS-Hoods, a Santa Ana hood cleaning company. APS-Hoods is headquartered in Colorado, but opened a fabrication plant in Placentia in August 2009 to address the growing demand for Santa Ana hood installations and its other services throughout California.

Scheduling cleanings for the entire year is easy because owners and managers typically know when their busiest times of year are, and the experts at APS-Hoods can help determine the frequency of cleaning based on the types of cooking processes used. Cooking volume and cooking processes are key factors in determining how often restaurant kitchen fans, ducts and hoods need to be cleaned, Farazandeh said.

Because foods are different, the type and amount of grease build-up varies between restaurants. For example, Chinese food uses high volumes of oils in cooking processes, and oil is highly flammable. When oil residue is left to accumulate on surfaces, it also forms a sticky substance that cannot be effectively removed without high-powered pressure washers and specialized chemicals.

Restaurants that use smokehouses and/or wood fires wind up with lots of soot in their systems. Like a chimney in a home, that soot must be removed from the hoods, ducts and fans to avoid accumulation at dangerous levels that could feed a fire. The dryness of soot can feed a fire as easily as paper or wood, Farazandeh said.

Farazandeh and his trained employees can consult with restaurant owners and managers to determine the frequency of cleanings, but there are some “rules of thumb” that can be followed to help make a determination, he said. Restaurants that use wood fires or smokehouses to cook much of their food ought to have those systems cleaned at least monthly, due to the soot build-up that can occur.

Dining facilities that cook with deep fryers or charbroilers should have their systems cleaned at least every three months. The same is true for restaurants that use large quantities of vegetable oils in their kitchens, including Chinese restaurants.

Regardless of the type of establishment and methods in which the food is cooked, it is important that no restaurant go longer than six months between cleanings, Farazandeh said, chief executive officer of APS-Hoods, a Santa Ana hood installation company..

APS-Hoods promotes the necessity of routinely cleaning kitchen hood systems because statistics back up the fact that the service is necessary to prevent costly fires.

Between 2003 and 2006, approximately 17 percent of the 109,300 non-residential structure fires that were reported started as a result of cooking equipment, making it the No. 2 cause of fires, according to the National Fire Protection Association’s Web site.

The U.S. Fire Administration’s National Fire Incident Reporting System also found that in the same reporting period, the main cause of structure fires specifically in stores and other mercantile properties was cooking equipment, according to information posted in NFPA’s Web site. That report stated that the areas in which foods were cooked was the leading area where fires originated, and cooking materials or food was the leading item that was first ignited.

“We want desperately to reduce those statistics,” Farazandeh said. “Maintaining a regular cleaning schedule can help do so, because cleaning these systems removes what can become fuel in the event of a fire.”

Another problem Farazandeh often encounters with restaurants that don’t schedule their cleanings a year in advance is restaurant owners and managers who get bogged down during their busy season and don’t take the time to schedule the cleanings.

“It’s easy to get side-tracked when business is booming,” he said. “But before you know it, you can get two months behind schedule and really put your business in jeopardy.”

Learn More
If you would like more information about the hood sales, installation and cleaning services offered by APS-Hoods, or you wish to schedule hood cleanings for your restaurant or commercial kitchen, please call: (800) 750-7313, or visit the company’s Web site:  http://www.aps-hoods.com /.

About APS-Hoods
American Professional Services (APS-Hoods) is a full-service restaurant fire protection business that installs, services, repairs and performs routine inspections and sales for hood and fire suppression systems. Founded by Chief Executive Officer Massoud Farazandeh in 1989, APS-Hoods has grown into a national leader in hood sales and fire protection for restaurants and facilities. APS provides superior service, a quality guarantee and maintains a highly qualified and dependable staff. All crew members are professionally trained to comply with the National Fire Prevention Association Standards and state and local codes. APS-Hoods is fully insured and bonded. They are licensed in the mechanical and electrical fields, as well as fire protection contracting. APS-Hoods is affiliated with the National Fire Protection Agency and the Colorado Division of Fire Safety Fire Suppression Program.

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