Cost & commercial
A canopy-only clean makes the visible hood look spotless and leaves the fire risk exactly where it lives - inside the duct and around the fan. A full-system clean costs more because it does the part you cannot see, which is the part that matters for compliance.
The short answer
A canopy-only clean makes the visible hood look spotless and leaves the fire risk exactly where it lives - inside the duct and around the fan. A full-system clean costs more because it does the part you cannot see, which is the part that matters for compliance.
The detail
A canopy-only clean degreases the hood, the baffle filters and the plenum immediately behind them. It is quick, cheap and genuinely useful for day-to-day hygiene, but it stops where the duct begins. The grease that carries past saturated filters into the horizontal run, the riser and the fan is left in place.
A full-system clean follows the whole path - canopy, filters, plenum, the entire duct run, the riser and the fan - back to TR19 Grease condition, verified with micron readings. It is the scope TR19 Grease actually requires, because the standard is about the fire fuel in the ductwork, not the shine on the canopy edge.
The gap between the two is where kitchen fires start. By the time grease is visible at the canopy lip, the duct is usually well loaded, and the duct is the part that ignites and lets fire spread through the building. Cleaning only the visible end treats the symptom and banks the hazard.
It is also the gap an inspector or insurer looks into. A certificate is only meaningful if it covers the full system; a canopy-only clean cannot honestly carry a TR19 Grease certificate, because most of the system it certifies has not been touched. Paying less for a partial scope can leave you paying in full later.
What it means for you
For compliance, the full system is the only scope that qualifies. If the reason for cleaning is your fire risk assessment, your insurer or an environmental health visit, a canopy-only clean will not satisfy any of them - it addresses the smallest part of the risk while leaving the duct as fuel.
Canopy-only cleaning has a place between full cleans, as interim housekeeping on filters and the hood. It is a supplement to a scheduled full-system clean, not a substitute for one, and it should be priced and understood as such rather than sold as a compliant clean.
Phoenix Duct Clean prices the full system by default and is clear about what a partial clean does and does not cover, so what you pay for is the scope that actually protects the building and stands up to scrutiny.
The service behind the guide
Sibling guides
whether a budget clean cleans anything · what a certified clean includes · coordinating the whole system in one visit
Questions
For basic hygiene between full cleans, it helps. For compliance, no - TR19 Grease covers the whole system, and the fire risk sits in the duct and fan that a canopy-only clean never reaches.
Because it is far more work: the entire duct run and the fan are cleaned through access panels, verified with micron readings and documented. A canopy-only clean is a fraction of the labour because it does a fraction of the system.
Not an honest TR19 Grease one. A certificate confirms the whole system meets the cleanliness standard; if the duct and fan were not cleaned, there is nothing to certify beyond the hood.
Ask directly whether the duct run and fan are included and whether a certificate with photographs and readings is provided. If the answer is canopy and filters only, you have a hygiene clean, not a compliant one.
Yes, sensibly. A scheduled full-system clean sets the compliance baseline, and lighter canopy or filter cleaning in between keeps the visible end tidy. The full clean is the one your fire risk assessment relies on.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
Book an inspection and find out whether your duct and fan were ever actually cleaned.