Exeter · TR19 Grease
We clean the full commercial duct run - grease, dry and laundry ductwork, canopy to roof fan - for kitchens, offices and industrial sites across Exeter, and certify it to the TR19 Grease standard your insurer expects.
Exeter
Exeter rates around 1,050 food premises, and behind a large share sits an extract duct a canopy clean never reaches - plus the dry ductwork and air-handling that keep its offices and public buildings running.
From Fore Street to Queen Street and Magdalen Road, the town's cooklines vent through long hidden ducting that climbs to a roof fan. We clean it end to end to the TR19 Grease standard - not just the canopy, but the flat and rising sections where grease really collects.
Beyond the kitchens, we clean the dry ductwork and air-handling in offices, schools and public buildings, and the lint-heavy laundry ducts in hotels and care homes. High-output kitchens - the University of Exeter, the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, Sandy Park and the city hotels - lay grease down fast in exactly the concealed sections where a fire travels.
The standard
TR19 Grease is the benchmark Exeter insurers and fire risk assessors expect - measured across the whole extract run, not just the visible mouth of the canopy.
The standard works in grease-film thickness, fixing the depth at which a run must be cleaned and re-tested. In the shared roof voids around Fore Street and Magdalen Road, wiping the canopy and filters leaves the ductwork - the long concealed sections that gather grease and carry fire - untouched. We open the full Exeter run through existing and newly cut inspection hatches, strip it to bare metal, log grease-depth readings at fixed points before and after, and issue a TR19 Grease certificate with the post-clean depths recorded.
By system
The fire risk. Fried-food extract coats duct walls in combustible grease; cleaned canopy to fan and certified to TR19 Grease.
Supply and general extract in offices and public buildings, carrying dust and debris that throttles airflow and loads the air-handling unit; cleaned to TR19.
The hidden one. Tumble-dryer ducting packs with lint - highly combustible - in Exeter hotels, care homes and gyms.
On the ground in Exeter
We are in Exeter's ductwork and plant every week. The proof is the jobs, not the stock photos.
A commercial launderette in Exeter had wet lint sludge and compacted fibre choking the main horizontal exhaust manifold - condensation was getting into the line. We cleared the heavy lint out of the lower chambers by hand and cleaned the external louvres, bringing the airflow and backpressure back so the dryer elements run safely. We advised them to fit an automated condensate drain trap to keep the collecting lint dry.
When it is due
Ductwork rarely warns you politely. In a busy Exeter kitchen these are the tells.
The tells are plain: steam that lingers, odours drifting back over the diners, drips off the canopy onto a Fore Street line, a rim of grease at the filters, or an Exeter insurer or fire assessment wanting a TR19 certificate you cannot show. Frequency tracks the cooking load - a hard-frying Queen Street kitchen needs it far more often than a quiet cafe - and your certificate sets the date, so nothing is left to chance.
How it runs
Inspect the full Exeter run, find the access gaps in the concealed sections, agree scope and frequency.
Fit inspection hatches where the run is sealed - common in the older Magdalen Road conversions - and protect the kitchen.
Canopy to roof fan, down to bare metal, with before-and-after grease-depth evidence.
TR19 Grease certificate, grease-depth record and next-due date for your Exeter fire logbook.
Why it matters
Three duties push every Exeter operator to keep ductwork clean, and they reinforce one another.
Fire safety law. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the responsible person for an Exeter premises must assess and manage fire risk. A grease-laden duct is one of the most serious risks in any catering building, because a flare-up on a Fore Street cookline can travel the ductwork and spread fire through concealed voids. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the HSE reinforce the same duty of care.
Insurance. A live TR19 Grease certificate is what an Exeter insurer treats as evidence the system is maintained. Miss it and a fire claim may be reduced or refused - an expensive surprise once the damage is done.
Hygiene and environmental health. Food hygiene inspections by Exeter City Council take in the condition of the building, ventilation included, so a grease-laden system can cost you on the rating an Environmental Health Officer awards - never mind the smell and the dropping extraction your kitchen team works under.
It is set by cooking hours under TR19 Grease - roughly every three months for heavy use of 12 to 16 hours a day, every six for moderate, every twelve for light. A hard-frying Fore Street kitchen sits in a tighter band than a daytime Queen Street cafe. We measure the grease load and confirm your interval.
Little, if it is planned. We survey the Exeter run first, agree a slot overnight or on a close day, sheet off the kitchen and clean section by section, so a Queen Street cookline is back in service for the next shift.
A dated TR19 certificate, before-and-after photographs of each section, and an access report for your fire logbook - the evidence a Fore Street operator's insurer and fire risk assessor expect.
Yes. We clean the dry ductwork and air-handling in Exeter offices, schools and public buildings, and the lint-heavy laundry ducts in the Devon hotels and care homes, alongside kitchen grease ducts.
Yes - from Fore Street and Queen Street kitchens to the offices, schools and industrial units across Exeter and the wider Devon.
Yes. We work overnight, early mornings and closing days for the Fore Street and Queen Street kitchens, and around shift patterns at commercial and production sites, at no extra charge for out-of-hours work.
We fit compliant access panels where the ductwork has none, so every internal section can be reached, cleaned, inspected and certified - common in the older Magdalen Road conversions where the run was boxed in with no hatches.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
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