St Albans · 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 St Albans, and certify it to the TR19 Grease standard your insurer expects.
St Albans
St Albans rates around 1,150 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.
Right across St Albans, from George Street through St Peters Street to Market Place, cooklines share tight roof space and vent through concealed ducting few operators ever see inside. We clean that entire path to the TR19 Grease standard, canopy through to fan, taking in the level pulls and the risers where grease settles thickest and a fire would run.
Kitchens are only half the work - we also strip the dry supply and extract ductwork of St Albans schools, offices and civic buildings, and the lint-choked dryer runs behind its hotels and care homes. It is the hardest-pressed kitchens - Oaklands College, St Albans City Hospital, Clarence Park and the city hotels - that glaze their hidden ducting quickest, and that coating is the road a fire takes.
The standard
TR19 Grease is the benchmark St Albans insurers and fire risk assessors expect - measured across the whole extract run, not just the visible mouth of the canopy.
Because the standard is written around film thickness, it sets the depth that triggers a clean and re-test. In the mixed roof spaces around George Street and Market Place, a canopy-and-filter wipe leaves the duct interior - where grease piles up and a fire runs - completely alone. We reach the whole St Albans run through existing hatches and new ones we cut, clean back to bright metal, take before-and-after grease-depth figures at set points, and certify it to TR19 Grease with those depths on the record.
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 St Albans hotels, care homes and gyms.
On the ground in St Albans
We are in St Albans's ductwork and plant every week. The proof is the jobs, not the stock photos.
A private medical clinic in St Albans had dust and fine skin-scale particles clogging the low-pressure extract vents, leaving the patient washrooms with stagnant air. We damp-wiped the intake grilles with an anti-microbial biocide and ran soft continuous rods through the branch lines, restoring the building's air-change rates. Every tool was sanitised with isopropyl before entering the clinical zone.
When it is due
Ductwork rarely warns you politely. In a busy St Albans kitchen these are the tells.
The tells are plain: steam that lingers, odours drifting back over the diners, drips off the canopy onto a George Street line, a rim of grease at the filters, or a St Albans insurer or fire assessment wanting a TR19 certificate you cannot show. Frequency tracks the cooking load - a hard-frying St Peters 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 St Albans 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 Market Place 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 St Albans fire logbook.
Why it matters
Three duties push every St Albans 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 a St Albans 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 George 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. Your St Albans insurer expects a current TR19 Grease certificate as proof the duct is clean. Without one, a fire claim can be cut back or turned down altogether - a costly thing to find only after a fire.
Hygiene and environmental health. Food hygiene inspections by St Albans City and District 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 George Street kitchen sits in a tighter band than a daytime St Peters Street cafe. We measure the grease load and confirm your interval.
The full run, canopy through the concealed horizontal and vertical ductwork to the roof fan - the hidden sections a canopy-only clean leaves loaded, which matters in the tight stock around George Street and Market Place where the runs are long and awkward.
Yes. We clean the dry ductwork and air-handling in St Albans offices, schools and public buildings, and the lint-heavy laundry ducts in the Hertfordshire hotels and care homes, alongside kitchen grease ducts.
A dated TR19 certificate, before-and-after photographs of each section, and an access report for your fire logbook - the evidence a George Street operator's insurer and fire risk assessor expect.
Yes. We work overnight, early mornings and closing days for the George Street and St Peters Street kitchens, and around shift patterns at commercial and production sites, at no extra charge for out-of-hours work.
Yes. The fan at the top of a Market Place or city-centre riser is where grease throws off the blades and the run ends - we degrease it and its housing, because a loaded fan is what finally stops a system pulling.
Yes - from George Street and St Peters Street kitchens to the offices, schools and industrial units across St Albans and the wider Hertfordshire.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
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