Thatcham · 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 Thatcham, and certify it to the TR19 Grease standard your insurer expects.
Thatcham
Thatcham rates hundreds of 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 Thatcham, from Broadway through Chapel Street to Colthrop, 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 Thatcham schools, offices and civic buildings, and the lint-choked dryer runs behind its hotels and care homes. It is the hardest-pressed kitchens - workplace canteens, pub and restaurant kitchens, takeaway galleys and the busy town-centre food outlets - that glaze their hidden ducting quickest, and that coating is the road a fire takes.
The standard
TR19 Grease is the benchmark Thatcham 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 Broadway and Colthrop, wiping the canopy and filters leaves the ductwork - the long concealed sections that gather grease and carry fire - untouched. We open the full Thatcham 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 Thatcham hotels, care homes and gyms.
On the ground in Thatcham
We are in Thatcham's ductwork and plant every week. The proof is the jobs, not the stock photos.
Behind the grilles at a small church hall in Thatcham, the branch supply ducts were thick with fine grey dust, giving poor air movement through the work areas. We isolated the zones, brushed out the internal ducting and washed down the AHU. The rooms felt fresher, the stale dusty smell was gone, and the client was really pleased with the result. We handed the practice manager a short photo report for their compliance records.
When it is due
Ductwork rarely warns you politely. In a busy Thatcham kitchen these are the tells.
The tells are plain: steam that lingers, odours drifting back over the diners, drips off the canopy onto a Broadway line, a rim of grease at the filters, or a Thatcham insurer or fire assessment wanting a TR19 certificate you cannot show. Frequency tracks the cooking load - a hard-frying Chapel 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 Thatcham 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 Colthrop 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 Thatcham fire logbook.
Why it matters
Three duties push every Thatcham 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 Thatcham 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 Broadway 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 a Thatcham 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 West Berkshire 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 Broadway kitchen sits in a tighter band than a daytime Chapel Street cafe. We measure the grease load and confirm your interval.
A dated TR19 certificate, before-and-after photographs of each section, and an access report for your fire logbook - the evidence a Broadway operator's insurer and fire risk assessor expect.
Yes. We clean the dry ductwork and air-handling in Thatcham offices, schools and public buildings, and the lint-heavy laundry ducts in the Berkshire hotels and care homes, alongside kitchen grease ducts.
Yes. We work overnight, early mornings and closing days for the Broadway and Chapel 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 Colthrop conversions where the run was boxed in with no hatches.
Yes. The fan at the top of a Colthrop 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.
Little, if it is planned. We survey the Thatcham run first, agree a slot overnight or on a close day, sheet off the kitchen and clean section by section, so a Chapel Street cookline is back in service for the next shift.
Local knowledge
Paper has been made at Colthrop since around 1799, when a mill rose on the site of medieval corn and fulling mills beside the Kennet; at its height Colthrop was the only paper mill in Berkshire and employed some nine hundred people before it finally closed in 2000. Its machine halls once ran thick with paper dust and steam. Modern premises hide their dust and grease inside sealed ductwork instead, where it builds unseen until airflow fails or fire finds a path. We clean and inspect ventilation and extract ductwork across the town, then hand over photographic before-and-after evidence of every run.
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