York · 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 York, and certify it to the TR19 Grease standard your insurer expects.
York
York rates around 2,140 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.
The city's kitchens sit in tight, mixed stock - Walmgate, Micklegate, Swinegate - with long concealed duct runs up to roof fans. We clean the full run to the TR19 Grease standard, canopy to fan, including the horizontal and vertical sections a canopy-only clean leaves coated.
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 York, York St John, York Hospital and the city hotels - lay grease down fast in exactly the concealed sections where a fire travels.
The standard
TR19 Grease is the benchmark York 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 Walmgate and Swinegate, a canopy-and-filter wipe leaves the duct interior - where grease piles up and a fire runs - completely alone. We reach the whole York 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 York hotels, care homes and gyms.
On the ground in York
We are in York's ductwork and plant every week. The proof is the jobs, not the stock photos.
A retirement apartment block in York had thick blankets of flammable textile lint filling the shared horizontal laundry ducting and backing the dryers up. We disconnected the flexible connections, ran continuous rods with soft brushes through the main lines and vacuumed the collection chamber out. The airflow doubled, the dry cycles came down and a real fire risk was gone - done early in the morning so the residents' laundry routine was never disturbed.
When it is due
Ductwork rarely warns you politely. In a busy York kitchen these are the tells.
A canopy dripping onto a Walmgate cookline, cooking smells forced back to the tables, extraction that no longer clears the steam, grease showing at the filter edges, or a York insurer or fire risk assessor wanting a TR19 certificate you have not got. How often it needs doing follows how hard you cook - a fast-frying Micklegate kitchen far more than a daytime cafe - and the certificate names the interval, so the next visit is booked, not guessed.
How it runs
Inspect the full York 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 Swinegate 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 York fire logbook.
Why it matters
Three duties push every York 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 York 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 Walmgate 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 York 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. A food hygiene visit from City of York Council weighs the physical state of the premises, ventilation counted within it. A grease-blocked extract can pull down the rating an Environmental Health Officer sets, quite apart from the stale smell and the tired airflow your staff work beneath all shift.
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 Walmgate kitchen sits in a tighter band than a daytime Micklegate cafe. We measure the grease load and confirm your interval.
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 Swinegate conversions where the run was boxed in with no hatches.
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 Walmgate and Swinegate where the runs are long and awkward.
Little, if it is planned. We survey the York run first, agree a slot overnight or on a close day, sheet off the kitchen and clean section by section, so a Micklegate cookline is back in service for the next shift.
Yes. We clean the dry ductwork and air-handling in York offices, schools and public buildings, and the lint-heavy laundry ducts in the North Yorkshire hotels and care homes, alongside kitchen grease ducts.
Yes - from Walmgate and Micklegate kitchens to the offices, schools and industrial units across York and the wider North Yorkshire.
Yes. The fan at the top of a Swinegate 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.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
Tell us about your kitchen and your schedule. No-obligation quote, UK-wide.