Guide - TR19 Grease - UK-Wide
Most bad extraction decisions trace back to a handful of myths that lead to under-cleaning, failed inspections or wasted money. Here are the big ones - and what is actually true.
The short answer
Most of the bad decisions around extraction cleaning trace back to a handful of myths - beliefs that lead kitchens to under-clean and fail compliance, or to over-pay for the wrong thing. Clearing them up is the cheapest improvement you can make:
Each one feels reasonable, and each one is the kind of assumption that ends in an overdue system, a failed inspection or a disputed claim.
The big ones
Where the money goes
The myths are expensive in different ways. Under-cleaning - believing annual is always enough, or that filters are the whole job - costs you on fire risk and on a claim that may be challenged because the system was overdue and the duct was never touched. Skipping cleaning on the "not the law" argument costs you the same way, plus a hygiene rating and an enforcement exposure if the system is found laden during an inspection.
The certificate myth costs you the other direction - paying for a piece of paper that does not protect you, then discovering after a fire that it carried no readings and no clean behind it. And leaning on fire suppression as a substitute costs you a false sense of security: the suppression discharges, but the grease in the duct is still there, still fuel. In every case the cure is cheaper than the disease - a measured, risk-based clean with a real certificate.
The thread through all of them
Every one of these myths dissolves against the same three facts. The interval is set by the measured grease load, not a fixed calendar. The whole grease path - filters, canopy, ductwork and fan - has to be cleaned, not just the visible parts. And the clean only counts if it produces a real, measured certificate you can keep. Get those three right and there is no myth left to cost you anything.
The cheapest position to be in is the honest one: a survey that sets your real interval, a whole-system clean to that interval, and a certificate that proves it. It costs less than over-servicing on a bad assumption, far less than a failed inspection or a disputed claim, and it replaces every comfortable myth with something you can actually stand behind.
Questions
Only for light use. Annual is the indicative figure for a low-use kitchen; a busy frying operation can need cleaning every three months or sooner, because the interval is set by how fast grease builds. Treating annual as universal leaves a heavy-use system overdue for most of the year.
No. The filters and canopy are the visible part, but the fire risk sits in the ductwork and extractor fan, which must be cleaned on the risk-based interval. A canopy-only wipe is not compliance and will not satisfy an insurer.
It is guidance rather than a statute, but you have a duty under fire safety law to manage the grease risk, and most insurers require cleaning at the risk-based frequency with a certificate. The practical effect is the same: clean to the standard or carry the liability.
Yes. Suppression tackles a fire at the cookline; it does not remove the grease built up in the ductwork, which is the fuel path that lets a fire travel. They do different jobs, so suppression does not replace cleaning.
A real certificate is the output of a measured cleaning service, with micron readings, photographs and a verified result. A certificate sold with no clean behind it or no readings on it is worthless when an insurer or assessor actually examines it.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
A survey that sets your real interval, a whole-system clean to TR19 Grease, and a certificate that proves it. No myths, no over-servicing. No-obligation quote, UK-wide.