Compliance & responsibility
A new insurer starts from suspicion, not trust. What convinces them is not a promise that the duct is clean - it is the evidence that it is, and has been.
The short answer
When you move to a new insurer or renew cover, the extract system becomes something you have to evidence, not just maintain. Most commercial property and business policies for food premises require the system kept to TR19 Grease - often in wording buried deep in the policy - and a new insurer will want proof that you already do. The convincing package is a current TR19 certificate, the verification report behind it, and enough history to show the cleaning is a routine, not a one-off arranged to pass underwriting.
What the insurer actually wants
Start with the current certificate: it states the date, location, qualified technician and whether the clean was full or partial - and a new insurer will read that scope, because a partial clean leaves concealed ductwork uncovered. Behind it, the post-clean verification report gives them the substance: the sections cleaned, the grease readings by DTT or WFTT confirming below 50µm, and the before-and-after photographs from matched positions.
Then show the pattern. A single fresh certificate produced the week before renewal looks exactly like what it often is - a scramble to pass. A run of certificates at the right intervals shows a system that is genuinely maintained, which is what reduces the insurer's risk and your exposure. Where a clean is logged on the national register, point them to it: an entry an insurer can verify independently is worth more than any document you hand over yourself.
Why the evidence matters so much
The reason insurers press on this is what happens at claim time. If a fire occurs and you cannot produce a valid certificate and cleaning history - or the records show cleaning was overdue - the claim can be disputed, reduced or refused, even if the fire did not start in the extract system. Fire spreading through grease-laden ductwork can be attributed to inadequate maintenance, and a missing record is treated as a missing clean.
Proving compliance to a new insurer is therefore not a form-filling exercise; it is building the file you would need if the worst happened, and doing it before you need it. The business that can hand a new insurer a current certificate, a verification report and a clean history is not just easier to underwrite - it is the business whose claim will actually pay out. The one that cannot is exposed twice: harder to insure now, and undefended later.
Getting to a clean position
If your records are thin, the fix is straightforward: a full clean to TR19 Grease now to establish a current, defensible certificate, then a maintained schedule so the history builds from here. That gives a new insurer the current proof they ask for at renewal - and gives you the evidence trail that turns a future claim from a dispute into a payout.
Questions
A current TR19 certificate, the post-clean verification report behind it, a run of past certificates showing the cleaning is routine, and - where available - the national register entry they can check independently.
It helps, but a single certificate produced just before renewal can look like a scramble to pass. A history at the right intervals is far more convincing because it shows genuine maintenance, not a one-off.
Yes. If you cannot produce a valid certificate and history, or the records show cleaning was overdue, a fire claim can be disputed, reduced or refused - even if the fire did not start in the extract system.
Very much. A partial clean means concealed ductwork may not have been covered, so an insurer reads the scope carefully. A full-clean certificate is far stronger evidence of a compliant system.
Have a full clean carried out now to establish a current certificate, then maintain a schedule so the history rebuilds. That gives the new insurer current proof and starts a defensible trail from today.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
We can bring the system current and issue the registered certificate a new insurer will want to see.