Grease Duct Cleaning vs. Hood Cleaning: What's the Difference?

The short answer: hood cleaning deals with the canopy and filters above your cooking line, while grease duct cleaning deals with the ductwork that carries grease-laden vapour from the hood to the rooftop exhaust fan. Under NFPA 96 — the standard Alberta's fire code applies to commercial kitchens — they are not separate services you can pick between. A compliant cleaning covers the entire system, hood to fan, to bare metal. The distinction matters because plenty of cut-rate "hood cleanings" quietly stop at the ceiling.

What each part does — and what goes wrong in it

• Hood and filters: the canopy captures rising vapour and the baffle filters strip out the first pass of grease. This is the visible, accessible part — and the part your own staff maintain between professional visits by washing filters. Flare-ups start here, but they're usually contained here too.
• Grease duct: everything the filters miss condenses on the duct interior — through the ceiling, along horizontal runs, up the chase to the roof. This is where a contained flare-up becomes a structure fire: a grease-loaded duct is a fuse running through your building. It can only be cleaned properly through access panels, with scrapers and degreaser, section by section.
• Exhaust fan: at the top of the run, the fan collects its own grease load. A caked fan loses airflow (making the whole system capture worse), sheds grease onto the roof, and burns out motors early. It has to be opened and cleaned, which means roof access every visit.

How to tell if you're getting the whole job

Ask three questions of any crew: Did you open the duct access panels — and if there aren't any, will you quote installing them? Did you go on the roof and open the fan? Does your certificate of performance record what was cleaned and note any sections that couldn't be reached? A crew that hesitates on any of these is selling you a shine, not a cleaning. Our guide to choosing a certified exhaust cleaner expands the checklist.

Does the split affect price?

Yes — duct and fan work is most of the labour in a proper visit, which is why full-system cleanings in Central Alberta run $400–900 while too-good-to-be-true quotes come in far lower. The duct work is also most of the fire protection, so it's the part you least want skipped. Frequency is the same for the whole system: monthly for solid fuel, quarterly for high-volume cooking, semi-annual for moderate, annual for low — details in our frequency guide. To get a quote for your full system, call or submit the form; our intake assistant will ask about your duct run and roof access along with the basics.