Blog

Swamp coolers are very important to commercial kitchens. By providing cool, fresh air to the kitchen, swamp coolers help make slaving over a hot stove for a living bearable for chefs and their assistants. Here’s how to tell if you need swamp cooler service Culver City CA.

Overly Hot Kitchen

Swamp coolers produce a cooling effect by causing water to evaporate off of special pads inside the unit. When the swamp cooler stops working properly, you’ll notice your kitchen temperatures steadily climbing, as you continue to cook but lack a source of fresh, cool air. The best way to figure out exactly what’s wrong with your swamp cooler is to call the pros at Flue Steam.

Smoky or Smelly Kitchen

Your kitchen exhaust system normally whisks away smoky or smelly air, and your swamp cooler replaces that lost air with clean, fresh, cool air. When this cycle gets interrupted, you can end up with some very uncomfortable and unpleasant conditions in your kitchen. If you notice that smoke or odors seem to linger longer than they should even though your exhaust fan is working normally, call Flue Steam for swamp cooler service Culver City CA.

Slamming Doors

If the hot air exiting the kitchen through the exhaust system is not replaced with cool air from your swamp cooler, you can end up with a vacuum effect in your kitchen. One sign of this condition is doors that slam shut every time someone goes in or out of the kitchen. Often, the root cause of the problem is an issue with the swamp cooler’s fan or fan motor, which is preventing the cooled air generated inside the unit from getting pushed into your kitchen.

Leaking Water

If you notice water leaking from the area around your swamp cooler, you need swamp cooler service Culver City CA. Without adequate water in the unit, the swamp cooler won’t be able to produce cool air. A leak could indicate that the inflow or outflow lines are clogged or that the float arm isn’t adjusted properly. You might also have a leak in the water lines feeding into the unit.

Is Your Swamp Cooler Overdue for Service?

Regardless of whether or not you’re currently experiencing any of the above problems in your commercial kitchen, you need to get regular swamp cooler service every 6 months. This ensures that your swamp cooler is in good working condition and helps prevent nasty surprises later on down the line. As part of your swamp cooler service, a technician from Flue Steam will inspect all the moving parts in the mechanical system, as well as check water levels and make sure that the swamp cooler’s pads are getting thoroughly soaked during operation. Then we’ll clean and reseal the entire unit to prepare you for six more months of reliable operation.

If you’re new to the restaurant business, no doubt your head is swimming with all the different rules and regulations you’ll have to comply with. Ensuring fire safety in the kitchen is just one of the many issues you’ll need to deal with. Besides investing in the right fire safety equipment like portable extinguishers and automatic fire suppression systems, you’ll also need to get regular kitchen exhaust hood cleanings in Los Angeles CA in order to satisfy the safety inspectors and keep your kitchen open for business.

How It Works

Kitchen exhaust hood cleaning Los Angeles CA helps reduce the risk of dangerous exhaust system fires in commercial kitchens. If the exhaust hood and ducts are not cleaned regularly, vaporized grease released during cooking will start to accumulate on their interior surfaces. Eventually a thick layer of grease can build up, resulting in a smelly fire hazard. If the grease becomes superheated, it can catch fire and cause a great deal of damage. Kitchen exhaust system cleaning removes these dangerous grease deposits, thus eliminating the fire hazard.

When to Get It

Different types of restaurants will require more or less frequent exhaust system cleanings based on the type and volume of food that they prepare. For example, a fast food restaurant that does a lot of frying generate plenty of vaporized grease, while a vegan restaurant that doesn’t cook meat or serve many fried foods will not experience rapid grease buildup in the exhaust system. In general, a commercial kitchen should get their exhaust hood scraped clean of grease every 4 to 6 weeks. This should be supplemented with a thorough steam cleaning of the deeper regions of the ductwork 2 to 4 times per year.

Who Should Provide It

When getting a kitchen exhaust hood cleaning Los Angeles CA, your best bet is to choose a well-established company that employs fully trained and certified technicians. This way, you know that the job will get done right, and you don’t have to worry about the technicians doing a sloppy job or just cleaning the parts of the hood you can see easily. Look for a company like Flue Steam that is a member of IKECA (International Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Association). Membership in this trade organization signals that the technicians will hold the necessary certifications. IKECA certifications must be renewed periodically through the completion of continuing education requirements, so you know that the technicians from an IKECA member company will be totally up to date on the latest exhaust system cleaning rules, regulations, and techniques.

Swamp coolers, aka evaporative coolers, are wonderfully simple machines that provide fresh, cool air to your commercial kitchen without gobbling up electricity like an air conditioner would. However, if you want your swamp cooler to deliver the best possible performance, you need to invest in regular swamp cooler service Los Angeles CA from the pros at Flue Steam. Here’s a taste of what our swamp cooler maintenance visits include.

Mechanical System Check

The key parts of a swamp cooler are the pump motor, pump, float valve, pads, fan motor, and fan. When all these parts work together in concert, you get the cool air you need in your kitchen. When the parts start to wear out, the efficiency of the machine begins to suffer. When you call Flue Steam for swamp cooler service Los Angeles CA, we will make sure that all of the moving parts in your unit are properly adjusted and in good condition. If we notice any problems, such as a loose or worn fan belt, we will be happy to make the repair using high-quality replacement parts.

Water Check

Maintaining appropriate water circulation inside the swamp cooler is very important. On each service call, we inspect the water inflow and overflow lines to make sure they are leak-free. We also inspect the tray for leaks, and make sure that the float arm is adjusted to keep the water level in the correct range. If the water level is too low, your system won’t have enough water to run efficiently, but if the water level is too high, it will start draining off through the overflow port and you’ll waste water. We also monitor the swamp cooler as it runs, to make sure that water is flowing over the pads properly.

Cleaning & Resealing

The final step in our swamp cooler service Los Angeles CA is to clean and reseal the entire unit. Getting regular cleanings is especially important if you have hard water, as you will get mineral buildup inside the swamp cooler. Our expert technicians can clean mineral deposits out of the tray and replace the evaporative pads as needed.

After a visit from Flue Steam, your swamp cooler should be prepared for another 6 months of dependable service. However, if you do ever have a swamp cooler emergency, don’t hesitate to call us for help.

Many companies offer kitchen exhaust hood cleaning Los Angeles CA. But how do you know which companies are going to do a good job? One way to virtually guarantee you are getting a thorough exhaust hood cleaning that will improve the safety of your commercial kitchen is to always use an IKECA member company.

What is IKECA?

IKECA (International Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Association) is a trade organization offering certification and continuing education resources for exhaust system cleaning professionals. IKECA member companies employ technicians who have earned IKECA certifications in their areas of expertise by passing written exams on the subject of exhaust system cleaning techniques, codes, and standards.

What Makes IKECA So Great?

Unlike other certification programs, IKECA does not award certifications for life. Instead, IKECA requires all technicians to keep up with advances in the industry in order to maintain their certifications. Technicians must earn “continuing education credits” every 12 to 24 months, depending on the type of certification that they hold. Because IKECA-certified technicians are forced to keep up to date with the latest tools, techniques, and code changes in the industry, you know that when you hire an IKECA-certified technician you will get superior kitchen exhaust hood cleaning Los Angeles CA.

How Often is Cleaning Needed?

The frequency of your exhaust system cleanings will vary based on the volume and types of food prepared in your kitchen. Generally, most restaurants and commercial kitchens require a basic cleaning, consisting of a hand-scraping of the exhaust hood and other prime targets for grease buildup, every 4 to 6 weeks. At Flue Steam, we can utilize a special IKECA comb to measure grease deposits and make sure that you are getting kitchen exhaust hood cleaning Los Angeles CA at the proper intervals. You never want to let grease build up to dangerous levels, so cleaning more often than you think you need to is usually your best bet. Monthly hand-scraping of exhaust hoods and ducts should be supplemented with thorough steam cleanings every few months for maximum effectiveness and safety.

Have you ever seen such a sparkling clean exhaust duct? Maybe your exhaust duct looked this good when your commercial kitchen first opened, but chances are time has taken its toll and now greasy buildup is coating every surface inside your kitchen exhaust system. If you’d like to see your exhaust ducts returned to a clean, like-new condition, just call Flue Steam for a professional kitchen exhaust system steam cleaning.

We Clean Places You Can’t Even See

Some contractors try to get away with just doing a cursory cleaning of your ducts. This means that they focus most of their effort on your exhaust hood and the first few feet of ductwork, because this is where you can actually see whether or not they are doing their job. When you hire Flue Steam, on the other hand, you will get an incredibly thorough cleaning of all parts of your system. This is because we use high-quality steam cleaning equipment to reach every nook and cranny of your duct work and effectively remove all that greasy residue. We recommend getting a steam cleaning every 3 to 6 months, depending on what kinds of foods you cook in your kitchen and how quickly grease builds up.

We Satisfy Inspectors and Insurance Agents

As a licensed exhaust system cleaning contractor, Flue Steam can help you comply with all that red tape related to your fire safety code obligations. We can provide convenient “Certificate of Performance” stickers with the date of service on them, so that after each job you will have proof that you have compiled with your exhaust system cleaning responsibilities. Both code inspectors and insurance agents will be happy to see our stickers because they indicate that your kitchen is cleaner and safer.

Bonus Services

Besides the fact that we deliver sparkling clean ducts, you will enjoy working with Flue Steam because we are true experts in every aspect of kitchen air control and fire suppression. During your cleaning appointment, we will also inspect your exhaust fan for wear and tear and offer to make any necessary repairs.