Hood Vent + Grease Trap Service — Fire Marshal Expectations
NFPA 96 requires hood and exhaust cleaning on a schedule tied to cooking volume. Plus a grease trap pumped on a documented interval. Skip either and the fire marshal writes the citation that closes the kitchen.
A Coconut Grove Italian restaurant got a fire-marshal inspection on a Friday afternoon. The hood cleaning certificate was dated 9 months prior — over the NFPA 96 interval for the unit's cooking volume. The grease trap inspection found a 60-percent-full trap with the last pump documented 11 weeks ago — over the local jurisdiction's 90-day cap. The fire marshal issued a stop-cooking order until both findings were corrected. The restaurant lost two service days. The remediation cost was real but recoverable; the lost revenue was real and uncoverable. Hood, exhaust, and grease are the three documented intervals that the fire marshal will check first.
1. NFPA 96 — what the standard actually requires
NFPA 96 is the standard for ventilation control and fire protection of commercial cooking operations. It's adopted by reference in Florida fire code and enforced by local fire marshals. The cleaning interval is tied to cooking volume: solid-fuel cooking (wood, charcoal) — monthly inspection, monthly cleaning. High-volume cooking (24-hour or large operation) — quarterly. Moderate-volume — semi-annual. Low-volume — annual.
The cleaning must be performed by a certified hood-cleaning contractor and documented with a written report including before/after photos, certificate of cleaning, and stamps indicating the cleaning was complete (including the inside of the duct, the fan, and the exhaust hood baffles).
2. What gets cleaned and what gets missed
Full NFPA 96 cleaning covers: the hood interior, the filters, the grease cup or trough, the entire duct from hood to exhaust fan, the fan blades and housing, and the discharge area. Discount cleanings frequently skip the duct — they spray the hood interior and call it done. The skipped duct is where grease accumulates and where grease fires propagate.
The fire marshal opens an inspection panel on the duct to verify cleaning. A clean hood with a packed duct is a citation, not a pass. When you hire a hood cleaning contractor, the certificate must explicitly state the duct was cleaned, not just 'hood cleaned.' If your current contractor's paperwork is vague, switch contractors.
3. The grease trap interval — local jurisdiction matters
Grease traps interrupt fats, oils, and grease from entering the sewer system. Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach each have local ordinance requirements for grease trap pumping. Miami-Dade WASD typically requires pumping when the trap reaches 25 percent fill capacity or every 90 days, whichever is sooner. Documented in a maintenance log signed by the pumping contractor.
The pumping contractor provides a manifest showing the date, the gallons pumped, the disposal facility, and the next-due date. Keep these manifests for at least 3 years — the audit window varies but 3 years covers most jurisdictions. The fire marshal and the water-and-sewer inspector both check the manifests.
4. The fire-suppression system — Ansul check
NFPA 17A covers fire-suppression systems for cooking hoods (typically Ansul R-102 or similar dry-chemical or wet-chemical systems). Semi-annual inspection by a certified contractor is required. The inspection covers the suppression cartridge, the nozzle aim, the fusible links, the pull station, the gas-shutoff connection, and the system pressure. Documented in a tag attached to the system control box and a written report.
The fire marshal verifies the Ansul tag is current. An expired tag is a citation. The Ansul tag goes through six-month cycles — January-July or April-October are common pairings — and the contractor coordinates the visits. If your Ansul contractor missed a cycle, schedule immediately.
5. What the fire marshal actually checks during a visit
Documentation first: hood cleaning certificate (within interval), grease trap manifest (within interval), Ansul tag (current), kitchen exhaust contract (annual). Visual: hood cleanliness (interior, filters, grease cup), duct access panel (will pop one open to verify duct cleaning), grease trap (will check the trap level if accessible), Ansul system (visual on nozzles, links, pull station), fire extinguisher tags (annual), means of egress (clear).
Documentation gaps drive citations more than equipment issues in most inspections. A kitchen with marginal cleanliness but perfect paperwork passes. A spotless kitchen with expired documentation gets the citation.
6. The hood-to-exhaust chain — what equipment fails
Exhaust fans on the roof: bearings fail after 5 to 8 years of continuous service, belt drives wear, the fan can lose CFM gradually. Lower CFM means less effective capture at the hood, more grease vapor escaping, more grease accumulating in the kitchen ambient. A failed exhaust fan triggers a hot-side alarm on most modern controls.
Makeup air units: provide replacement air for what the exhaust pulls. A failed makeup air unit creates negative pressure in the kitchen, draws air from the dining room, pulls grease vapor into customer areas, and reduces the exhaust fan's effectiveness. Annual makeup-air maintenance is part of the proper hood system.
7. The cost of compliance versus the cost of citation
Annual hood-and-exhaust contract for a typical Miami restaurant: $1,800 to $3,600 depending on hood size and cleaning frequency. Quarterly grease trap pumping: $480 to $720 annually. Semi-annual Ansul: $280 to $480 annually. Total annual compliance cost: $2,560 to $4,800.
Cost of a stop-cooking citation: 1 to 3 days of lost revenue (typically $4,000 to $18,000 for a Miami restaurant), plus remediation costs (immediate cleaning, emergency Ansul service, potential equipment work), plus follow-up inspection fees. One major citation pays for 3 to 5 years of preventive compliance.
8. Coordinating vendors — and where Berne fits
Hood cleaning, grease trap pumping, and Ansul service are typically performed by specialty contractors, not by general appliance repair. Berne Commercial coordinates the hood, exhaust fan, and makeup air repair work — the kitchen-equipment side of the system — and we can refer trusted hood-cleaning, grease, and Ansul contractors in South Florida.
We coordinate scheduling for multi-asset operators: hood cleaning quarterly, grease trap quarterly, Ansul semi-annual, makeup-air annual, all tracked against the calendar so nothing lapses. Compliance becomes a calendar problem, not a memory problem.
Same-day commercial dispatch
Berne Commercial Repair services commercial hoods, exhaust fans, makeup-air units, and full kitchen equipment across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach. Coordination with certified hood-cleaning, grease, and Ansul contractors. $89 commercial service call — free when you approve the repair, paid only if you decline. Call (754) 345-4515 or request through our dispatch page.
For residential range hoods and downdraft vents in premium kitchens (Wolf, Viking Professional, Vent-A-Hood), Berne's premium residential operation handles home-side ventilation service.
$89 commercial service call, free with the approved repair. Same-day dispatch across South Florida.
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