Every restaurant owner should know fire code guidelines for their commercial kitchen, especially when it comes to their exhaust system (range hoods). If these are not properly cleaned and inspected on a regular basis, this can result in a serious fire, damaging your entire kitchen and restaurant. If you do not know your state’s commercial kitchen fire codes, just read below (click on the link at the end of the summary to read about it in more detail).

Commercial Hood:

Cooking equipment that produces smoke or grease laden vapors must have an exhaust system that includes a commercial hood, grease removal devices, an exhaust duct system, and an automatic fire extinguishing system.

A commercial cooking exhaust hood is required for domestic cooking appliances used for commercial purposes.

You must provide a schedule for the cooking exhaust hood, hood manufacturer and model number, hood measurements, cfm ratings, and hood collar static pressure loss.

The hood must be listed by a nationally recognized testing laboratory 9must list online U.L. listing card/file and identify specific criteria for the system: model number, minimum exhaust cfm, maximum supply cfm, and maximum cooking surface temperature).

The hood canopy must hang over or extend a horizontal distance of nothing less than 6 inches beyond the edge of the top horizontal surface of the appliance on all open sides. The vertical distance between the front lower lip of the hood and the appliance must not go beyond 4 feet.

The exhaust hood must be installed with a clearance to combustibles of no less than 18 inches.

Must provide a kitchen area supply and exhaust air balancing schedule verifying that the total outdoor air supplied equals the volume removed.

The hood exhaust fan must automatically turn on when cooking operations are going on.

You must show that the automatic fire extinguishing system is connected to the building monitored fire alarm system.

Exhaust Duct System:

You must provide a table of static pressure losses for the elements of the exhaust duct system.

Exhaust ducts must be designed to provide a minimum air velocity of 500 feet per min.

Grease duct systems and exhaust equipment serving a kitchen hood must have a clearance to combustible construction.

You must provide a scaled detail showing the necessary clearances for the exhaust duct system. (Minimum of 18 inches to combustible materials and a minimum of 3 inches to noncombustible construction and gypsum wallboard).

Exhaust duct system must be constructed and installed so that grease does not collect in any portion of the duct and does not slope less than ¼ inch per foot toward either the hood or an approved grease reservoir unless the duct is tested.

Grease Ducts:

Grease ducts must be made of steel (not less than 0.055 inch in thickness) or stainless steel (not less than 0.044 inch) in thickness.

All seams, joints, and penetrations must have liquid tight external welds.

A separate grease duct system must be provided for each hood.

Fire resistance rated access openings through the rated shaft must be provided for grease duct clean outs.

https://www.townofbrighton.org/DocumentCenter/View/4083/Kitchen-Ventilation-Hood-Installation-Permit?bidId=