How often should a commercial kitchen exhaust be cleaned in Singapore?

Most commercial kitchens need cleaning every 1–3 months. Heavy wok, grill and deep-frying kitchens often need monthly cleaning; lighter kitchens can run quarterly. We inspect the system and your cooking volume before recommending an interval rather than applying a fixed rule.

Is kitchen exhaust cleaning a legal requirement in Singapore?

Commercial food establishments are expected to keep their kitchen exhaust clean and safe for both hygiene (NEA) and fire safety (SCDF) reasons, and to be able to show it. We confirm the exact requirement that applies to your premises with the relevant authority as part of the work.

NFPA-96 is the international standard for commercial kitchen ventilation control and grease-fire safety. It sets inspection intervals by cooking volume — from monthly for solid-fuel kitchens to annually for low-volume ones — and it is the framework the industry works to.

Do you provide documentation for inspections?

Yes. Every clean includes dated before-and-after photo documentation and a service record you can present to NEA, SCDF, your landlord or your auditor.

How Often Must Kitchen Exhaust Be Cleaned? SCDF & NEA

Who regulates kitchen exhaust cleaning — NEA or SCDF?

Both, from two angles. The NEA (National Environment Agency) is concerned with food hygiene and environmental discharge, while the SCDF (Singapore Civil Defence Force) is concerned with fire safety. Grease that builds up in your hood, ductwork and fan is a real fire fuel — so a system that is not cleaned regularly is both a hygiene and a fire-safety problem. Keeping it clean, and being able to show that you do, is what both agencies expect of a food establishment.

What does the NFPA-96 standard say about frequency?

NFPA-96 is the international standard for commercial kitchen ventilation and grease-fire safety that the industry works to. It sets inspection intervals based on how hard the kitchen works:

Monthly — systems serving solid-fuel cooking (charcoal, wood).
Quarterly — high-volume operations: 24-hour cooking, charbroiling, wok cooking.
Semi-annually — moderate-volume cooking.
Annually — low-volume operations (seasonal, day camps, places of worship).

The system is then cleaned whenever grease is found to have built up to an unsafe level. In practice, most Singapore F&B kitchens fall into the monthly-to-quarterly range because of how we cook — lots of wok, grill and fry.

How we decide your interval

Rather than apply a fixed rule, we inspect your hood, ducting and fan and look at your actual cooking volume and hours before recommending a schedule. A hawker wok line and a bakery are not on the same clock. Getting the interval right keeps you compliant without over-servicing.

What a compliant clean must actually cover

"Cleaned" should mean the whole system, not a wipe-down of the visible stainless. That means the hood inside and out, the filters, the accessible ductwork interior, and the exhaust fan — the places grease actually hides. See our 10-point kitchen exhaust servicing checklist to check any contractor's scope, including ours.

Why keeping to schedule matters

A neglected exhaust is the most common source of a commercial kitchen fire, and a failed inspection can mean fines, remedial orders, or a closure that costs far more than the cleaning would have. Regular servicing also keeps the system pulling properly — a greased-up fan moves less air, raises energy use, and pushes heat and smoke back into your kitchen.

We confirm the exact requirement with the relevant authority before quoting, and give you dated before-and-after documentation suitable for NEA, SCDF, your landlord and your auditor.

Regular servicing, one accountable team

We handle exhaust cleaning and degreasing and ongoing maintenance programs in-house, on 24/7 standby — so the same team that cleans your system is the one that services and repairs it.

How Often Must a Commercial Kitchen Exhaust Be Cleaned in Singapore?