Home / Kitchen Extraction Cleaning / Guide
Extraction cleaning - insurance
Your insurer has a view on how often your extract system should be cleaned - and it is usually written into your policy. Miss it, and a fire claim can be the moment you find out what the condition said.
The short answer
Insurers set ductwork cleaning frequency through the conditions of your policy, and those conditions almost always track the recognised TR19 Grease bands - broadly every 3 months for heavy use, 6 for moderate, 12 for light, by daily cooking hours. What they expect above all is that the cleaning is done to that frequency and certificated, because the certificate is the evidence they rely on if a claim is ever made.
Where the expectation lives
An insurer's expectation about duct cleaning is not a vague preference - it is usually a specific condition of cover, set out in the policy wording. Most commercial policies covering premises with a commercial kitchen require the extract system to be cleaned to a stated frequency and certificated to a recognised standard. It is a term of the contract, not advice.
The catch is that it often sits in the conditions rather than the front of the policy, so an operator can hold cover for years without registering the requirement. That is fine while nothing happens - and a serious problem the day a claim brings the condition into focus. Reading the cleaning condition in your own policy is worth doing before you need to.
What frequency they follow
When a policy states a cleaning frequency, it almost always follows the recognised industry approach - the TR19 Grease bands tied to daily cooking hours. Heavy use, of the order of 12 to 16 cooking hours a day, points to roughly every three months; moderate use to every six months; and light use to every twelve. Insurers adopt these because they are the accepted, risk-based standard rather than an arbitrary number.
Some policies name a specific interval; others simply require cleaning in line with the recognised standard, which amounts to the same thing. Either way the expectation is that a competent assessment sets the interval for how your kitchen actually cooks, and that you keep to it. A kitchen frying all day is expected to be cleaned far more often than one used lightly.
What they really want
Frequency is only half of it. What an insurer actually relies on is proof that the cleaning happened - a dated certificate, to the standard, at the required frequency, ideally backed by grease readings and photographs. Without that evidence, having cleaned the system is hard to demonstrate, and demonstrating it is exactly what matters when a claim is assessed.
So the insurer's expectation is really two things at once: clean to the stated frequency, and hold the certificates that prove you did. A run of dated certificates showing the system cleaned on schedule is the reassurance the condition is designed to secure - and the thing a loss adjuster will ask to see.
What happens if you miss it
The reason the frequency matters so much is the consequence of missing it. If a fire starts and the extract system was not cleaned and certificated as the policy required, the insurer can argue a condition of cover was not met, and reduce or refuse the claim. The saving from a skipped clean reverses into a loss many times larger.
This is why the insurer's expectation is not something to treat casually. Letting the interval slip, or accepting a clean with no proper certificate, quietly erodes the cover you are paying for - and the erosion only shows up at the one moment you most need the policy to respond.
Staying on the right side
Meeting the insurer's expectation is straightforward once you know what it is. Have the system assessed so the interval matches your cooking hours, clean to that frequency, and keep the certificates on file where they can be produced. If your policy names a specific frequency, follow that; if in doubt, the recognised TR19 bands are the safe reference.
Done that way, the cleaning regime and the cover work together - the system is kept safe, the condition is met, and the evidence is always to hand. That is a far better position than discovering, after a fire, that a condition you never read has cost you the claim.
Questions
To a stated frequency set in the policy conditions, almost always following the TR19 Grease bands - broadly every 3 months for heavy use, 6 for moderate and 12 for light, by daily cooking hours - and certificated.
Usually in the conditions of your commercial policy rather than the headline, so it is easy to miss. Most policies covering a kitchen require certificated cleaning to a stated frequency as a condition of cover.
Most follow the recognised TR19 Grease bands by cooking hours, or simply require cleaning in line with the recognised standard. A competent assessment sets the interval for how your kitchen actually cooks.
Evidence - a dated certificate to the standard, at the required frequency, backed by grease readings and photographs. A run of certificates showing the system cleaned on schedule is what a loss adjuster asks for.
If a fire occurs and the system was not cleaned and certificated as required, the insurer can argue a condition was not met and reduce or refuse the claim - a loss far larger than the skipped clean.
Have the system assessed so the interval matches your cooking hours, clean to that frequency, and keep the certificates on file. If your policy names a specific interval, follow it.
We clean to the right TR19 frequency and certificate it in full, so the condition is met and the proof is on file.
