water wash hoods
- Thread starter Bryan
- Start date
Douglas Hicks
Member
Bryan I assume you have not worked w/ a water wash hood before. There are several manufactures, Gaylord out of Tualatin, Oregon is the best known. Most of them have an interlock w/the exhaust fan. When the fan is shut down, the water wash comes on and runs for a time. The water wash pump injects cleaning chemical into the hot water line, and then into the exhaust hood plenum through nozzles. There should be a copper line going into the drain. The theory of the water wash hood is that the grease is washed out of the hood. Actual practice is different. The hood collects more grease, has more angles, has more hidden areas and is much more difficult to clean than a regular hood. While doing your set-up, run the water wash several times to soften the grease. Watch to make sure the drain is working. Have your vacuum ready to suck grease and water out should the drain plug up and run water out onto the floor. Open and close the damper to clean that area. Some of these have heat exchangers on the roof. That area needs to be cleaned. the heat exchanger is made of copper or aluminum, be careful not to allow too much chemical dwell time, and do not get the nozzle to close to the heat exchanger. It is possible to bend the cooling fins with too high of pressure. If the system has an intake air filter,, it may need to be cleaned. The heat exhanger will have a drain to the sewer, check for slow drainage or broken piping. Start at hte fan and roof , then the duct work, then the hood is cleaned last. When you think you are done with the hood, run your hand inside and check for grease. Finish by opoerating the water wash for a c;ycle or tw
ne of the Gaylord systems we do has 3 back to back hoods in the prep area, and a cooking hood on another floor. All of the hoods duct into a common duct.
The first time we did the job, I applied chemical every trip inside to the cooking hood, as did my helper. We put chemical on at least 10 times. We plugged up the drain line 3/4 times. When we got done, I reached into the plenum and pulled out a glob of grease the size of my fist. The previous cleaners had missed a spot or two.
Water wash hoods take more time to clean and are therfore worth more compensation.
An added profit is to service the water wash system. It is easy, takes less than 30 minutes.
Douglas Hicks
General Fire Equipment co of Eastern Oregon, Inc
ne of the Gaylord systems we do has 3 back to back hoods in the prep area, and a cooking hood on another floor. All of the hoods duct into a common duct. The first time we did the job, I applied chemical every trip inside to the cooking hood, as did my helper. We put chemical on at least 10 times. We plugged up the drain line 3/4 times. When we got done, I reached into the plenum and pulled out a glob of grease the size of my fist. The previous cleaners had missed a spot or two.
Water wash hoods take more time to clean and are therfore worth more compensation.
An added profit is to service the water wash system. It is easy, takes less than 30 minutes.
Douglas Hicks
General Fire Equipment co of Eastern Oregon, Inc
kmjt1021
Member
Ditto the last post
A common problem with these hood is duct access above the hood, because the hood is usually constructed in a way that does not allow access to the duct from the hood, make sure to look for this problem and point it out if it exists before contracting the work.
P.S. someone who is double jointed and can bend his/her hands backwards will be very helpful here. LOL
A home made short wand that actually looks back at you may also be helpful also
A common problem with these hood is duct access above the hood, because the hood is usually constructed in a way that does not allow access to the duct from the hood, make sure to look for this problem and point it out if it exists before contracting the work.
P.S. someone who is double jointed and can bend his/her hands backwards will be very helpful here. LOL
A home made short wand that actually looks back at you may also be helpful also