What Is a Hood Cleaning School

What Is a Hood Cleaning School (And Why Serious Pros Don’t Skip Formal Training)

If you work around commercial kitchens, you already know cooking isn’t the only thing happening under the hood.

Every shift, grease-laden vapors travel from the line into the hood, up through the ductwork, and out through the fan. If that grease isn’t removed on a regular schedule, it quietly becomes fuel for a fire.

That’s why codes like NFPA 96 and standards like ANSI/IKECA C10 exist—and why a serious, code-aware hood cleaning school is becoming the new baseline for professionals in this trade.

In this article, we’ll break down:

• What a hood cleaning school actually teaches

• How it connects to NFPA 96 and ANSI/IKECA standards

• Why trained hood cleaners are in growing demand

• How Iron & Light Hood Cleaning School fits into that picture

👇 Want to skip ahead and see the program?
Explore the Iron & Light Hood Cleaning School program

 Iron & Light Hood Cleaning Certification-Accreditation Online Training

The Fire Problem Hood Cleaning Is Designed to Solve

Commercial cooking is one of the leading causes of structure fires in restaurants and eating establishments. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) reports that U.S. fire departments respond to thousands of fires in eating and drinking establishments each year, causing injuries, property damage, and business interruption. You can see this in NFPA’s data on fires by occupancy or property type  and related restaurant fire analyses.

To reduce that risk, NFPA publishes NFPA 96 – Standard for Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations . This standard sets minimum fire-safety requirements for:

• Hood and duct system design

• Installation of cooking equipment and fire suppression

• Inspection, testing, and maintenance/cleaning of exhaust systems

In simple terms: if grease is allowed to build up inside the hood, ducts, and fan, a small flare-up on the line can rush into the ductwork and become a much larger fire.

NFPA 96 is also clear that the owner is ultimately responsible for the inspection, maintenance, and cleanliness of the system unless that duty is transferred in writing. When something goes wrong, people want to see evidence that the system was properly maintained.

That responsibility is exactly why trained hood cleaners matter.

So What Is a Hood Cleaning School?

A hood cleaning school is a structured training program that teaches technicians how to:

1. Understand the layout and function of commercial kitchen exhaust systems

2. Safely clean hoods, ducts, and fans

3. Work in alignment with recognized fire-safety standards

4. Document their work in a way that owners, insurers, and inspectors can trust

A real hood cleaning school goes well beyond “spray some degreaser and hope for the best.” It bundles technical training, safety, standards, and business skills into one path.

The Standards Behind a Good Hood Cleaning School

A serious program will reference at least two key standards:

• NFPA 96 – Standard for Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations 
  NFPA 96 provides the preventive and operative fire-safety requirements for commercial cooking operations, including ventilation and exhaust system maintenance.

• ANSI/IKECA C10 – Standard for the Methodology for Cleaning Commercial Kitchen Exhaust Systems 
  The ANSI-approved ANSI/IKECA C10 standard defines how to inspect, clean, and verify commercial kitchen exhaust system cleanliness—frequency, methods, and acceptable post-cleaning conditions. You’ll also see it referenced on the ANSI webstore listing for ANSI/IKECA C10-2021  and in the ANSI blog overview of IKECA standards .

These two standards are designed to complement each other: NFPA 96 lays out the fire-safety framework; ANSI/IKECA C10 details the cleaning methodology that supports it.

A hood cleaning school that weaves both into the curriculum is creating technicians who understand not just what to do, but why they’re doing it.

What You Actually Learn in Hood Cleaning School

Different programs use different formats, but a comprehensive hood cleaning school typically covers four buckets of knowledge:

1. System Anatomy & Fire Behavior

You can’t protect what you don’t understand. A solid school breaks down:

• Hood and filter design above the cook line

• The plenum and ductwork (horizontal and vertical runs)

• Exhaust fans and rooftop terminations

• How grease builds up and how fires spread through the system

This ties directly into the way NFPA 96  looks at ventilation control for fire protection, from hood to termination.

2. Cleaning Methodology (Aligned to C10)

Here’s where ANSI/IKECA C10 shows up in the training. Core skills include:

• Pre-cleaning inspection and documentation

• Proper containment and protection of kitchen equipment

• Safe chemical use, pressure washing, and scraping

• Accessing and cleaning ducts and fans—not just visible surfaces

• Verifying acceptable cleanliness after the job is done

You can see how the industry talks about this methodology on resources like the ANSI/IKECA C10 standard page  and the ANSI blog on kitchen exhaust cleaning standards .

The goal is to replace guesswork with repeatable process.

3. Safety & Compliance Awareness

Hood cleaning is a mix of:

• Chemicals and hot surfaces

• Ladders, roofs, and confined areas

• Electrical and mechanical equipment

A school with a real safety culture shows students how to work with PPE, fall protection, lockout/tagout, and basic OSHA-aligned practices while still getting the job done efficiently.

This aligns with broader fire-safety and loss-prevention priorities you see in resources like:

• The U.S. Fire Administration fire statistics and data sets 

• NFPA’s fire statistical reports by occupancy 

4. Business & Communication Skills

This is the piece many “informal” training paths skip.

A good hood cleaning school helps you:

• Price jobs based on scope and risk, not guesswork

• Explain your service in plain language to owners and GMs

• Present quotes and proposals professionally

• Use documentation and photos as a value-add, not just paperwork

That business context is what turns “someone who knows how to clean a hood” into someone who can win and keep accounts.

Why Formal Training Beats DIY Learning

Could you try to learn hood cleaning from random YouTube videos and trial-and-error? Technically, yes. But you’d be guessing with:

• Other people’s buildings

• High-value cooking equipment

• Real fire risk and life-safety systems

Formal training gives you:

• Structure – a path from beginner to competent, not a pile of disconnected tips.

• Credibility – the ability to reference standards and explain your methods.

• Efficiency – shortcuts from someone who has already made the mistakes.

From an owner’s perspective, hiring someone who can explain how their methods align with NFPA 96 and ANSI/IKECA C10 is fundamentally different from hiring “a guy with a pressure washer.”

If you want to see how other industry groups frame this, check out the Power Washers of North America’s overview of NFPA 96 and ANSI/IKECA C10 for kitchen exhaust cleaners —it’s a good example of how standards-based service is seen as the professional benchmark.

That’s the gap a hood cleaning school is designed to close.

How Iron & Light Positions You as a Modern Hood Cleaning Professional

Iron & Light Hood Cleaning School is built specifically for people who want both technical skill and a clear business path.

Here’s how it approaches the trade:

1. Code-Aware, Not Code-Phobic

Iron & Light doesn’t drown you in dry code language, but it does teach:

• What NFPA 96  is trying to prevent

• How ANSI/IKECA C10  structures a professional cleaning process

• How to talk about fire risk and documentation in a way owners understand

If you want to be the tech who can stand next to an inspector with confidence, this matters.

👉 See what’s inside the Iron & Light Hood Cleaning School curriculum Iron & Light Hood Cleaning Certification-Accreditation Online Training

2. “Hood to Roof” Training

Many low-end cleaners focus only on what a customer can see. Iron & Light takes a full-path approach:

• Hood & filters

• Plenum & ducts

• Fan & rooftop area

That mindset lines up with how NFPA and IKECA look at exhaust systems—as a single fire path, not isolated parts.

3. Real-World Marketing & Sales Support

Inside Iron & Light, you don’t just learn how to clean; you get:

• Phone and in-person scripts

• Email and text templates

• Proposal and quote language

• Referral program ideas and marketing snippets

If your goal is to start or grow a hood cleaning business, this is the difference between having a skill and having a company.

👉 Learn how the Iron & Light program works step by step Iron & Light Hood Cleaning Certification-Accreditation Online Training

Who Should Consider Enrolling in a Hood Cleaning School?

A hood cleaning school like Iron & Light is especially valuable if you’re:

• An aspiring business owner who wants a trade with real demand and low competition

• Already in the trades (pressure washing, janitorial, HVAC, fire protection) and want a high-value add-on service

• A current hood cleaner who wants to align more clearly with NFPA 96 / IKECA standards and level up your professionalism

• A facility or restaurant operator who wants to understand what “good” looks like when hiring vendors

If you’re the kind of person who values hands-on work, clear standards, and repeat business, hood cleaning is worth a serious look.

How to Use This Article to Build Authority & Attract Backlinks

If you’re planning to build a hood cleaning business, this article isn’t just information—it’s a piece of your authority.

You can:

• Link to it from your service pages, About page, and Iron & Light Hood Cleaning School sales page.

• Share it with restaurant owners, property managers, or other trades who want to understand the hood cleaning trade.

• Reference the external resources we’ve linked—NFPA, IKECA, ANSI, USFA, National Restaurant Association, PWNA—to show that your training is rooted in widely recognized standards.

Over time, articles like this can attract backlinks from:

• Fire-safety blogs and consultants

• Restaurant industry sites

• Insurance and risk-management resources

• Other trades and training organizations that want to point people to a clear, standards-based explanation of hood cleaning school

Ready to Take the Next Step?

If you’re serious about getting into the hood cleaning trade—or taking it more seriously than your competition—formal training is the smartest shortcut you can give yourself.

Iron & Light Hood Cleaning School is built to:

• Teach you the technical work

• Give you the code & safety context

• Hand you the business tools you need to turn that skill into income

👉 Get all the details on Iron & Light Hood Cleaning School Iron & Light Hood Cleaning Certification-Accreditation Online Training
👉 Check current enrollment options and start your training Iron & Light Hood Cleaning Certification-Accreditation Online Training

The exhaust systems in your city will need cleaning either way. The question is whether you’ll be the one trusted to do it.