A quote for extract-plant cleaning almost never starts with the plant. It starts with half a dozen questions the buyer cannot answer from memory: what the hood is made of, how long the duct run is, whether the fan can be stopped in service, and who signs off the job afterwards. Send an enquiry with only a photograph of a greasy kitchen and any supplier will hedge their price, or quote against somebody else's kitchen. The list below is the information that moves a quotation from a guess to a firm figure, and it is the same list a manufacturer's engineers need before they recommend a machine for the work.
1. A site layout that shows access, not just the kitchen
Send a plan or a marked-up set of photographs that covers three things: the cooking line, the extract route, and the path a machine has to travel between the wash point and the hood. Buyers routinely photograph the dirty side of the hood and leave out the corridor, the step at the back door, and the share of the kitchen that stays open during service. Those details decide whether the job needs a self-contained unit on wheels or a fixed unit plumbed in at a services point.
State the distance from the nearest water connection to the farthest point of the hood, and whether there is a floor drain or grease interceptor that the run-off can reach. Where the crew will be working across several servery areas, say so; that is the situation where a mobile unit from the PowerDe cleaning equipment range is usually a better starting point than a single fixed machine.
2. Hood and duct construction, with measurements
Give the material, the dimensions and the condition. A stainless extract hood over a six-burner range, a galvanised duct with access panels every two metres, and a hood with a welded seam that has never been opened are three different jobs at three different prices. For each item record:
- Hood length, depth and height, and whether the filters are lift-out or fixed
- Duct material, approximate length of run, number of bends, and where access panels exist
- Fan type and location, and whether the fan can be isolated and locked during the work
- Age of the system, last clean date, and any record of that clean
If a duct has not been opened in several years, or if the last clean was documented but the panels are painted shut, say so in the enquiry. A quotation has to include the time spent getting access, and that is rarely visible in a photograph.
3. The deposit, described in layers rather than adjectives
"Very greasy" is not a specification. Describe what is on the surfaces: fresh oil that wipes away, a dark baked film that a scraper marks, or a hard varnished layer that has been through several cooking seasons and now flakes. Note the cooking method under the hood, because a charcoal grill and a wok station lay down different deposits from a convection oven line.
This description is what determines the method. Detergent and cold water will not move polymerised fat; for that class of deposit, range hood steam cleaning works because heat softens the layer before pressure lifts it. Where the specification calls for both soaked dwell on a heavy deposit and a drier finish on a filter, a machine that switches between dry and wet steam does the whole job without a second unit.
4. Utilities on site: power, water, drainage, and what is not available
Every quotation depends on what the building can supply, so put the answers in the enquiry rather than leaving them for a site visit. Record:
- Available supply voltage near the kitchen, and whether equipment can be plugged into the kitchen circuit or must run from a separate point
- Whether the supply is single-phase, and the rating of the available socket or isolator
- Water supply point, tap pressure if known, and how hard the local water is
- Where greasy run-off may go, and where it may not — a prep-area sink is usually off limits, and a surface drain will flood
A 220V steam cleaning machine with a 6 kW heater cannot be connected to a circuit that a fryer is already drawing from; the socket rating and circuit length are part of the specification, not a detail for later. Water hardness matters for the same reason: scale inside a heater reduces output long before the machine fails, so the quotation should state the descaling routine as well as the machine.
5. Working windows, access restrictions and what stays open
State when the kitchen can be emptied, how many hours the crew has, and what must remain in operation. A single restaurant that closes at 22:00 and reopens at 07:00 has a very different constraint from a hotel with three outlets, where one servery must stay live while the hood above the main line is being cleaned. Working at night, at weekends, or around a trading service adds time and labour, and a quotation that ignores it will be revised later anyway.
Also mention the physical restrictions: floor load limits, low doorheads, a lift that takes no trolley, a back door that closes at 18:00, or a car park where a machine has to be moved by hand. These decide the size of the unit and whether it needs to be carried rather than driven.
6. Equipment that must be protected, and what is in the room
List what sits under and around the hood: gas-fired ranges with ignition assemblies, thermostats and probes, control bezels, indicator lights, terminal enclosures, dry goods, packaging and open chemicals. Steam and vapour travel, so a quotation has to include the protection step, and the buyer saves time by naming the sensitive components in the enquiry instead of discovering them on the day.
For each machine type, attach the manufacturer's guidance on washing down if you hold it. Where a unit carries a written warning against water washing, the affected tasks are wipe-only and the method changes; that changes the duration, and therefore the price.
7. Fire, hygiene and insurance requirements
Send the requirement, not the assumption. Attach the clause from your insurer, your fire risk assessment, or your food-safety audit that says how often the extract system has to be cleaned and to what standard. A buyer who is working to an audit specification needs a method and a certificate that satisfy it; a buyer cleaning because the hood looks dirty is buying a different scope.
Say what evidence you need afterwards: photographs, a signed task sheet, a certificate, or all three. Deep grease in an extract line is a fire issue before it is a hygiene issue, and the record of the clean is what an assessor will ask for. That record is part of the scope and should be priced as part of it.
8. Volumes, frequency and the duty cycle
One-off cleans and recurring cleans lead to different recommendations. Give the number of hoods and duct runs on the site, and the number of sites if you are a chain or a facilities provider. Then state the intended cycle: nightly hood surfaces, weekly filters, monthly deep clean of the plant, annual duct clean, or some combination.
A recurring duty across several kitchens is usually where equipment is bought rather than a service hired, and where the specification should be written around the whole estate. If the same crew also cleans floors, griddles and fryers, list those tasks too — commercial kitchen floor steam cleaning sits in the same shift as the hood work, and sizing the tank and the heater around the whole shift is cheaper than buying two machines and running the shift twice.
9. Services you expect the supplier to cover
State in the enquiry whether you want a machine only, or machine plus commissioning, training and consumables. Ask explicitly who maintains the equipment after handover, what the service interval is, and which wear parts to hold — seals, nozzles, hoses and brushes. A machine that trips one of its protective circuits has to be reported and repaired, not reset repeatedly during a shift, and the crew needs that instruction before the first job.
If the layout is awkward — a long servery run, a hood with no wash point nearby, a shared kitchen with several operators — say so plainly. Shenzhen PowerDe Automation Precision Equipment publishes parameters for each machine in the Cleaning Equipment Series and specifies customized steam cleaning equipment against site layout and duty cycle, so send the layout, the measurements and photographs of the worst deposit and ask for a configuration matched to that kitchen.
10. Budget range, and the decision the quote has to support
A range, not a number, is enough. It lets a supplier put the cheapest option that meets the requirement against the option that reduces labour over a year of cleans, instead of guessing which of the two you wanted. State who is deciding — a kitchen manager, a facilities director, or a procurement department — and whether capital equipment or a recurring service cost is the easier line to approve.
Buyers comparing options should ask for the same parameters on every quotation so the figures line up: supply voltage, heater rating, tank capacity and material, steam temperature and pressure, and the cleaning modes available. The PowerDe HW02 steam cleaner product page, for example, lists 220 V working voltage, 6 kW heating power, an 80 L SUS304 tank, a steam temperature of 160° and a vapour pressure of 0.8 MPa, with dry steam and wet steam modes and a vacuum function. Ask every supplier for the equivalent line in writing; without it you are comparing brands, not capability.
Before you send the enquiry: a checklist to attach
- Site layout with the hood, the duct route, the wash point and the machine path marked
- Hood and duct dimensions, material, access panel locations, fan type
- Deposit described in layers, with photographs of the worst surfaces
- Supply voltage, socket rating, water point, water hardness, drainage route
- Working windows, access restrictions, what stays in operation
- Components that must not be sprayed, plus any manufacturer's washing warnings
- Insurance, fire and audit requirements, and the evidence needed after the job
- Number of sites, intended cleaning cycle, and any other tasks in the same shift
- Budget range and who signs the decision
Send that set of information through the contact page and ask for a method and configuration matched to your kitchen rather than a catalogue page. Quotations come back comparable, and the site visit, if there is one, spends its time on the questions the paperwork could not answer.
