Get Rid Of Grease Build-up In A Commercial Kitchen With Professional Steam Cleaning

Steam Cleaning has many benefits that make it the preferred method for thorough cleaning of a commercial kitchen. Most people are familiar of the use of steam to power the Industrial Revolution, in transport (shipping and railways), and to power machines in factories.

It was also early recognised that it had the ability to sterilise equipment and became widely used in hospitals to sterilise equipment and to some extent in the home for cleaning surfaces that needed to be germ free, particularly when there was a baby in the house. Gradually the use of steam extended to other purposes including steam saunas for weight loss, pressure cookers using steam power for healthy cooking, fabric cleaning with steam and in central heating systems.

The usefulness of steam as a commercial cleaner was first discovered by a young American during the prohibition era, when alcohol was banned. The inventor, Frank W Ofeldt, was constructing an illegal whisky still in his garage when steam accidentally escaped onto the floor. The steam jet quickly dissolved the built up grease and grime on the floor and in 1927, he formed a company called 'Jenny' to produce a steam cleaner that became known as the 'Steam Jenny'.

Then In 1939 the Sioux company, also in the USA, became the first major company to manufacture electrically-powered, heavy duty, industrial steam cleaning equipment.It is safer to use at a higher temperature because the amount of water used is low (dry steam) and because it cools more quickly at higher temperatures. It is much preferable to using substances containing caustic soda (which also has the ability to get rid of grease) as caustic soda is much more dangerous and can cause blindness (if splashes get into the eyes), breathing difficulties or severe chemical burns on skin.

The ability to dissolve grease and other sticky deposits means steam is particularly useful in a commercial kitchen. Even within a kitchen extractor and filter systems above cookers the grease deposit eventually builds up and needs to be removed to prevent it becoming a fire hazard. Steam is also especially useful because kitchens need to be sure that any cleaning chemicals being used are not going to contaminate food or trigger allergies (and expensive litigation) in their customers.

Steam, which is super-heated, clean water, meets this need and the need to make sure the kitchen meets the strict food safety and hygiene regulations that are legally required of any food outlet. It is usable without damage on a variety of surfaces that include stainless steel, aluminium, plastics, lamintaes and wood.

A regular schedule of steam cleaning carried out by a specialist commercial cleaning company can ensure that hygiene is at a very high standard and the regular daily cleaning between steam cleans is much easier. Frequency of a thorough professional kitchen steam clean depends on the type of food it is producing because some dishes by their nature produce more oil, grease or other elements like spice during the cooking process. A reliable professional cleaning company will be able to advise on this and put together a schedule tailored to cause minimum disruption to the commercial kitchen's daily work.


Copyright (c) 2010 Alison Withers