FAQs
These are the most frequent questions that I receive from people about the hood cleaning industry: I’ll add more as I get the time.
“Do you recommend any of the hood cleaning schools?”
No.. for the short answer. I say that having gone to one of them. However, if you know absolutely nothing about hood cleaning, I would suggest the guys at Delco. They are good, honest people and will teach you how to do things correctly. (I did not go to Delco’s school and I don’t get any money for sending anybody there)
If you’re interested in their school give them an email: powerwash@powerwash.com or call them at 1-800-433-2113
The best thing to do would be find a hood cleaning company willing to let you tag along for a week or so to teach you the basics. Sign some sort of non-compete contract and away you go.
“I want to get into foaming, where do I start?”
If you want to start foaming, you need a few things. First, a foamer, an air compressor (depending on which foamer you get) and some chemicals that foam. I always recommend the easiest route to get started. The easiest would be getting a foam cannon for the end of your pressure washing gun. It won’t make that shaving cream type dry foam that the air compressed foamers make, but it will give you much better dwell time. Make sure you match the foam cannon to the specs of your pressure washer if you decide to get one.
Next, you need some foaming chemicals or at least foaming agents to put into your chemicals. Believe it or not, the original Dawn works pretty darn good as a surfactant. If you are using 8 oz of caustic per gallon of water for your mix, try using 6 oz of caustic + 2 oz of Dawn and see how it works. My guess is you will be pleasantly surprised 
If you want the easy route, give my buddy Chris Bisbee a call at ZEP and ask for some Super Doug. Very easy to use and foams like a mofo.
Chris Bisbee
407-341-0786
I get nothing from ZEP or Chris for recommending him, so I have nothing to gain from you calling him. I just think his products work well and are fairly priced.
Here is a video of me foaming with Super Doug
“What is the average price for cleaning a hood?”
There isn’t an average because every system is different and every contractor has different expenses and overhead and needs to charge a different price. From my experience though, if you aren’t charging at least $125/ man hour, you are not making very much profit if any at all. You might undercut the next Low-Ball hood cleaner to get a job, but you will price yourself right out of business eventually.
Hood Cleaning is a professional service that takes a certain level of skill and some very expensive equipment to do it correctly. Price accordingly.
“How did you get so good looking?”
Just kidding. I was trying to see if you are paying attention.
“Is filter exchange really worth it or should I just spray them off while I’m there?”
I get this question or something resembling this A LOT. I refer to my buddy who owns Filter Shine when I get it. He’s the expert when it comes to this stuff, because honestly I was taught from the school I attended to spray them off back behind the building somewhere and call them good. That is NOT a good choice! It can get you fined and not only that, but if we pride ourselves on doing good work inside the exhaust system, we should pride ourselves on doing things correctly with the filters as well.
Filters can take hours to clean and make the job last a lot longer than it should. With a pressure washer you can use up to 200 gallons or so to clean 10 filters (I’ve done it). With Filter Shine’s system you will use about a QUART of water per filter and that is recycled therefore introducing NO CHEMICAL OR GREASE INTO THE SEWAGE.
I think most of you know how I feel about tree huggers in general, but when being responsible makes sense, I’m all for it. Check out Filter Shine’s website for more information.
