What Is a Type 1 Commercial Kitchen Hood?
A Type 1 commercial kitchen hood is a listed grease hood installed over cooking equipment that produces grease-laden vapour and smoke, built to capture that vapour and carry it out through a dedicated grease duct. Fryers, charbroilers, griddles, wok ranges, salamanders and solid-fuel grills all sit under a Type 1 hood. Because the vapour it carries is fuel, a Type 1 hood and the whole duct path behind it fall under NFPA 96 and have to be cleaned on a set interval and documented. A Type 2 hood is the other kind, built for heat, steam and odour, and it carries no grease and no cleaning obligation under the same standard. Getting the two straight decides whether the fire code applies to your line at all.
Type 1 vs Type 2 hoods in a Hamilton kitchen
Six differences separate them, and every one of them changes what a fire inspector expects to see.
| Type 1 hood | Type 2 hood | |
|---|---|---|
| What it sits over | Fryers, charbroilers, griddles, ranges, wok stations, salamanders, solid-fuel grills, rotisseries. | Dishwashers, steamers, kettles, pasta cookers, some bakery ovens, warewashing lines. |
| What it captures | Grease-laden vapour, smoke and combustion by-products. | Heat, steam, condensate and odour. No grease. |
| Filtration | Listed baffle-type grease filters that drain to a collection point. See filter cleaning. | Condensate baffles or a simple screen, or nothing at all. |
| Ductwork behind it | A dedicated grease duct with access panels, run to a rooftop exhaust fan. | General exhaust duct, often shared with other building ventilation. |
| Does NFPA 96 apply | Yes. Cleaning interval, grease limit and grease duct construction requirements all apply. See the NFPA 96 page. | No. It sits outside the grease standard entirely. |
| What a fire inspector expects | A dated cleaning record, photographs of the cleaned duct interior, and a signed certificate naming the standard. | Nothing under NFPA 96, though building maintenance and air balance still matter. |
What is a Type 2 commercial hood?
A Type 2 commercial hood is a ventilation hood installed over equipment that produces heat, steam, condensate or odour but no grease, and it is not a grease hood.
The most common example in a Hamilton kitchen is the condensate hood over a dishwasher or warewashing line. Others sit over steam kettles, pasta cookers and some bakery deck ovens. The job is to stop steam rolling into the room, fogging the pass and dripping off the ceiling. There is no grease in that airstream, so there is no grease duct, no listed baffle filter bank, and no cleaning interval under NFPA 96.
That does not mean it never needs attention. A condensate hood collects scale, lint and airborne kitchen soil, and a blocked one stops pulling steam and starts raining on the crew. It is a maintenance item, not a fire code item. The confusion is understandable: both are stainless boxes over hot equipment, and from four feet below they look identical. The difference is what is going up the duct.
The expensive mistake: a Type 2 hood over greasy equipment
The failure is not a Type 2 hood doing its job badly. It is a Type 2 hood installed over equipment that produces grease, and then never being cleaned because nobody believes the code applies.
It happens through drift rather than decision. A unit opens as a sandwich shop with a steamer and a condensate hood. Two owners later it is running a griddle and a fryer under the same hood, because the hood was already there and moving it meant a permit, a contractor and a closed kitchen. Nothing was signed off. The line just changed underneath the hood.
From that point the system collects grease it was never built to handle. There are no listed baffle filters to catch it, so vapour condenses straight onto the interior and into a general exhaust duct with no access panels, sometimes one shared with the rest of the building. Nobody schedules a cleaning, because on paper it is a Type 2 hood. Years pass.
Two things surface it. A fire inspection looks at the equipment rather than the label and asks why grease-producing appliances sit under a hood with no grease filters and no cleaning record. Or an insurer asks the same question after a claim, which is a far worse moment to find out.
The fix starts with an honest look at the cook line. If the equipment produces grease, the hood over it needs to be a Type 1 with the duct and filtration that goes with it, and the system needs a cleaning interval. Hamilton Hood Cleaning identifies the hood type on the free walk-through and puts the scope in writing. Book through the contact page or call 289-796-0840.
How to tell which hood you have in ten minutes
Four checks settle it without a contractor, and any kitchen manager can run them between services.
Start with the equipment underneath. If anything on the line fries, grills, chars or sears, the hood over it should be a Type 1. That single question resolves most kitchens on its own.
Then look at the filters. A bank of angled metal baffles that slot into a track and drain toward a cup is a grease filter bank, and grease filter banks belong to Type 1 hoods. A flat screen, a plain condensate baffle or an empty track is a strong sign the hood was never built for grease. See the filter cleaning page.
Third, look for the label. Commercial hoods carry a manufacturer listing plate, usually on the end panel or inside the filter track, and it normally states the type.
Fourth, follow the duct. A Type 1 system runs a dedicated duct with access panels to a rooftop exhaust fan of its own. If the duct disappears into a shared ceiling plenum with no panels anywhere, the system was probably not built as a grease duct. What that run looks like when it is done properly is on the kitchen exhaust cleaning page, and once the type is confirmed, the frequency guide sets the schedule.
Hood types: frequently asked questions
The questions that come up once an operator starts checking.
Is a Type 1 hood the same as a grease hood?
Yes. Type 1 is the classification, grease hood is the everyday name, and both refer to a listed hood installed over equipment that produces grease-laden vapour and smoke. If a contractor, an inspector or a supplier says grease hood, they mean Type 1.
Does a Type 2 hood need cleaning at all?
Not under NFPA 96, because there is no grease in the airstream to regulate. A condensate hood still needs maintenance, since scale, lint and general kitchen soil eventually stop it pulling steam. That is a housekeeping and building maintenance job rather than a fire code obligation, and it carries no certificate requirement.
Can a Type 2 hood be used over a fryer or a grill?
No. Grease-producing equipment needs a Type 1 hood with listed grease filters and a dedicated grease duct. A Type 2 hood over a fryer collects grease it cannot drain into a duct that cannot be properly cleaned, which is both a fire risk and a compliance problem. The correct fix is the right hood, not a more frequent clean.
How do I know whether the hood in a unit I am leasing is Type 1?
Check the listing plate on the end panel or inside the filter track, look for a bank of angled baffle filters, and ask the landlord for the last cleaning certificate. A genuine Type 1 system will have a maintenance history. No history usually means either a Type 2 hood or a neglected Type 1, and both are worth knowing before signing.
Who enforces this in Hamilton?
The Hamilton Fire Department is the authority having jurisdiction across the amalgamated city, including Stoney Creek, Ancaster, Dundas, Waterdown, Binbrook and Flamborough. Ontario adopts NFPA 96 by reference through the Ontario Fire Code, O. Reg. 213/07. Brantford has its own fire department, covered on the Brantford page.