If you run a commercial kitchen, your hood suppression system is one of the most important layers of fire safety between a routine service rush and a serious fire hazard. The short answer is simple: per NFPA 96, your hood suppression systems across commercial cooking operations must be inspected at least every 6 months. In other words, the suppression system be inspected on a twice-a-year cadence, minimum, to support code compliance and reduce fire risk.
That said, inspection frequency can scale up depending on your kitchen volume, menu, grease load, and local fire code requirements. Many local fire authorities and the fire marshal will expect consistent documentation, and skipping inspections and maintenance can create issues with insurance, safety services, and even your ability to stay open.
Below, we discuss how often hood suppression systems should be inspected every, who can do the work, what a suppression system inspection includes, and how to stay aligned with code requirements without overcomplicating operations.
NFPA 96 Requirements for Hood Suppression System Inspections
According to NFPA 96, inspections must be done at least every six months for all commercial cooking operations. This applies to your hood, kitchen hood system, and connected exhaust system components that support safe ventilation and control grease-related fire hazard risk.
Compliance points to operationalize:
- Inspections must be performed by a licensed or certified technician, not a general handyman.
- This includes wet chemical systems under the UL 300 standard, which is the common type of system used to extinguish a kitchen fire involving grease.
- Your suppression system will activate properly only when it is maintained, accessible, and in ready condition.
- Many jurisdictions also align these expectations with the national fire and local fire enforcement approach for commercial fire safety.
Also, while your hood suppression system inspection cadence is “inspected every six months” at minimum, high-output kitchens often benefit from more frequent system service and inspection.
If you’re mapping out your broader facility fire safety program, it can help to align schedules with adjacent systems too. For example, sprinklers and alarms often have their own inspection cycles:
- how do fire sprinklers work
- how often do sprinkler systems need to be inspected
- types of fire alarm systems and what is a fire alarm system
Who Can Perform the Inspection?
A hood fire suppression system inspection should only be completed by qualified fire suppression professionals. This is not just best practice, it is how most code compliance frameworks are enforced.
What “qualified” typically means in real life:
- Only qualified fire suppression professionals should inspect the suppression system.
- The technician must be trained on the type of system installed and the specific system brand/model.
- Most jurisdictions require contractors to be certified fire, certified and insured, or otherwise recognized as a licensed fire protection provider.
- Many businesses prefer a licensed fire protection company or licensed fire protection company that can also provide fire protection services as part of a bundled service plan.
- In some areas, the local fire department or local fire team will validate documentation, especially when a fire marshal inspection is scheduled.
Bottom line: choose a fire protection company that can stand behind the inspection report and produce service for the fire marshal if needed. That is the safest path for commercial fire compliance and fire and life safety outcomes.
What Does the Inspection Include?
A compliant hood fire suppression system inspection is designed to verify the system is operational, ready to extinguish a kitchen fire, and aligned with fire code requirements. A strong system inspection also confirms the kitchen hood suppression setup is accessible and not blocked by poor storage practices or missed hood cleaning.
A typical suppression system inspection includes verification and testing of:
- Nozzles and piping (coverage, placement, physical condition)
- Chemical agent tank pressure and suppression agent readiness
- Detection lines and fusible links (proper tension, routing, cleanliness)
- Gas and electrical shutdown mechanisms (so fuel is cut in the event of a fire)
- Alarm system integration including the fire alarm signal pathway where applicable
- Manual pull station function (clear access, proper actuation)
- Cleanliness and hood accessibility, especially around grease buildup
- Documentation of inspections and maintenance tasks in a clear system service and inspection report
After the system inspection, the contractor should update the inspection tag with date, technician ID, and findings. This is not busywork, it is a compliance artifact that inspectors and insurers will check.
If your facility uses alarms heavily, it’s also smart to have a documented internal runbook for alarm events. Here is a related reference you can use for operational awareness: how to reset fire alarm system. You are not replacing professional service, but you are strengthening preparedness.
Inspection Frequency Table by Use Type (Optional)
While NFPA sets the baseline, real kitchens vary. Use this table as a practical planning guide for kitchen suppression system inspections while staying aligned with “must be inspected” minimum requirements.
| Kitchen Type | Inspection Frequency |
|---|---|
| Standard commercial kitchen | Every 6 months |
| High-volume cooking (e.g. fast food) | Every 3–4 months (recommended) |
| Low-volume or seasonal kitchens | Minimum every 6 months |
If you operate a restaurant hood with high grease output, higher frequency can be a high-ROI fire protection move. The more grease in the hood and ducts, the higher the kitchen fire risk, and the more you want proactive suppression services and system service reliability.
What Happens If You Skip Inspections?
Skipping suppression system inspection cycles is one of those choices that looks “fine” until it is not. The consequences can be operational, financial, and safety-related.
Common outcomes include:
- Fire marshal violations or fines, especially during a fire inspection or fire marshal inspection
- Failed health or insurance inspections, creating delays, reinspection fees, or forced closures
- System malfunction during a real fire, meaning the kitchen fire suppression system may not deploy correctly
- Voided fire insurance policies or claim complications after commercial fire damage
This is why a working hood suppression system is not just a compliance checkbox. It is a risk management control that protects staff, customers, inventory, and the building.
Also, if your broader fire safety program includes portable extinguishers, do not ignore those inspection and maintenance tasks either. These resources help support a complete compliance posture:
- types of fire extinguishers
- fire extinguisher inspection checklist
- fire extinguisher maintenance
- do fire extinguishers expire
- fire extinguisher mounting height requirements
- can fire extinguishers be refilled or do they expire
Pro Tips for Staying Compliant
Staying compliant is easier when you treat fire protection like a workflow, not a scramble.
Here is a practical playbook:
Set calendar reminders for inspection dates
Lock in “every six months” as your default cadence, then adjust if you are high-output.
Work with certified vendors who provide tagging and documentation
Your vendor should deliver a clean inspection report, proper inspection tag updates, and clear notes on any corrective service.
Coordinate inspections with hood cleaning or extinguisher service schedules
Pairing hood cleaning with suppression system inspection improves access and reduces grease-based fire hazard exposure. If you need a reminder, clean your kitchen hood on schedule so the hood suppression system is not working against buildup.
Standardize internal checks between professional visits
Staff should visually confirm access to the manual pull station, check that nothing blocks the hood, and keep the kitchen hood area clear. This supports fire safety professionals by reducing preventable issues.
Keep documentation ready for regulators
If the fire department or fire marshal asks for proof, you want instant retrieval. Store digital copies of your system service and inspection report in a shared operations folder.
Stay aware of adjacent compliance topics
Some environments also need to track ventilation and chemical rules that can impact operations and facility planning. If that is relevant to your business, see: voc regulations.
This approach helps ensure the system should be inspected every cycle without last-minute chaos, and it gives you a stronger commercial fire safety baseline.
Conclusion
Kitchen hood suppression systems must be inspected at least every 6 months to align with NFPA expectations, support code requirements, and reduce commercial kitchen fire exposure. A consistent suppression system inspection program, handled by licensed fire protection experts, helps ensure the system is ready to extinguish a fire hazard scenario fast, reliably, and in a way that protects your kitchen, people, and revenue.
If you want to stay ahead, treat inspections and maintenance as a repeatable service workflow: schedule the kitchen hood inspection, bundle it with hood cleaning, and keep your inspection report documentation ready for the fire marshal and local fire authorities. That is how you keep your commercial kitchen resilient and audit-ready.
