Commercial Kitchen Ventilation & Refrigeration

Hood exhaust, make-up air, heat recovery and the cold side of a professional kitchen — specified as one balanced system rather than a list of parts.

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  • 6equipment groups

WhatVentilation and refrigeration as one system

A commercial kitchen ventilation system is a balance, not a fan. Extract hoods remove grease-laden vapour and the very large sensible heat load of cooking equipment; a matched make-up air system replaces what leaves. Alongside it sits the cold side — undercounter and walk-in refrigeration, and ice production. Getting either half right while ignoring the other is the single most common failure in this scenario.

WhoWho specifies a kitchen

Restaurant and QSR chains, hotel food-and-beverage departments, central production kitchens and cloud-kitchen operators, contract caterers, plus the catering equipment dealers and kitchen design consultancies who specify on their behalf. Chains buy in repeat lots to a fixed specification; independents buy once and buy on price.

WhereWhy urban sites make this hard

Overwhelmingly dense urban sites, which is what makes this scenario technically hard. Discharge points are constrained by neighbours and planning rules, ducts run long vertical shafts with several bends, and the resulting system static pressure is far higher than the free-air figures on a fan datasheet.

WhenFit-out programmes and remedial work

At fit-out, on a compressed programme where the kitchen is the last trade in and the opening date is fixed. The second wave is remedial: after a failed environmental health or fire inspection, or after a grease fire, when replacement is urgent and the specification is dictated by the inspector.

WhyWhat happens when the air balance is wrong

If exhaust is not matched by make-up air the kitchen goes into negative pressure. The visible symptoms are doors that are hard to open and slam shut, gas burners that misfire or lift, and — the one that costs a restaurant customers — hood capture failing so that heat and cooking smoke spill into the dining room. Separately, the fan itself lives in roughly 60–90 °C grease-laden air, which is why kitchen exhaust fans and their bearings fail far earlier than the same fan would in a clean duct.

HowSizing hoods, fans and make-up air

Calculate hood exhaust from the hood type, its length and the duty of the appliances beneath it. Then size the fan against the actual system resistance — long duct runs plus grease filters mean high static pressure, which is a job for a backward-curved centrifugal fan, not an axial. Provide make-up air at 80–90% of the exhaust volume so the space stays very slightly negative relative to the dining room but not to the outside. Finally, specify motors and bearings rated for continuous high-temperature duty, and design for cleaning access from day one.

Equipment this application needs

Centrifugal Fans Hood exhaust Centrifugal Fans414 Backward-curved impellers hold their airflow against the high static pressure of a real grease duct. Exhaust Fans General extract Exhaust Fans70 Dishwash, prep and store areas that need dilution ventilation rather than hood capture. Axial Flow Fans Make-up air supply Axial Flow Fans672 High volume at low resistance — the right tool for replacing the air the hoods remove. Heat Exchangers Heat recovery Heat Exchangers160 Recovers heat from the exhaust stream to temper incoming make-up air, which is where the operating cost of a kitchen ventilation system is won or lost. Ice Machines Ice production Ice Machines75 Sized on peak service demand, not on daily average — and de-rated for the ambient temperature of an actual kitchen. Condensing Units Walk-in refrigeration Condensing Units234 Remote packs for cold and freezer rooms, sited away from the kitchen heat.

What to check before you order

High Temperature 250
Motors and bearings rated for continuous operation in hot exhaust air.
Stainless Steel 1,488
Grade 304 minimum for anything in the grease stream — it has to survive repeated degreasing.
Low Noise 504
Critical where the discharge or the plant room adjoins a dining area or a residential neighbour.
Variable Speed 72
Lets extract volume follow the cooking line rather than running flat out all service.
380V 1,427
Three-phase supply for larger hood fans and refrigeration packs.

Products for this application

Questions buyers ask

How much make-up air does a commercial kitchen need?
Typically 80–90% of the total exhaust volume, introduced deliberately through a supply system rather than left to leak in around doors. That ratio keeps the kitchen slightly negative with respect to the dining room, so smells travel the right way, without pulling the whole building into a negative pressure that stops the hoods capturing.
Why do kitchen exhaust fans fail so much sooner than other fans?
Because they run continuously in hot, grease-laden air. Grease accumulates on the impeller and unbalances it, which loads the bearings; the elevated air temperature degrades bearing grease and motor insulation at the same time. Fans specified for high-temperature duty, with accessible cleaning, last several times longer than general-purpose fans in the same position.
Axial or centrifugal fan for a kitchen hood?
Centrifugal, in nearly all real installations. An axial fan moves large volumes when there is very little resistance, but a kitchen duct with grease filters, a long run and several bends presents high static pressure, and an axial fan's airflow collapses against it. Backward-curved centrifugal fans hold their volume as resistance rises.

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