Commercial Kitchen Ventilation Basics

In our age of ultra-specialization, it can sometimes be tempting in the restaurant business to home in on the latest technological advances and the more attention-grabbing tweaks to machines. Which is why, every now and then, it’s good to get back to fundamentals. 

Here’s an overview of what every restaurant kitchen should have when it comes to commercial ventilation:

As with any major job or task, it’s vital to get the right tools for the job…tools which are also right for the people who are performing the work.

To begin with, take a good hard look at the kinds of Hoods you will need. Yes, hoods – as in more than one. Unless yours is a very specialized or small-scale operation you will likely need more than one hood to adequately trap grease, soot and exhaust. There are, in fact, two types of hoods – one to deal with heat exhaust and the other to handle grease exhaust. Research and shop accordingly.

The hoods can’t do it all by themselves, however. You will also need Exhaust Fans to move air out and away from critical areas.

And what happens when a fan moves air out of a room without provision being made for bringing air back in? An imbalance of air pressure – the same situation that occurs when you desperately try to open a door to your bank on a severely windy day. The pressure balance is simply out of whack. To remedy this, you need to address makeup air – installing and running Makeup Fans to literally “make up” for the air your exhaust fan is sucking out of your kitchen, helping to keep your kitchen smoke free.

Perform an Internet search for restaurant kitchen fire and you will discover that cooking is the leading cause of restaurant fires – typically due to grease buildup in areas that haven’t been cleaned as often as they should. You will naturally want to arm yourself with a Fire Suppression system. Remember that, as a leading manufacturer of restaurant ventilation equipment, Hood Mart can install your fire suppression system right in our own factory as part of the process of fabricating your restaurant hoods.

What could be safer – and easier – that that?