Kitchen Ventilation Design – Get Your “Ducts” in a Row

March 26, 2021

Have you given the very heart of your cafe or raustanrant, specifically the kitchen ventilation system and equipment it services enough thought in terms of design and function?

Granted, a commercial kitchen ventilation system is not the most captivating feature, yet if you don’t invest time and attention to this vital piece of equipment during the design phase, you could be paying for it later.

Project management can be time-consuming and there is little room to make mistakes. That’s why your team will most likely include:

– An engineer who designs and specifies

– Contractor(s) who order, build, install and, commission the kitchen ventilation system; and

– The chef and his/her team that will be using (and relying on) the system daily

It would be easy to just leave the entire design and commissioning of the kitchen ventilation system to the engineer and contractor. After all, they do this for a living. DON’T….get involved and stay involved throughout the process. Why?

Ventilation Access is Everything

Each foodservice business is unique and so is each building. When designing and/or signing off on a kitchen ventilation system, therefore, one should always factor in the accessibility and cost of maintaining it.

Numerous regulations require commercial kitchen ventilation systems to be routinely checked and cleaned in their entirety. It is therefore vital that access panels are installed at regular intervals (and in adequate numbers) to meet compliance (i.e. AS 4254 and AS1668.1 in Australia).

At both the specification and installation stage, the designer and system owner/operator are jointly responsible when it comes to specifying the locations for, and sizes of, access panel installation. This ensures that, at the point of handover, full safe access for cleaning, inspection, and maintenance is achieved in line with the requirements of the Safe Design of Structures – Safe Work Australia. Full ‘as installed’ drawings should be documented and made available to you so that it assists inspection/cleaning/maintenance contractors among others well into the future.

Control Your Maintenance Costs

The style and design quality of your chosen kitchen ventilation system will have a significant impact on your routine maintenance costs. Every effort to design a successful commercial kitchen ventilation system can also become redundant if:

– You don’t protect your system from the start

– Your contracted duct cleaning professional cannot easily access all parts of the system; and

– You don’t have a tailored preventative maintenance schedule in place

Once your kitchen is in operation, the entire kitchen ventilation system will extract and accumulate grease and other particulates on the filters, hood, tracks, ducting, and fan. Without routine inspections and cleaning, the risk of fire and other food safety and work health issues increases dramatically. If access is not sufficient, you not only remain at risk, the downtime required to reach compliance will increase.

Cleaning and maintenance costs are unavoidable for any kitchen ventilation system. Owner/operators or facility managers need to clearly understand and factor in these costs and avoid the urge not to budget for this cost. You otherwise neglect your responsibilities when it comes to compliance, fire safety, and public health.

Routine cleaning and maintenance of the kitchen ventilation system enables efficient operation and also minimises the load on the fan, which reduces the risk of premature fan failure ($$$).

The First Line of Defence

An effective kitchen grease filter is the most undervalued component in kitchen ventilation systems, yet it is the first line of defense against hazardous grease accumulation. Choosing the right filter for your system is worth your time and investment because they trap airborne grease before it reaches the rest of the kitchen ventilation system. The right filters have the potential to reduce maintenance costs and help mitigate fire risk. An educated decision on this vital piece of equipment ensures that all other downstream elements can work at their optimum capacity, providing you with the most cost-effective, long-term results.

A traditional metal filter will remove between 20-40% of airborne grease that otherwise would end up contaminating the kitchen ventilation system. Yet 60-80% still bypasses the filter and this is where due diligence comes in. Technology and new innovations are always coming to the market so it’s always worthwhile to research the market. Shepherd Filters for example, can capture up to 98% of airborne grease, significantly reducing the cost and frequency of routine cleans as well as minimising the risk of fire, 365 days a year.