Commercial Kitchen HVAC Design Guidelines

Kitchen exhaust systems are made of a number of interdependent units. Exhaust hoods, exhaust fans, makeup air units, and packaged rooftop kitchen hood. HVAC (Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning) units need to operate within defined parameters to complement one another to maintain peak performance. In this blog post we’ll discuss complete commercial Kitchen HVAC design guidelines for Restaurants .

Ideally, an effective Kitchen exhaust system should get rid of:

• Heat
• particulate matter
• grease laden steam
• cooking vapors

Understanding basic HVAC Design for Commercial Kitchens

Basically, Heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) refers to simultaneous control of temperature, humidity, radiant energy, air motion and air quality. In addition to that, control of pressure in the conditioned space relative to adjacent areas is a requirement. HVAC load in a restaurant represents approximately 30 percent of its total energy consumption. Depending on the facility layout, the kitchen ventilation system can account for up to 50 percent of the HVAC load including fan energy. This represents one of the larger energy-consuming end uses within a commercial food service facility.

Additionally, an important factor is the noise level of the air conditioning equipment. For engineering purposes the definition extends to include the lowest life-cycle cost of conditioning the air by right-sizing of equipment to meet the particular application with the lowest operating and maintenance costs.

Since a major use of our energy on this planet goes toward conditioning the air that we breathe in the built environment we must place an emphasis on more sustainable, i.e., “green,” HVAC systems, that use less energy and include environmentally friendly methods and components to reduce the system’s impact on the world’s fuel supplies while providing healthy indoor environments.

Kitchen HVAC system design is an intellectual process, commonly involving teamwork and iteration, which leads to a device, system and/or process which satisfies a need.

Kitchen HVAC design goals

The goal of HVAC design has remained constant over the years: to efficiently provide safe, comfortable environments. However, the process continues to refine the codes in effect, requiring energy efficiency of both equipment and system operation and, most importantly, by occupant comfort, ventilation and air quality.

Exhaust Hoods

There is no piece of equipment that generates more controversy within the food service equipment supply and design community than the kitchen exhaust hood and design due to the variety of styles and makeup air combinations. Moreover, the style and construction features of the exhaust hood affect the design exhaust rate. The capacity of an exhaust hood is in cubic feet per minute (cfm). Here is the guide to choosing a Kitchen hood for your restaurant.

Ventilation and kitchen HVAC Design

The most important factor is that How much occupancy ventilation air is available for use as transfer air?

Successfully applying the fundamentals of restaurant commercial kitchen ventilation and fulfilling its requirements during the design process requires a good understanding of the owner’s menu and appliance preferences. Information about the owner’s kitchen equipment and commercial kitchen ventilation requirements may evolve over the course of the design phase. Moreover, Data needed by other members of the design team may require early estimates of certain parameters (e.g., the amount of exhaust and makeup air, motor horsepower, water supply and wastewater flow rates). As we proceed, further refinements to the design that affect exhaust and makeup air requirements come into play.

Also download Free ventilation guide for commercial Kitchens here.

Kitchen HVAC Design ideas:

• Load Calculations and Weather Conditions
• Plant design and construction.
• Special environmental conditions
• Redundant system and requirement

Also,

1. Minimize the number of fittings. — Fittings are expensive and cause significant increases in pressure loss in comparison to straight duct.
2. Use semi-extended plenums. — Plenums reduce the number of transition fittings and facilitate balancing.
3. Seal ductwork.