Restaurant Mechanical Services In Southern California

The main reason a commercial exhaust hood is required in every restaurant is for the proper extraction of the smoke and heat created from cooking. The size and type of commercial cooking equipment used in a restaurant determine the size and power of the commercial exhaust hood needed. So every restaurant has its own specially designed kitchen to complete the level of cooking needed.

An interesting fact that many commercial kitchen owners may not know, is that the exhaust hood actually does more harm to the kitchen than good if the makeup air unit is not installed. The exhaust fan can remove so much air out of a building that new air cannot be introduced fast enough, this creates a negative pressure within the building. Negative pressure in a restaurant can cause many issues such as hard-to-open exterior doors, grease and dust stains, sewage smells, and a dirty eating environment. The makeup air unit is a vital piece of equipment in the restaurant because it introduces the amount of air the exhaust hood is removing, thus creating equal pressure in the building and preventing many unwanted problems. 

Technically, yes. A swamp cooler is a form of a makeup air unit, however here at Vortex Air we don’t typically refer them to one. We don’t refer to them as makeup air units because swamp coolers are not actually made to be in a commercial environment such as a restaurant, they are more of a residential cooling equipment and are not made to withstand the harsh environments of a commercial rooftop. A commercial-grade make-up air unit (such as the one in the picture above) is built exactly for a restaurant and can withstand the very harsh conditions of a commercial rooftop. Another silly reason we don’t use the term makeup air when referring to a swamp cooler is the majority don’t actually know the term “makeup air” and simply refer it to either a fan or swamper, so… we just decided to call them two different things.