Commercial Rangehoods
Commercial range hoods are a critical component of any foodservice kitchen. All big kitchens are vulnerable to harmful odours, employee negligence, and fire hazards; however, a commercial kitchen hood can avoid most of these problems. They function at an industrial scale to keep the kitchen air clean and free from fire hazards. This is why every restaurant should consider getting their commercial extractor hood from ArchiPro.
- Fast food joints, BBQ, and 24-hour restaurants need to be cleaned monthly
- Cafeterias, hospital kitchens, hotels, and regular restaurants require cleaning every three months
- Oven hoods and pizza places need cleaning every six months
- Commercial rangehoods above non-grease creating appliances like dishwashers, soup vats, and steam kettles must be cleaned yearly
What Are Commercial Rangehoods?
Commercial rangehoods are designed explicitly for large-scale cooking environments and restaurants. They are made to endure heavy usage and can vent grease and heavy smoke out of mass-production foodservice kitchens.
A commercial kitchen hood can be sizable in length, spanning multiple ranges. Moreover, they usually are installed side-by-side above multiple stovetops to vent efficiently. Busy cooking operations like restaurants and fast food joints cook a lot of food during the day; therefore, a robust commercial extractor hood becomes necessary.
Furthermore, eateries are required by law to have these extraction canopies installed. It is imperative to have them in place if the kitchen utilizes commercial deep fryers.
2 Main Types Of Commercial Rangehoods
Commercial kitchen equipment requires ventilation, without which the kitchen can turn into a melting pot of fumes and gas. Primarily there are two main types of industrial range hoods for large-scale use:
1. Grease Hoods
Grease hoods can remove smoke, heat, condensation, and multiple other greasy by-products during cooking. They usually are installed above high grease-producing commercial cooktops like fry grills, BBQ, broilers, steam-jacketed kettles, etc.
They capture grease-contaminated air above the appliance before making its way outside through the air duct. Furthermore, they come with an MUA (make-up air) device to ensure that an adequate amount of fresh air circulates the kitchen/building, replacing the contaminated air.
Since this type of commercial kitchen canopy works directly with grease, it requires regular maintenance and cleaning to reduce the chances of grease fires.
2. Condensate Hoods
Condensate hoods are more of vapour and steam-removing commercial kitchen hoods. They are typically used to remove and collect vapour, odor, heat, steam, and moisture from kitchen appliances that cannot produce grease.
These commercial extraction canopies are primarily used for commercial dishwashers, coffee machines, non-conveying pizza ovens, and commercial ovens. They help create a more comfortable kitchen environment for chefs and workers by removing the excess heat from the atmosphere.
Moreover, condensate hoods do not contain a grease filter and are pretty simple to build.
Factors Affecting Choice Of Commercial Rangehoods
When installing a new commercial kitchen canopy, the most pressing aspect to consider is the kind of range hood that will suit the new design. There are multiple factors involved in choosing the right hood for a restaurant.
Ventilation Systems
Ventilation is an important aspect when it comes to choosing commercial rangehoods. There are multiple types of ventilation systems available, the most common being updraft, downdraft, and re-circulators. Both the updraft and downdraft ventilation systems effectively remove food odour heat from the kitchen, as the names suggest.
Updraft Systems
Updraft ventilation systems rely on the natural process of air rising to operate. However, they are quite expensive and require architectural changes in the existing wall space.
Downdraft Systems
The downdraft systems have multiple fans present to suck the air downwards. Even though they are inexpensive, they are quite noisy.
Re-Circulatory Ventilation Systems
Re-circulatory ventilation systems take less space than the other types, are quite cheap, and come in multiple unique designs. However, they have high maintenance costs, and their carbon filter requires frequent replacement.
Air Purity And Extraction Power
During cooking, the grease particles are dispersed in the kitchen’s atmosphere, affecting the dissipation time. The average cooking process releases around 5.4 kg of grease into the atmosphere, and this is multiplied when considering commercial kitchens.
The air purity of a commercial kitchen hood depends on its extraction power, normally measured in cubic meters per hour. Therefore, the greater the extraction power of a unit, the lesser airborne grease would be present, resulting in less cleaning.
Lighting
Lighting is mostly overlooked when it comes to choosing an industrial range hood. In the past, there was only a single bulb present in the commercial range hood, which meant less visibility. However, now there are multiple options involving LED and sensory lighting, which can adjust themselves accordingly.
Energy Efficiency
The commercial extractor hood is one of the most commonly used kitchen appliances in restaurants. Therefore, it is crucial to choose the one with the highest energy rating available. Modern commercial rangehoods come with a 7 to 8-star rating to start with. The higher the rating, the more expensive the range hood.
Why And When The Commercial Rangehoods Require Cleaning?
A commercial range hood develops excessive grease residue over time, depending on the type of food served at the restaurant. If a commercial kitchen canopy is not regularly cleaned, the build-up can cause the exhaust system to work inefficiently, resulting in improper filtration of dirty air.
All of this affects the workplace quality, and the quality of food served. Hence, a common practice for commercial rangehood cleaning is to perform deep-cleaning quarterly, depending on the workflow. Most commercial kitchen hoods that are built over commercial chargrills or wood-burning stoves require cleaning at least monthly.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, the frequency of cleaning for different types of restaurants are:
The requirements of a commercial kitchen define the type of rangehood suitable for that specific industrial kitchen setting. With a diverse range of commercial kitchen hoods available, ArchiPro is the go-to platform to find a hood for all types of applications.
If you need assistance to find the right commercial rangehoods for your home or office, ArchiPro provides a connection to the various professionals, ready to assist with all requirements and questions. Simply click "Contact supplier" on the product's page, or visit the supplier's website directly from the product's page.