Kitchen ventilation is the branch of ventilation that specialises in the treatment of air from kitchens. Kitchen ventilation presents the problems of grease, smoke and odours not usually found in other ventilation systems.
Equipment used in kitchen ventilation uses an extractor hood or canopy and a filtering system. The fan for the ventilation system may be located within the kitchen or in the duct system nearby.
An adequate kitchen ventilation system should achieve the following objectives:
remove cooking fumes at the source, i.e. as close to the cooking equipment as possible
remove excess hot air and introduce incoming cool clean air so that a comfortable environment is achieved. Inadequate ventilation can cause stress, contributing to unsafe systems of work and high staff turnover.
ensure that the air movement in the kitchen does not cause discomfort
provide sufficient air for complete combustion at fired appliances, and prevent the risk of carbon monoxide accumulating
be easy to clean, avoiding the build-up of fat residues and blocked air inlets which lead to loss of efficiency and increase risk of fire
be quiet and vibration free
The main factors that need to be taken into account when designing a kitchen ventilation system are:
workload of the kitchen
amount, type and power of cooking equipment used
layout and shape of the kitchen
number of staff working in the kitchen
the need for easy cleaning and maintenance
energy efficiency
some cooker hoods now use the recirculation method, which cleans the air and puts it back into the kitchen. This method is used if there is no way to push the air outside through a chimney system from the cooker canopy.
The most common types of grease filters used in professional kitchens are:
Water-based
Cyclonic
Ultraviolet (UV)
TurboSwing
The general parameters of what is considered comfortable in a kitchen are:
Temperature: 20 °C in the winter and 28 °C in the summer, with a maximum difference with the outside temperature of 6 °C
Relative humidity: approximately 70%
Air velocity: less than 0.5 m/s (0.3 m/s in refrigerated areas)
