Commercial kitchens are the most demanding HVAC environment in any building. We design, install, and service the ventilation, exhaust, and makeup air systems that keep your kitchen safe, code-compliant, and cool enough to work in.
A commercial kitchen generates enormous heat, grease-laden vapor, combustion byproducts, and odors — simultaneously. The ventilation system has to capture all of it at the hood, exhaust it safely, and replace it with enough fresh, conditioned makeup air to keep staff comfortable and the kitchen operational.
Get it wrong and you face: fire risk from grease accumulation, negative pressure that prevents gas appliances from drafting properly, an uncomfortable kitchen that's hard to staff, and health department failures. Get it right and your kitchen runs cleaner, safer, and cheaper.
Maintenance Plus has designed, installed, and maintained commercial kitchen ventilation systems for three decades across Chattanooga and the Tennessee Valley. We know the codes, the physics, and the practical reality of what it takes to keep a kitchen running.
Every fryer, range, and oven adds heat and grease vapor to the kitchen air. Proper hood capture velocity and grease filtration keep it under control.
The kitchen must be slightly negative to prevent odors migrating to dining areas — but not so negative that it interferes with gas appliance combustion.
NFPA 96 and local fire codes govern commercial kitchen ventilation. We design and maintain systems that pass inspection — every time.
The exhaust hood is where kitchen ventilation starts. It has to be sized correctly for the cooking equipment below it, positioned at the right height, and moving the right volume of air to capture heat and grease effectively.
We service and install Type I hoods (for cooking equipment that produces grease-laden vapor) and Type II hoods (for heat and steam). We can also evaluate an existing hood's performance if you're not getting the capture you expect.
A kitchen exhaust system moves hundreds or thousands of CFM of air out of the building. That air has to come from somewhere. Without a proper makeup air unit, it comes from wherever it can get in — often through door gaps, HVAC returns, and around equipment, creating:
A properly designed makeup air system supplies tempered, filtered replacement air directly to the kitchen — matched to the exhaust volume, positioned to support hood capture, and conditioned to avoid shocking the kitchen with extreme hot or cold air in Tennessee's seasonal extremes.
We size, select, install, and service makeup air units, and we'll balance your system so the exhaust and supply are working together — not against each other.
Building a new restaurant or renovating a kitchen? Get the ventilation right from the start — it's much harder to fix after the walls are up.
We work with your architect, contractor, and equipment dealer from the early design phase. We calculate heat loads, CFM requirements, duct routing, and equipment selection before a single hole is cut.
Beyond the hood system, the kitchen itself needs to be cooled — a challenge given the enormous heat load. We design supplemental cooling strategies that actually work in working kitchens.
Health department and fire marshal inspections are a recurring reality for food service operators. We help you stay ready — and we can respond quickly when an inspection finding requires corrective action.
Kitchen ventilation systems have unique maintenance requirements — especially around grease management. NFPA 96 mandates inspection and cleaning schedules based on cooking volume and type, and those schedules are enforced by your local fire marshal.
Our kitchen system PM program keeps you compliant, keeps your system performing, and gives you documented records for inspection — so there are no surprises.
Grease filter cleaning or exchange for high-volume operations. Visual inspection of duct access panels.
Full exhaust system inspection for moderate-volume kitchens. Fan belt and motor check, makeup air filter service.
Full NFPA 96 compliant inspection and cleaning. Full system balancing check. Inspection report documentation.
Talk to us before construction starts. Getting the ventilation right from day one saves money and headaches.