Food Service & Hospitality Industries Proper Planning For Ventilation Systems
No doubt about it when it comes to ventilation and venting systems there are no shortage of vent hood types or options. Still when it comes down to function and functionality certain basic functions and considerations come into play. It all comes down in the end to a number of factors - specific use and needs, logistics and often cost.
When completing the workup for ventilation exhaust systems always remember that if the system is substandard and shortcuts are made for ease or cost - that it is no bargain in the end. After completion the whole exercise may be termed a waste and new management or owners may have to redo the whole system again - in addition to removal of the older system along with inconvenience and other costs. For example some time ago, and before the anti-tobacco stop smoking in public places craze - a donut shop chain opened up. Even though they did what they thought was a thorough workup job, a substandard ventilation system was planned for and installed. You would have thought that just the sight of customers and patrons smoking with their cup of coffee would have alerted the planners and designers to the need for more than basic ventilation system workup as part of their planning. Perhaps it was in retrospect was that the experience of their competitors led those firms to overcompensate with more than overcapacity of exhaust ventilation and that the crew doing the heating and cooling system planning did not notice the cigarette smoke fumes - as they had been reduced and eliminated to a low concentration due to the large scale systems in place.
Regardless the competitive donut shop group plowed ahead. The results were that even if staff at the donut shops propped open the front and rear doors with chairs - that you would of that the donut shop was in the middle of a major forest fire with plumes of smoke in the air. As a result the restaurants were not inviting to patrons, they stayed away. In addition winter heating and summer air conditioning costs were way above projections. In the end the chain packed up shop and closed.
In the end when dealing with heating and ventilation exhaust system planning and forethought are key.
