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Ventilation is the single most important factor in the design, construction, and operation of a commercial kitchen.

An exhaust hood is an air intake device connected to a fan that removes smoke, cooking vapors, grease, steam, heat, and odors that are made by cooking and ware washing equipment.

There are several different types of vent hood systems on the market, the most popular being the Type I Canopy hood. A canopy hood is basically a hood that is hung from the ceiling and covers all of the cooking equipment under it. None of the equipment can extend outside of the hood and there should be a minimum of 6" clearances to spare on each end of the hood. Canopy hoods used for cooking equipment will also have a "compensating hood", or fresh-air make-up hood around the perimeter of the canopy hood to bring fresh outside air back in to replace the exhaust air going out. Therefore, there are two integrated components to a kitchen ventilator hood - exhaust air and make-up air.

Below is from an actual service call:

I was dispatched out to do an air balance on a new vent hood at a new restaurant. The contractor bought the new vent hood from us but he had the installation done by someone else. Upon arrival we unpacked our electronic micro manometer instrument (which measures air flow in cfm's) and set it up to take our air flow readings. Readings are taken at each filter of the exhaust and at numerous locations across the make-up air to measure cfm's of each fan and measure the balance across the length of the hood. Several measurements are taken at each location and averaged together to get a more accurate average. Once the final figures are all put together we can analyze the air flow to see if both the exhaust air and the make-up air is actually balanced and flowing as it should.

Below is from an actual service call:

I was dispatched out to do an air balance on a new vent hood at a new restaurant. The contractor bought the new vent hood from us but he did the installation. Upon arrival we unpacked our electronic micro manometer instrument (which measures air flow in cfm's) and set it up to take our air flow readings. Readings are taken at each filter of the exhaust and at numerous locations across the make-up air to measure cfm's of each fan and measure the balance across the hood. Several measurements are taken at each location and averaged together to get a more accurate average. Once the final figures are all put together we can analyze the air flow to see if both the exhaust air and the make-up air is actually balanced and flowing as it should.

We at Jeans Restaurant Supply strive on superior sales and service and customer satisfaction.

We recently sold an ice machine to a car wash that has a drive-up ice and water dispenser vending machine next to his car wash. It has one ice machine and he wanted to add another one. His business was increasing and he need to step up his ice production. The building, the ice bin, and the remote unit framework where the outside condensing unit sits on the roof were originally designed and ready to accommodate two ice machines. Therefore, we sold him another ice machine to sit on the bin directly next to the other machine. The units were both Manitowoc CVD remote 2000 lb per day ice machines.

Here at Jeans Restaurant Supply we have our own in-house design team. We also have our own sheet metal fabrication shop that not only fabricates all the ductwork involved in the venthoods but we also design and manufacture our own UL approved hoods.

Once the contractor was able to remove any lighting, ceiling tiles, wiring, etc, that were going to be in the way of the new hoods our installation crew was able to come in and hang the hoods, make the necessary roof penetrations, install, seal, and insulate all ducting and exhaust and fresh air fans.

A customer of ours called and said one of their heat strips in the pass-thru window was hot heating up. When our technician arrived and found that it was not heating he turned off the breaker so he could get into the control box area where he could check component parts and look for any possible wiring issues. Once he had the control panel cover off he immediately saw two burnt wires that the plastic wire nut had melted off of. The wires feed out of the power switch and lead to the element.

One of the most important factors in the installation of almost any piece of restaurant equipment that is sitting on the floor, especially a walk-in freezer,is to make sure the floor where it is going to sit is level. So, the first thing we do is put a laser leveling device on the floor and make sure we are dealing with a floor that is sufficiently level to install our box on. I say "sufficiently" level because ideally the floor should be perfectly level. However, few floors are ever perfectly level. If the floor is very badly off level it may have to be repaired first. If it is slightly off we may be able to use shims to level the box.

We received a service call from a customer stating that they had a gas convection oven that wasn't heating up. When our technician arrived he was told that the oven sounds like everything is running but it just isn't heating. This convection oven is an electric ignition, gas operated oven. First thing he does is close the door and turn the controls to the on position. The blower motor starts but there was no ignition sound. This one is the type that has a spark igniter and he didn't hear it sparking. It's also the type that has an electronic temperature control with low volt sensor. The next thing he tried was to jumper the relay contacts to the temperature controller. This is a good test to see if there is a controller or sensor problem or possibly a spark ignition system problem in the igniter, flame switch, or spark ignition module.

A service call came in to our office from a customer stating that their electric cheesemelter was not heating at all. When our serviceman arrived he noticed one of the glass tube elements were broken and the coil on the inside of the glass tube was burnt in two. This particular machine has three elements, however, the way that its internally wired, when one element is burnt out none of them work. Therefore, no heat at all.

When he took off the brackets that hold the elements in place he noticed that one of the wires to an element was very frail and had burnt some of the insulation wrap from around it and left bare wire showing. These elements require special high temperature wire and ceramic wire nuts due to the extreme heat in the oven cavity.

A customer came in and told us he was renovating an old restaurant in a small beach resort town near us and he needed some advice and equipment for his renovation. Ben with our design team went to the location to analyze the building, kitchen and dining space so that we could figure out the customers particular needs, type of menu they're preparing, building construction type, etc. After his initial observation and measurements he is able to create a basic blueprint layout of the site and determine the physical fit of the restaurant equipment.