Restaurant & cafe HVAC
Restaurant & cafe HVAC in Al Rabwah
In Al Rabwah, central Jeddah's growing restaurant and café sector demands precise air balance between kitchen and dining room. Our HVAC system removes cooking odours and keeps guests cool away from kitchen fumes.
- Pressure balance
- Make-up air
- Coil protection
Clients We're Proud to Serve
Organisations and companies that trusted Alrabih with their projects.
When your restaurant needs a specialist
- 1
Kitchen smells reaching diners
When the extract hood pulls out more air than is replaced, the kitchen goes negative and draws air from the dining room, bringing smells with it. The answer is calculating the volumes and delivering make-up air close to the hood.
- 2
Dining room stays warm despite the AC
A full dining room in Jeddah's humid summer raises heat and moisture load noticeably. Design must account for peak occupancy, and the right diffuser layout achieves even cooling across tables, not cold near the duct and warm in the corners.
- 3
Repeated breakdowns in kitchen AC units
Grease vapour from the burners settles on evaporator coils and blocks airflow, raising pressure and stressing the compressor. Placing the unit away from grease currents and scheduling coil cleaning reduces this damage significantly.
Who it's for
Opening a new restaurant that needs a full HVAC system
We design the cooling and make-up air system from scratch to match your kitchen and dining layout before you open.
Ask on WhatsAppYour restaurant is running but smells are reaching the tables
We survey the existing system, measure pressure between kitchen and dining, then correct the fault by adding make-up air or adjusting the air balance.
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What the work covers
- Kitchen and dining pressure survey
- Make-up air for hood
- Diffuser layout for dining
- Ductwork to SMACNA standards
- Air balance commissioning
How we work
How we work
- 1
Site and kitchen survey
We visit, measure the spaces, review the existing extract hood and burner positions, and find where negative pressure is occurring before any design work.
- 2
Design and equipment selection
We design the make-up air and cooling systems together, and select units from Carrier, YORK, General, Midea, Gree or Smart Gold to suit the space and the load.
- 3
Duct fabrication and installation
We fabricate ducts in our workshop from G90 galvanised sheet to precise sizes, install the units, and run Mueller copper in runs of up to 30 metres without welded joints, insulated with Armaflex.
- 4
Balancing and handover
We run the system and adjust dampers until the kitchen sits at slight negative and the dining room at slight positive, confirming that doors open easily and no kitchen smell crosses to the guests.
Integrated design or separate units with no balance?
| Alrabih | The usual way | |
|---|---|---|
| Make-up air | Calculated and delivered to the hood | Usually not addressed |
| Dining pressure | Slight positive, no smell transfer | Negative, pulls kitchen air in |
| Coil protection | Unit placed away from grease | Repeated breakdowns |
| Cooling spread | Diffusers sized for full occupancy | Uneven, warm corners |
| Kitchen ductwork | Fabricated in-house from G90 sheet | Off-the-shelf sizes, poor fit |
Everything your AC needs, from one team
From system design and duct fabrication to installation, commissioning and maintenance.
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Some of our work
Ductwork, rooftop units and diffusers, from work we've completed in Jeddah.
Customer reviews
What our customers say
- Muhammadramzan 2641
“MashaaAllah. Services are so good. Behaviour and kindness 100/100. Prices are less then Market. Fully recommended”
- shahzeb armani
“Wow. Prices are so comfortable. Outstanding services. People are so talented and nice”
- Tawfik AlyawerLocal Guide
“U can find all u need for air conditioning”
Your satisfaction matters to us! If you had a great experience with us, we'd love a 5-star rating and a kind review.
Worked with us? Leave a reviewService areas
We come to you anywhere in Jeddah
From Al Shiraa and Al Yaqout in the north to Al Thaghr and Al Quraiyat in the south, with our base in Al Aziziyah.
What sets this district apart
Al Rabwah hosts medium-sized restaurants and hotels with integrated kitchens in relatively modern buildings, and the space layout allows for central HVAC with separate air runs. This makes it easier to supply make-up air directly to the kitchen hood and isolate cooking air from the dining room, but it demands precise pressure-balance design between the two zones to prevent door slamming and smell leakage.
Al Rabwah, in central Jeddah, is a modern hotel and restaurant zone with multi-storey buildings and regular space layout.
Most Al Rabwah restaurants use central HVAC with separate kitchen and dining ducts, and high-capacity kitchen hoods.
The AC setup in Al Rabwah
- 1
Central system with separate ducts
Modern Al Rabwah restaurants benefit from separate kitchen and dining ducts, allowing precise pressure balance and complete cooking air isolation.
- 2
Kitchen hood with direct make-up air supply
The powerful hood needs direct make-up air from outside or the HVAC system to prevent air being pulled from the dining room and door slamming.
- 3
Coils protected from grease and oils
Grease traps in the kitchen ducts protect the cooling coils from oil buildup that reduces efficiency and cooling output.
Before the visit
Before our visit in Al Rabwah
- 1
Provide a layout of the kitchen and dining room
Send us a layout or photo showing the kitchen and dining room positions and the doors between them, so we can calculate pressure balance and required ducts.
- 2
Identify the outdoor unit and duct locations
Make sure there is space on the roof or exterior wall for the outdoor unit and a clear path for extraction ducts from the kitchen.
- 3
Tell us the daily operating and closing times
Knowing the restaurant's operating hours helps us schedule the visit and testing in a way that does not disrupt service times.
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FAQ
Questions about Restaurant & cafe HVAC
What is the difference between make-up air and kitchen air conditioning?
Make-up air replaces the volume the hood extracts, its purpose is pressure balance not necessarily cooling. Kitchen air conditioning tackles burner heat and lowers temperature for the staff. Both may be needed, and the site survey determines which your kitchen requires.
Do outdoor seating areas need a different approach in Jeddah?
Yes. In Jeddah's heat and humidity, fans alone are not enough during peak months. The right option depends on whether the space has an open roof or a partial enclosure and how large the area is. We assess the spot and propose suitable units after the survey.
How are AC coils protected from kitchen grease?
The first step is design: we position kitchen units in airflow paths away from the grease rising off the burners. In preventive maintenance contracts we schedule pressure coil cleaning before build-up raises stress on the compressor, because early cleaning is simpler and less costly than a repair.
Can existing ductwork in an operating restaurant be repaired or does it need replacing?
The decision follows a duct inspection: we look for air leaks, grease build-up inside, and sheet corrosion from Jeddah's salty air. If the structure is sound we seal joints with Foster sealants and re-insulate with Kimmco. If not, we fabricate new sections in our workshop and replace the damaged runs.
Does a packed dining room during peak season affect how the AC performs?
Yes, every person in the room adds heat and moisture, and this is significant in Jeddah's summer. Design therefore accounts for full occupancy load, not average attendance, and diffusers are positioned to deliver even cooling across all tables. The exact layout is confirmed after the site survey.
How do you stop cooking smells reaching the dining room?
We install separate extraction ducts from the kitchen with powerful hoods vented directly outside, and balance air pressure between the zones to push odours out rather than let them leak into the dining room.
My restaurant is in a building with residential floors above, does that change the design?
Yes, we must fully separate the kitchen system from any shared air serving the residential flats, to prevent cooking odours and smoke entering the building.
Kitchen heat is heavy, does that affect the AC efficiency?
Yes, kitchens need extra cooling capacity, so we recommend a separate cooling zone for the kitchen and chilled make-up air to balance the heat and reduce load on the dining room system.
Do grease and oils damage the AC coils in a restaurant?
Yes, grease builds up on the coils and reduces cooling, so we install grease traps in the kitchen ducts and schedule regular coil cleaning.
