Restaurant & cafe HVAC
Restaurant & cafe HVAC in Al Sharafiyah
In Al Sharafiyah, central Jeddah, restaurants and cafés cluster in modern and mid-rise buildings with open or semi-open kitchens. Alrabih balances air pressure between kitchen and dining room, supplies make-up air to the hood, and keeps your guests cool and away from cooking smells.
- 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 Sharafiyah is a busy commercial zone along key roads, with many restaurants and cafés in relatively modern buildings with glass frontages and ventilation that needs careful balancing. The kitchen hood here runs hard to clear heat and moisture, but without proper airflow management it can pull dining-room air and spread cooking smells to customers. The modern building design allows extra ducting and make-up units to be added without structural disruption, and regular grease cleaning of the cooling coils is essential to keep the system flowing.
Al Sharafiyah lies in central Jeddah, a modern commercial zone with diverse restaurants and cafés in mid-rise buildings along main business streets.
Most restaurants and cafés here run multiple-indoor split systems paired with a powerful central extract hood in the kitchen.
The AC setup in Al Sharafiyah
- 1
Multi-indoor split system
Most Al Sharafiyah restaurants and cafés use one outdoor unit with several indoor units spread across the dining and entry areas.
- 2
Central extract hood with make-up air
The kitchen hood runs at high speed, and usually comes with a make-up air system that pulls clean air from outside to balance the pressure.
- 3
Additional cooling unit for kitchen air
Some restaurants add a small cooling unit to the make-up air line to cool the air entering the kitchen before it leaves via the hood.
Before the visit
Before our visit in Al Sharafiyah
- 1
Map out the kitchen and dining layout
Tell us about the kitchen and dining layout, where the hood and indoor units sit, so we can assess how to balance the pressure between them.
- 2
Confirm access to the external outlet
Check that the hood outlet and make-up air vent can be reached on the roof or external wall without obstruction.
- 3
Coordinate with restaurant management on operating hours
Schedule the visit during kitchen shutdown or before the first service, to avoid disrupting operations during service hours.
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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.
Kitchen smells keep drifting into our dining room, how do you fix that?
We balance air pressure between kitchen and dining space, and supply the hood with clean make-up air from outside so it does not pull air from the customer area.
The building is modern and tight for ductwork changes, can you work with that?
Modern Al Sharafiyah buildings typically allow extra ducting in the walls or suspended ceilings, and we assess the site first to find the best route.
Grease keeps building up in our cooling ducts, how often should we clean them?
In busy Al Sharafiyah kitchens, grease cleaning of coils and ducts should happen every two to three months depending on cooking volume.
How do we ensure the make-up air is clean and cool when it enters?
We fit a high-efficiency filter on the make-up air intake, and use a small cooling unit before the air reaches the kitchen so guests stay comfortable.
