Restaurant & cafe HVAC
Restaurant & cafe HVAC in Obaid
In Obaid, south Jeddah, restaurant and café HVAC requires balancing air pressure between the kitchen and dining room to prevent cooking odours reaching customers. Alrabih designs a ventilation system that matches the kitchen extract hood's speed with fresh-air supply, ensuring guest comfort.
- 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
Obaid has small to medium restaurants and cafés with residential areas nearby, and most establishments sit in older or mid-age buildings with kitchens open onto the dining floor. That layout causes airflow problems without proper pressure balancing, as a strong extract hood pulls air from the dining room and carries cooking vapours and odours to the tables. We need a carefully designed ductwork and fresh-air supply layout here to isolate food odours from customers.
Obaid is in the south, a mixed-use district of shops, restaurants and residential flats at moderate density.
Most small restaurants and cafés here rely on one or two kitchen extract hoods without a separate pressure-balancing system.
The AC setup in Obaid
- 1
Pressure-balanced system with kitchen extract and fresh-air intake
A strong extract hood above the stove and grill pulls vapours, while a separate supply system feeds fresh air to the dining room to balance pressure.
- 2
Dining-room cooling with kitchen isolation
Cooling units in the dining room run at higher capacity due to the kitchen heat load, with sound-insulated ducts to reduce extract hood noise.
- 3
Grease filters and safe condensate drain
Cleanable grease filters above the stove block fat from entering the ducts, and drain lines run to the sewer away from the kitchen.
Before the visit
Before our visit in Obaid
- 1
Show us the kitchen and dining layout
Send a photo or sketch showing the kitchen layout with stove, grill, dining floor and the roof or rear courtyard where the unit could sit.
- 2
Confirm roof or courtyard access
Outdoor units and ducts need safe access to the roof or rear courtyard, so check that there are no obstacles or legal restrictions.
- 3
Focus on air and vapour flow
Before the visit, note where cooking odours currently drift and where you want them to go; this helps us plan the duct route correctly.
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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.
The kitchen sits right next to the dining floor; how do we isolate the smell?
We design ducts that extract vapours directly above the stove and grill, and balance pressure by supplying fresh air to the dining room so air does not flow from the tables toward the kitchen.
The old building is tight; where do we run the ducts and place the outdoor unit?
We survey the building first to map the shortest duct route along the ceiling or walls, and the outdoor unit goes to the roof or rear courtyard away from the main street.
Does kitchen humidity affect the dining-room cooling?
Yes, hot vapours and moisture from cooking increase the cooling load, so we choose coils and compressors with higher capacity, and drain condensate from the kitchen quickly.
Cooking grease clogs the ducts; how often do we clean them?
Ducts above the stove accumulate grease, so we install removable recirculating filters and periodic cleaning helps maintain performance.
