Fume Hood Certification for Laboratories & Commercial Kitchens in Bountiful, UT
When used properly, fume hoods prevent explosions and fires, control and contain vapors, and help keep people in the laboratory or commercial kitchens healthy and safe.
Over time, however, even the best fume hoods can become less effective. Make sure you are providing a safe environment for your employees by getting your restaurant/kitchen or laboratory fume hoods tested regularly by a certified technician from Hi-Efficiency Systems. We offer fume hood testing and certification for commercial kitchens as well as laboratories.
Commercial Kitchen Fume Hoods
Commercial grade culinary kitchen hoods are the most important part of your kitchen’s ventilation. Typically made of stainless steel, these hoods are specifically designed to exhaust everything from cooking odors and heat to oil and grease vapors, keeping your kitchen more comfortable and safe.
There are 2 main types of kitchen hoods:
Type 1: The first type of commercial kitchen fume hood is used to ventilate appliances that emit grease and smoke, such as cooktops, fryers, grills and griddles. They include features like removable baffles that catch and store condensed oil and grease. These baffles help reduce the risk of fires and help reduce damage to the rest of your HVAC system.
Type 2: The second type is used as a ventilation system to remove heat and moisture that is produced by appliances such as a dishwasher, steam table or pasta cooker.
Why Do Commercial Kitchen Fume Hoods Need Testing and Balancing?
Whether you have one or both types of hoods in your kitchen, you need to ensure that they are doing their job and that your kitchen is a safe and comfortable place to work.
Kitchen hoods that are working improperly can allow heat and smoke to escape and fill the kitchen area. Not only is this uncomfortable for cooks and everyone else in the kitchen, it is also unsafe and unhealthy.
When a kitchen hood has not been balanced, there is a high chance that it may be exhausting too much or too little air. In the case that it’s exhausting too much air, the air changes per hour in the kitchen can cause drafts to blow across the food. Air blowing over prepared food can cause the food to cool down prematurely as well as increase the chance that contaminants land on the food and work surface. Both scenarios are potentially unsafe and can cause very unhappy customers!
Another reason to be careful about a kitchen that is too negatively pressured is that when a door is opened to the outside, air will rush into the space bringing along dirt, dust, insects and harmful contaminants.
Also, included with most exhaust hoods is a make-up-air system (MAU). This is a mechanical system, much like an RTU. It resupplies the air taken out of the space by the fume hood. Your hood and this make-up-air system run simultaneously to ensure that the space is neither too negative nor too positively pressured.
The testing of your culinary exhaust hood also involves the test and balance of the associated make-up-air unit. This will ensure a proper and completed balance of your exhaust hood, allowing your mechanical system to run at its most efficient levels.
What Does Commercial Kitchen Fume Hood Testing Include?
A test of your kitchen fume hood includes:
Air Velocity Tests of Baffles/Outlet– This measurement is taken and then converted to cubic feet per minute to better compare to other readings.
Air Velocity Tests of MAU- This measurement is crucial in order to compare the volume of air entering and leaving the space as relating to pressures. Adjusting the MAU is one way to balance a fume hood.
Visual Smoke Test- This test gives a good representation of how the hood is actually performing in regards to exhausting smoke.
Having a restaurant fume hood that works properly is important on so many levels — from keeping prepared food warm to providing a more sanitary, smoke-free environment. You can make sure your restaurant is doing its best to provide high quality service and excellent, healthy food by making sure that your kitchen’s hoods are tested and balanced.
Laboratory Fume Hood Balancing and Testing
In a laboratory, chemical fume hoods are a fundamental instrument in controlling exposure. Fume hoods are typically separate from the building’s main HVAC system and therefore require extra attention.
Why does this type of equipment require routine testing?
When your daily operations include the use of toxic or potentially dangerous compounds, lab hoods must be able to protect the user by properly ventilating the harmful gases. Testing and balancing them can ensure that they are functioning the way they are supposed to.
How often is fume hood testing needed?
According to OSHA and ASHRAE 110, the fume hoods in your laboratory should be tested at least once a year, minimum. Fume hoods, biosafety cabinets, exhaust hoods and laminar flow hoods are all under the same umbrella of laboratory grade hoods and must be tested accordingly.
What does lab fume hood testing check for?
Performance testing is essential to prove the effectiveness of your laboratory grade fume hood. During these tests we confirm that your hood is performing to the ASHRAE/ANSI Standard 110 of arrest, containment and removal of fumes.
Our laboratory fume hood testing includes:
Locally Applied Smoke Visualization Test– Using smoke to provide a qualitative analysis of exposure control.
Hot Wire Anemometer Velocity Test– With a calibrated instrument, velocities are taken with a partially open sash (normally 18 inches). This verifies the quantitative flow of exhaust that can then be converted to a cubic foot measurement.
Keep Your Commercial Kitchen or Lab Safer with Fume Hood Testing & Certification
At Hi-Efficiency Systems, we are well versed in the testing of fume hoods. It is our job to ensure that your hoods are working to the highest standards and that your people are safe. Please contact us today to set up testing and balancing of your commercial kitchen fume hoods or your lab’s fume hoods.