Restaurant & cafe HVAC
Restaurant & cafe HVAC in Al Jamea
In Al Jamea, central Jeddah, modern restaurants and cafés need precise air-pressure balance between kitchen and dining room. Alrabih designs an HVAC system that pulls cooking fumes and odours away from the kitchen and balances airflow so guests stay cool and comfortable.
- 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 Jamea holds restaurants and cafés spread through relatively modern buildings with open or semi-open kitchens facing the dining halls. The newer building stock here has larger spaces and higher ceilings, but the high customer density and adjacent kitchens leak odours and steam if the air balance is not precise. The cooling system here must extract kitchen air with enough force to prevent fumes from drifting to diners, but without creating a draft that disturbs guests or forces doors open roughly.
Al Jamea is in central Jeddah, home to restaurants and cafés in newer buildings with high ceilings and open kitchens.
Most restaurants here use multi-head split units or central HVAC systems to cover both the large dining halls and kitchens together.
The AC setup in Al Jamea
- 1
Multi-head split with central extraction
Most Al Jamea restaurants use multi-head split units to cool the dining space with a separate extraction system for the kitchen.
- 2
Extract hood over the open kitchen
Open kitchens need a powerful extract hood mounted directly above the cooking line to capture steam and odours before they spread.
- 3
Fresh air supply to the dining room
Fresh air supply to the dining space balances the kitchen extraction and prevents negative pressure that would pull kitchen odours toward diners.
Before the visit
Before our visit in Al Jamea
- 1
Pinpoint the kitchen and storage location
Tell us where the main kitchen and any storage area sit and what ventilation openings exist now so we size the extraction and supply correctly.
- 2
Clarify the building entrances and main doors
The number of entrances and doors between the dining area and kitchen affects pressure balance, so share the interior layout before our visit.
- 3
Confirm routes for ductwork through ceilings and walls
We need to know if there are existing ducts or ceiling cavities to run extraction and supply ductwork without disrupting the interior.
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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 open kitchen sends odours to the diners, how do you fix this?
We install a powerful extraction point directly above the kitchen and regulate the air pressure to pull steam and odour away, while supplying fresh air to the dining room simultaneously.
Doors open and close with force, does the cooling system cause that?
Yes, if the kitchen extraction is stronger than the supply to the dining room, it creates a pressure difference that slams doors. We balance the system to prevent this.
The kitchen is much hotter than the dining room, is that normal?
In restaurants, the kitchen radiates heat from ovens and stoves, but strong extraction lessens this gap. We design the extraction to balance heat as much as possible.
The condenser coils get clogged fast from kitchen grease, how do you protect them?
We install grease filters ahead of the condenser and include them in our regular maintenance cycle to stop grease from clogging the coils.
