Restaurant & cafe HVAC
Restaurant & cafe HVAC in Al Safa
In Al Safa, central Jeddah, restaurants and cafes mix with residential and office blocks in tall, closely built structures. We balance kitchen ventilation with the dining space and supply the hood with make-up air, so guests sit comfortable away from steam and cooking odours.
- 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 Safa is dense and mixed-use, restaurants and cafes occupy middle floors of tall residential and commercial buildings, sometimes ground level with shared facades. This means the ventilation must pull cooking steam and odour strongly from the kitchen without drafting air from neighbouring flats or sending kitchen smells into them. Metal ducts and outlets need careful design to avoid noise and odour seeping across buildings.
Al Safa sits in central Jeddah, a dense district of tall buildings mixing residential, commercial and office use.
Al Safa restaurants are often on middle or ground floors with limited exhaust outlets and need strong extraction without affecting adjacent buildings.
The AC setup in Al Safa
- 1
Kitchen hood with noise and odour containment
Al Safa restaurants in dense residential buildings need strong sound dampening and odour barriers on the hood.
- 2
Separate, safe water drainage system
Humidity from a kitchen surrounded by flats needs independent, insulated drain lines to prevent shared moisture seeping.
- 3
High rooftop exhaust outlet
Ducts extend high above the roof to distance hot, greasy air from neighbouring flats.
Before the visit
Before our visit in Al Safa
- 1
Tell us about any existing exhaust outlet
If there's an old or shared outlet, tell us where it is and its condition so we can decide whether to use it or need a separate one.
- 2
Confirm roof and kitchen access
We need safe access to the roof to run ducts and the outlet, and to the kitchen to measure the hood and inlets.
- 3
Coordinate with building management on the outlet
Building management may need approval for the outlet and external ducts, confirm this before we visit.
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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.
My restaurant is surrounded by residential flats, how do you stop cooking smells reaching them?
We fit exhaust outlets high on the roof with long, insulated ducts, and position the outlet away from neighbouring flats' air intakes.
Space is tight and the kitchen is small, how do you handle ventilation here?
We use compact, efficient hoods and multi-route slim ducts, designing the system to fit the available space without breaching the room's limits.
Does kitchen heat and humidity affect the flat above?
Yes, if the outlet is close to the flat above, moisture can reach it, so we run separate water drainage and position the air outlet away from shared walls.
The kitchen hood noise bothers the neighbours, can you reduce it?
We fit acoustic insulation on ducts and the hood, and choose units with low noise levels suited to residential areas.
