Commercial kitchen extraction
Commercial Kitchen Extraction Repair
What happens when commercial kitchen extraction fails?
When extraction stops in a commercial kitchen, cooking usually has to stop with it. Gas appliances are held off by the interlock, and heat and smoke build with nowhere to go. A gas safety check or an environmental health visit will record the fault. Most failures come down to the fan, the belt, the filters or the interlock rather than the ductwork itself.
Why has my extractor fan stopped working?
The symptom usually narrows it down before anyone opens a panel. These are the ones we get called to most:
| What you are seeing | What it usually is |
|---|---|
| Fan runs but the kitchen is filling with smoke | Airflow has dropped without the fan stopping. Usually loaded filters, a slipping belt, or a duct run that has closed up with grease. |
| Fan will not start at all | Motor, isolator, or the interlock holding it off. The interlock is worth ruling out first because it costs nothing to check. |
| Fan is running but the light is on and nothing else works | The control circuit is live while the fan circuit is not. Typically a contactor or an overload that has tripped. |
| Loud rattle or vibration that got worse over weeks | Bearings or impeller balance. This one is predictable, which means it can be caught on a service visit before it becomes a callout. |
| Fan will not switch off | A stuck contactor or a failed time clock. Left alone it runs the bearings down and puts the whole unit on the callout list. |
If the gas has cut out alongside the fan, that is the gas interlock doing its job. The fault it is reacting to is nearly always somewhere in the ventilation, which is the part we can put right.
Can I keep cooking while the extraction is down?
Where the kitchen runs gas appliances under mechanical ventilation, no. The interlock closes the gas supply precisely so that cooking cannot continue without proven extraction, and overriding it is not permitted.
An electric kitchen has more room to manoeuvre, but heat, smoke and the condition of the building’s fire risk assessment all still apply. It is a decision worth making with the actual fault in front of you rather than over the phone.
What does a repair callout cost?
Callouts in this trade start from around £199, with hourly work at £80 plus VAT. Whether the part is on the van makes the biggest difference to the final figure. After that it is access, since a roof-level unit takes longer to get to, and whether the visit has to happen outside service hours.
What we repair
- Extractor fans: motors, bearings, belts, impellers
- Gas interlock systems, pressure switches and CO₂ sensors
- Canopies: lighting, filter housings, seals
- Ductwork: damage, leaks, failed access panels
- Controls: contactors, isolators, time clocks, speed controllers
Our engineers are employed by us rather than sub-contracted. If a part has to be ordered, you will hear about it on the visit.
The gas side, meaning the solenoid valve and the gas train, is Gas Safe registered work and we do not carry it out. Everything the interlock is reacting to sits with us.
Emergency extractor fan repair when the kitchen is already down, and our 24/7 emergency line if you would rather call.