A commercial ductless or recirculating kitchen extraction system is normally considered when a traditional duct route is difficult, restricted or not acceptable to the building owner. This may include listed buildings, basements, shopping centres, shared buildings, units with flats above, or premises where a fire-safe duct route to atmosphere is not practical.

Our commercial ductless canopy systems are designed to provide a controlled alternative to a conventional extract system by using staged filtration, fan control, equipment interlocks and monitoring. The aim is to give the landlord, builder, planning officer or environmental health officer clear technical information to review before a final design is agreed.

System Options

Control and Monitoring Options Explained

The optional control features are designed to make the system safer, easier to manage and harder to misuse. These options are especially useful where the system needs to be reviewed by a landlord, builder, planning consultant, environmental health officer or facilities manager.

Multi-Stage Filtration

The system can be configured with staged filtration depending on the cooking load and site requirements. A typical arrangement may include grease baffle filtration, pre-filtration, fine filtration, carbon filtration and optional additional odour or smoke treatment.

This staged approach helps protect the internal filters, reduce airborne contamination, improve odour control and make maintenance easier. The correct filter arrangement should be selected against the cooking equipment, cooking volume, airflow rate and risk level.

Filter Defeat Protection

One of the biggest risks with recirculating or pollution control systems is poor maintenance or filters being removed by staff to keep the kitchen running. Our optional filter defeat protection system is designed to reduce that risk.

The system can detect whether key filters are correctly fitted. If a required filter is missing, incorrectly seated or removed, the control system can stop the fan, display a warning and prevent selected cooking equipment from operating through the interlock circuit.

This helps protect the kitchen operator, landlord and neighbouring properties by reducing the chance of the system being used without the correct filtration in place.

Cooking Equipment Interlock

The unit can be supplied with an electrical interlock so that selected cooking equipment only operates when the ventilation system is running correctly.

Depending on the project, the interlock can monitor fan running status, airflow proving, filter presence, filter pressure condition, emergency stop status, service lockout and general system fault status.

For electric cooking equipment, the interlock can be arranged to isolate or inhibit selected appliances if the ventilation system is not available. For gas cooking equipment, the final gas interlock design must be reviewed and coordinated by a competent gas engineer.

Display Panel and User Interface

The optional display panel gives the kitchen operator a simple visual status of the system. This makes the unit easier to manage day-to-day and helps staff understand why cooking equipment may not operate if the ventilation system is not ready.

• System on/off status
• Fan speed indication
• Filter status
• Filter missing warning
• Filter change warning
• Airflow or pressure fault
• Service due warning
• Interlock active/inactive status
• Alarm history
• Engineer/service menu

Optional Remote Telemetry

For higher-risk sites, multi-site operators or landlords who want additional visibility, optional remote telemetry can be added.

Remote monitoring can help track fan run hours, filter condition, filter alarms, airflow or pressure faults, system lockouts, service due alerts, fault history and maintenance attendance records.

This can provide useful evidence that the system is being used and maintained correctly, especially where the landlord, managing agent or operator wants a documented maintenance trail.

Technical Pack for Landlords, Builders or Planning

If a landlord, builder, planning consultant, building control officer or environmental health officer needs more information, we can prepare a project-specific technical pack.

• Proposed system layout
• Airflow duty
• Filter schedule
• Control and interlock description
• Access and maintenance requirements
• Electrical requirements
• Noise control options
• Odour control explanation
• Service and filter replacement schedule
• Full recirculation, hybrid or filtered discharge options
• Notes for builder or M&E contractor

Compliance-Led Design

A ductless commercial kitchen system should be designed around the actual cooking process. The airflow rate, capture area, filtration method, heat load, odour risk, maintenance access, fire strategy and interlock arrangement all need to be considered.

Our systems can be designed with reference to recognised commercial kitchen ventilation principles, including DW/172 and relevant parts of BS EN 16282 where applicable. The final installation should always be checked against the cooking equipment, building layout, fire strategy, gas or electrical installation, planning conditions and landlord requirements.

Key Questions Before Choosing a System

• What cooking equipment will be installed?
• Is the equipment gas or electric?
• Is frying, chargrilling, wok cooking or solid fuel involved?
• Is external discharge completely prohibited or only restricted?
• Is the main issue landlord approval, planning, odour, noise, fire route or cost?
• Is there any route to discharge heat or steam separately?
• Where can filters be accessed safely for maintenance?
• Who will be responsible for filter changes?
• Does the landlord require proof of maintenance?
• Does planning or environmental health need an odour or noise statement?