22 Jun 2026 · Design & Build
For most commercial kitchens in Singapore, a backward-curved centrifugal fan is the right exhaust fan — it handles grease-laden air, high static pressure and continuous operation better than axial alternatives. We size and select the correct type based on your cooking load, duct run and hood design.
The short answer is this: the exhaust fan is the heart of your kitchen ventilation system, and choosing the wrong type means poor airflow, grease build-up, compliance headaches and — in the worst cases — a fire risk. We get calls about underperforming systems all the time, and a surprising number trace back to the wrong fan being fitted in the first place. So let us walk you through what we actually see in the field and how we think about fan selection for commercial kitchens.
A commercial kitchen exhaust fan is not moving clean air. It is moving hot, moisture-laden, grease-laden air — sometimes for twelve or sixteen hours a day, seven days a week. That changes everything about how the fan needs to be built and selected.
The fan has to cope with:
A fan that performs fine in an air-handling unit or a carpark will fail quickly — or perform badly from day one — in a kitchen exhaust role. We stock and fabricate our own MV fans and motor assemblies specifically for this environment, which is why we are fussy about fan type selection before anything goes on site.
This is what we fit in the overwhelming majority of commercial kitchen exhaust applications — restaurants, hotel kitchens, food courts, central kitchens, institutional canteens. A centrifugal fan draws air in through the centre of the impeller and throws it outward by centrifugal force through a volute (scroll) housing. The key advantage is that it generates high static pressure while moving a useful volume of air — which is exactly what you need when air has to travel through a grease filter, a long duct run, possibly a UV odour-control bank, and then discharge at height or through a louvre against wind pressure.
Within centrifugal fans, impeller design matters:
An axial fan moves air in a straight line along the axis of rotation — think of a large propeller. They are compact, low-cost and good at moving large volumes of air against low resistance. We do use them in commercial settings, but not usually as the primary exhaust fan for a kitchen duct system. The moment you introduce a grease filter, a long duct run or any meaningful static pressure, an axial fan's performance drops off sharply. Where we do specify axial fans in kitchen projects, it tends to be for make-up air supply — bringing fresh air into the kitchen to replace what the exhaust is removing — rather than on the exhaust side itself.
We have also seen sites where axial fans were retrofitted into exhaust roles to save cost. The result is almost always the same: insufficient airflow, condensation in ducts, grease not being carried out effectively, and more frequent cleaning calls from us.
An inline fan sits within the ductwork rather than at a roof or external discharge point. Most inline kitchen exhaust fans are centrifugal in design, just packaged differently. They are useful where space at the discharge point is constrained, or where the fan needs to be positioned mid-run to boost airflow. On one kitchen we serviced in a shophouse with a very restricted roof access, an inline configuration was the only practical solution. The trade-off is maintenance access — the fan must be accessible for cleaning, belt checks and motor servicing, so we always plan for that during design.
Fan selection is an engineering exercise, not a catalogue choice. When we assess a kitchen, we are working through:
We always confirm ventilation rate requirements against NEA and SCDF guidelines before finalising a specification — the exact figures vary by occupancy type and usage, so we check rather than assume.
We see the consequences regularly. Kitchens where the exhaust fan cannot overcome system resistance end up with:
Getting the fan type and sizing right at the start is much cheaper than correcting it later. When we take over maintenance from another contractor, a fan audit is one of the first things we do.
Not necessarily — and sometimes a bigger fan makes things worse. If your ductwork is undersized for the increased airflow, you will simply increase noise, turbulence and pressure drop without meaningful improvement at the hood. We always assess the full system before recommending any change to the fan. Occasionally the fix is duct modification, not a bigger motor.
We recommend a full inspection at least every six months for most commercial kitchens, and quarterly for high-volume operations like central kitchens or 24-hour food courts. That covers belt tension, bearing condition, impeller grease build-up, motor current draw and vibration. Catching a problem early is always cheaper than an emergency call-out — though we do run 24/7 standby if you need us urgently.
It depends on how your kitchen operates. If cooking intensity varies significantly across the day — a lunch-and-dinner restaurant, for example — a VSD lets you reduce fan speed during quiet periods, cutting energy consumption and noise. For operations running at near-constant full load, the payback period is longer. We can model this for you as part of a design or upgrade consultation.
The exhaust fan removes contaminated air from the kitchen. The make-up air fan — or supply fan — introduces fresh air to replace what is being removed. Both need to be balanced. If you exhaust more air than you supply, the kitchen runs at negative pressure: doors become hard to open, air is drawn in through gaps, and cooking performance can suffer. We design exhaust and supply systems together to get that balance right.
Not always. Noise often points to worn bearings, a loose or worn drive belt, grease imbalance on the impeller, or loose mounting hardware — all of which we can repair. We carry motors, bearings and drive components as part of our own stock, so we can usually resolve it on the first visit rather than waiting for parts. Replacement is sometimes the right call, but we will tell you honestly which it is after we have had a look.
We design, clean, repair and maintain commercial kitchen exhaust systems across Singapore — on 24/7 standby.
