Make-Up Air System Repair & Replacement in Nanaimo & Vancouver Island
P3 Mechanical & Electrical repairs and replaces make-up air units for commercial kitchens, restaurants, and light industrial buildings across Nanaimo and central Vancouver Island. A make-up air unit puts back the tempered outdoor air that exhaust hoods pull out of a building, so a replacement is a capital job rather than a service call — a one to two day changeout once the unit and any curb adapter are on site, priced in writing from the airflow the hoods actually need and the roof and gas work that goes with it.
Why a kitchen has to get its air back
An exhaust hood over a cook line moves a great deal of air, and every cubic foot of it leaves the building whether or not anything replaces it. When nothing does, the building goes negative: doors get heavy or whistle, the front entrance becomes a cold draft, the hood starts losing smoke at its edges because it is starving for air, and — the part that matters most — a naturally vented gas appliance can spill combustion products back into the room instead of up its flue. That last one is a carbon monoxide risk, not a comfort complaint.
A make-up air unit answers that: an outdoor air fan with a filter section and a heater, interlocked with the hood so it runs whenever the hood does, delivering close to the volume the hood removes. Commercial cooking exhaust and its replacement air fall under NFPA 96 as adopted through the BC Fire Code, and the balance between the two is looked at during inspection, so a unit out of service is a compliance problem as well as an operating one. On Vancouver Island the equipment sits outdoors in salt-laden, wind-driven rain, and that is usually what takes out the cabinet, the dampers, and the electrical long before the fan itself gives up.
What's included
- Diagnosis of negative pressure complaints: heavy doors, drafts, hoods that stop capturing, pilots that will not stay lit
- Repairs to fans, belts, motors, dampers, filters, and the burner section on direct-fired units
- Control and interlock work, so the make-up air unit runs whenever the hood runs
- Full replacement sized against the exhaust the building actually has, hood by hood
- Curb adapters, roof penetrations, and the gas piping a new unit needs
- Airflow balanced between exhaust and make-up air once the unit is running, with the readings recorded
Pricing & what's covered
Free estimate
We price the job after an in-home visit, once someone has seen what's there.
- One-year warranty on our labour. Equipment and parts are covered separately, under the supplier's or manufacturer's own warranty.
- Licensed in BC: Gas Contractor licence LGA0207015.
How it works
Site visit — we measure what the hoods exhaust, what the building is getting back, and what pressure the room is actually running at.
Scope and quote — repair or replacement, in writing, with the roof work and the gas priced in rather than discovered halfway through.
Repair or changeout — planned with the operator, because a kitchen cannot run its line while the hoods are down.
Balance and verify — exhaust and supply measured against each other, interlock and controls tested, and the numbers written down.
Frequently asked questions
Why are the doors in my restaurant so hard to open?
Almost always negative pressure. The hoods are pulling more air out of the building than anything is putting back, so the outdoors is effectively holding the door shut. It is the same imbalance that makes the entrance whistle and the dining room cold in winter, and it points at the make-up air unit rather than at the door.
Does a commercial kitchen hood need a make-up air unit by code?
Commercial cooking exhaust in BC falls under NFPA 96 through the BC Fire Code, and it calls for replacement air roughly matching what the hood removes. In practice any hood large enough to serve a real cook line needs a dedicated make-up air unit — an open window and a propped back door are not a compliant answer.
What happens if the make-up air unit quits in the middle of winter?
The building goes negative and unheated outdoor air comes in through every gap to compensate, so the space gets cold and drafty and the heating cannot catch up. The more serious version is a naturally vented gas appliance backdrafting, which is why a dead unit is treated as urgent rather than cosmetic.
Can a make-up air unit be repaired, or does it have to be replaced?
Fans, motors, belts, dampers, filters, and controls are all repairable, and most call-outs end there. Replacement becomes the honest answer when the cabinet and the heat section have corroded through, because on this coast that is usually what fails first and it cannot be patched.
How much does it cost to replace a make-up air unit?
It is a capital-budget item rather than a service-call one, and we publish no rate for it: the number moves with the exhaust volume the unit has to match, the gas work it needs, whether it can sit on the existing curb, and how the old unit comes off the roof. We measure the hoods, then put the figure in writing.
How long is the kitchen affected during a make-up air replacement?
The changeout itself is a one to two day job once the unit and any curb adapter are on site. We plan it around the operation with the owner or the property manager, because a kitchen cannot run its line while the hoods are down, and the installation carries a one-year warranty on our labour, with the unit itself under its manufacturer’s.
Where we offer this
Ready to get it fixed?
Call now, or send us the details online and we'll follow up.