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Make-Up Air: The Exhaust Hood’s Overlooked Partner
September 7, 2026
Introduction
Every exhaust hood pulls a large volume of air out of the kitchen. Something has to replace it — or the room goes negative pressure, and a whole list of small problems starts showing up at once.
That’s the job of a make-up air unit. Here’s a recent install that shows why it’s not an optional add-on to the hood, but the other half of the system.
Summary · Key Takeaways
01
An exhaust hood removes a large volume of conditioned air from the kitchen — a make-up air unit replaces it, or the room goes negative pressure.
02
Negative pressure makes doors hard to open, pulls unconditioned outside air in through every gap, and can make the exhaust hood itself work less efficiently.
03
Make-up air is typically tempered — heated or cooled — so replacement air doesn’t just dump raw outside-temperature air into the kitchen.
04
Pairing new exhaust fans with a new make-up air unit, like this recent job, balances the whole ventilation system instead of fixing only half of it.
IMG. 01Pineapple Eddie’s Southern Bistro
New exhaust fans and a new make-up air unit, installed together as one balanced system.
Sheet 02 · The System
Why Make-Up Air Matters
The hood is only half the ventilation story. Here’s the other half.
01
Replacing What The Hood Removes
A commercial hood exhausts a high volume of air to clear smoke, heat, and grease-laden vapor. Every bit of that air has to be replaced from somewhere — that’s what a make-up air unit is built to do.
02
What Happens Without It
Without enough make-up air, the kitchen runs at negative pressure: exterior doors get hard to open, unconditioned air gets pulled in through every gap and doorway, and the hood itself can lose capture efficiency right when it’s needed most.
03
Tempered Air, Not Just Any Air
A make-up air unit doesn’t just move outside air into the building — it’s typically heated or cooled first, so the kitchen isn’t fighting a stream of raw winter or summer air every time the hood runs.
The hood pulls air out. Make-up air puts it back.
Sheet 03 · Q&A
Questions
Q01What is a make-up air unit?
A rooftop or wall-mounted unit that supplies fresh, tempered air to a kitchen to replace what the exhaust hood removes — keeping the room’s air pressure balanced instead of negative.
Q02How do I know if my kitchen has a make-up air problem?
Common signs include doors that are unusually hard to open or slam shut on their own, drafts around door frames and windows, and a hood that seems to struggle to capture smoke even though it’s running.
Q03Does a make-up air unit need to match the exhaust hood’s airflow exactly?
It needs to be sized to the hood’s exhaust volume as part of a balanced system — undersizing it leaves the kitchen negative, and getting the sizing right is part of a proper ventilation design, not an afterthought.
HRI Commercial Food Service designs and installs complete kitchen ventilation systems — hoods, exhaust fans, and make-up air — across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York. If your kitchen’s ventilation only tells half the story, start the conversation at hriusa.com.
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