Anywhere you exhaust more than 400 CFM, Ohio code requires make-up air. We design, install, and service MUA systems for restaurants, manufacturing, paint booths, and high-exhaust commercial spaces across Northeast Ohio - balanced to the hood, the building, and the code.
Commercial kitchens are the obvious case: a Type I hood over a charbroiler can pull 3,000 to 6,000 CFM, and Ohio Mechanical Code (OAC 4101:2) requires that exhaust to be matched with make-up air. The same rule catches paint booths, manufacturing exhaust, high-CFM bathrooms, and any commercial space pulling more than 400 CFM out. Skip the MUA and the building goes negative-pressure - and negative pressure pulls flue gases from gas water heaters, furnaces, and boilers back into the occupied space. That's a carbon monoxide problem, not just an efficiency one.
We design, install, and service make-up air units across the region - direct-fired for most kitchens, indirect-fired where outside-air contamination rules it out. Reznor is heavy in Northeast Ohio for both MUA and unit heaters. Modine, Greenheck, and Captive-Aire round out the brands you'll see. Every MUA project includes NFPA 96 commercial kitchen review and hood-and-MUA balance commissioning - the part most installers skip and the reason most kitchens feel wrong.
MUA work runs on a site walk and a scoped quote. New installs include design, code review, and commissioning. Service runs on contract or call-out.
MUA isn't a catalog pick. We walk the building, run the math against your actual exhaust CFM, and scope the work in writing before we quote.
New MUA installs and retrofits start with a walk - we measure exhaust CFM, look at gas service, electrical capacity, structural roof or wall location, and any existing controls. Emergency service calls on existing units get triaged on the phone.
We size the MUA against actual exhaust load, not against a rule-of-thumb. OAC 4101:2 sets the floor, NFPA 96 sets the kitchen-specific rules, and the hood manufacturer's design CFM sets the target. You get the math in the proposal.
Equipment selection, gas and electrical scope, structural and roofing scope, controls, commissioning, and code-compliance documentation - all written out. No surprise line items mid-job.
Unit goes in, gas and electrical run, controls wired with hood interlock. Commissioning balances hood and MUA together with the kitchen running - the only test that matters. We document the balance in the closeout report.
MUA units get heat exchanger inspection, blower service, gas valve check, and filter changes on a fixed schedule. Written compliance records get filed for health inspection, fire marshal, and your own audit trail.
Make-up air is one of the most-skipped, most-misunderstood pieces of commercial HVAC. Here's what makes AKHC different.
Most installers commission the MUA alone and call it done. We tune hood and MUA together with the kitchen running because that's the only test that matches reality. Pressure-neutral building, grease captured, dining room comfortable.
OAC 4101:2 for the make-up air requirement, NFPA 96 for commercial kitchen specifics, and Ohio Building Code for structural and mechanical-room considerations. Compliance documented in writing, not assumed.
All four are common across Northeast Ohio. We service heat exchangers, gas valves, blower motors, controls, and the interlock wiring tying MUA to hood. Parts pipeline established for the common-failure components.
Adding MUA to an existing exhaust hood is more common than greenfield - usually triggered by a health inspection or an owner noticing the cold dining room. We've done plenty of retrofits across the Valley and know the layout problems before they show up.
Walk-in coolers, RTUs, MUA, and standby generators on the same payroll. Restaurants and food service get one contractor instead of four scheduling problems.
Alliance Trade Group LLC DBA AK Heating & Cooling. Local accountability, same number every call. Bonded, insured, COI before any commercial install.
If your building exhausts more than 400 CFM, the Ohio Mechanical Code (OAC 4101:2) requires make-up air. That captures every commercial kitchen with a Type I hood, most paint booths, manufacturing exhaust, and many high-CFM bathroom systems. Without MUA the building goes negative-pressure, which pulls flue gases from gas appliances back into the space (carbon monoxide risk), kills your heating efficiency, and forces doors closed under suction.
Direct-fired units burn natural gas directly in the supply airstream - high efficiency (90%+), lower install cost, but the combustion products go into the space. Approved for most commercial kitchens with adequate ventilation. Indirect-fired units use a heat exchanger that separates combustion from supply air - lower thermal efficiency (80%), higher cost, but no combustion products in the airstream. Required for some manufacturing applications and any space where outside-air contamination concerns rule out direct-fired.
Very often, yes. If the building can't replace the air the hood is exhausting, the hood under-pulls and grease and smoke spill into the kitchen. The fix is usually one of: undersized MUA, a tripped or failed MUA blower, a closed damper, or a controls fault that's leaving the MUA off while the hood runs. We balance hood and MUA together as part of every commissioning and recommissioning.
Yes. Retrofitting MUA onto an older restaurant or manufacturing exhaust is common - usually triggered by a health inspection, an OAC 4101:2 finding, or an owner who's noticed the dining room going cold every time the hood runs. We size the unit to the existing exhaust CFM, run gas and electrical, fabricate or buy curb and ductwork, and commission the system with the hood. Roof or wall-mount depending on the building.
NFPA 96 covers commercial kitchen ventilation - hood construction, duct routing, fire suppression, cleaning intervals, and the make-up air system. Key items: hood and MUA must be interlocked (MUA runs when hood runs), grease ducts must be sealed and accessible for cleaning, and hood cleaning frequency depends on cooking volume (quarterly for moderate-volume, monthly for high-volume frying or charbroiling). We document NFPA 96 compliance as part of every MUA project and service visit.
Negative pressure pulling cold outside air through every door, window seal, and exhaust penetration. If your kitchen exhaust is running hard and your MUA isn't keeping up, the building goes negative, and the thermostat sensor on the wall reads 72 while the customer-facing dining room near the entrance reads 62. The fix is rebalancing hood and MUA, or upsizing the MUA if it's chronically undersized.
Yes - all four are common across Northeast Ohio commercial kitchens and manufacturing. Reznor heavy in this region for both MUA and unit heaters. Greenheck and Captive-Aire common in newer restaurant installs with packaged hood-and-MUA systems. We service heat exchangers, gas valves, blower motors, controls, and the interlock wiring tying MUA to hood.
Same-day dispatch from our Warren shop across five counties.
“Furnace went out on a Sunday night. AK had a tech in the driveway in 90 minutes, parts on the truck, and we were warm before kids' bedtime. Worth every dollar of the maintenance plan.”
“Our restaurant walk-in went down at 6am. AK answered the after-hours line on the second ring and had us running before lunch service. We've switched all of our refrigeration work to them.”
“Had Generac install, AC tune-up, and a humidifier swap done across two visits. One bill, one company, real techs. This is what local service is supposed to feel like.”
If your kitchen or back-of-house feels cold while the thermostat reads fine, you've almost certainly got a make-up air problem. The exhaust hood is pulling building air out faster than the MUA can replace it, the building goes negative-pressure, and cold outside air gets sucked in through every door, window, and seal. The thermostat sensor on the wall reads 72 while the customer-facing dining room reads 62. The fix is rebalancing hood and MUA together - or upsizing the MUA if it's chronically undersized. Don't keep raising the thermostat; raise the MUA capacity.
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