Exhaust Fan Repair and Installation in Scarborough
Exhaust Fan Repair and Installation in Scarborough is the rooftop half of keeping a commercial kitchen exhaust system moving air. The upblast fan on the curb is the one part of the system that wears out on its own, and when it fails, the hood below stops capturing anything. Scarborough Hood Cleaning inspects the fan where it sits, quotes repair or replacement in writing within 24 hours, fits exhaust fan hinge kits so the housing opens at every future cleaning, and installs rooftop grease containment so the drain never empties onto the roof membrane.
Rooftop upblast fan anatomy: belts, bearings, motor and curb
The belt and pulleys. A belt-driven upblast fan keeps its motor out of the grease stream and turns the wheel through a belt and two pulleys. Discharge heat, grease mist and a Scarborough winter harden that belt until it glazes, slips and throws black powder around the curb.
The bearings. Two bearings carry the wheel shaft. Once the lubricant cooks out they growl on start-up, and a bearing that locks drags the motor down with it.
The motor. On a direct-drive fan the motor sits in the airstream and takes the heat first. A failed capacitor stops a sound motor, and that is the cheapest reason a fan refuses to start.
The curb. The fan bolts to a metal curb that is part of the roof structure. Grease pools around it, the fasteners corrode, and a fan rocking on a soft curb shakes every joint in the riser below.
Repair vs replace: how the call is made on a Scarborough roof
The inspection asks whether the housing, the wheel and the curb are sound. Where they are, the fan is repaired.
| What the inspection finds | Repair vs replace | What happens next |
|---|---|---|
| Belt in pieces, wheel spins freely by hand | Repair | Belt replaced, pulleys checked for glazing and alignment, tension set. |
| Growl or heat at the bearing block | Repair | Bearings replaced on the existing shaft, wheel degreased and balanced. |
| Motor hums, wheel will not turn | Repair or replace | A failed capacitor is swapped on the visit. A burnt motor is priced against a complete fan. |
| Housing rusted through at the drain, flange cracked | Replace | New fan matched to the airflow the hood needs, set on the existing curb when it is sound. |
| Curb soft or split, fasteners spinning in place | Replace fan and curb | New curb with the fan, a roofer brought in for the membrane tie-in, one quote. |
A fan repaired every few months is a replacement being paid for in instalments.
Exhaust fan hinge kit installation near me in Scarborough: what the job involves
An exhaust fan hinge kit is the difference between a fan housing that gets cleaned and a fan housing that gets wiped on the outside.
Scarborough Hood Cleaning fits exhaust fan hinge kits during a scheduled cleaning visit, so the roof is climbed once and the fan tips open at every visit after that. A hinge kit is a pair of hinges and a hold-open restraint bolted between the fan base and the curb. With it fitted, the whole fan pivots back and the wheel, the inside of the housing and the top of the riser sit open in front of the technician.
Without one, the fan is fastened on all four sides, wired through a disconnect and often sealed with caulk. Opening it means cutting the power, unbolting the base and lifting the unit clear on a roof in the dark. That is the step that gets dropped when a crew is running behind. The certificate still gets signed and the wheel keeps loading up.
The canopy end of the same visit is on the hood cleaning services page, and the duct between the two is on the kitchen exhaust cleaning page.
Rooftop grease containment in Scarborough: the roof membrane and the lease
Every fan housing has a drain. Rooftop grease containment decides whether that drain empties into a tray or onto the roof.
Rooftop grease containment is a catch system fitted under the fan drain, usually a tray of absorbent media with a rim high enough to hold what condenses between visits. Grease that reaches a roof softens single-ply and modified bitumen membranes and works into the seams, and the leak shows up above the cook line.
The lease decides who pays. In most Scarborough plaza leases the exhaust fan is the tenant's equipment and the roof is the landlord's building, and a landlord who can show grease damage around a kitchen curb bills the restaurant for the roof repair. A containment tray that is emptied, re-lined and photographed at every visit is the tenant's record that reasonable care was taken.
Best exhaust fan installation in Scarborough for a new line or a fan that cannot be saved
Exhaust fan installation starts with the hood, not the catalogue. The fan has to move the air the canopy is designed to capture.
Scarborough Hood Cleaning sizes a replacement fan from the hood, the duct run and what the line cooks. An undersized fan lets smoke roll out from under the canopy no matter how clean the filters are. Installation covers the fan, a curb adapter where the base pattern differs, the wind band, the disconnect and the drain, with the first hinge kit and containment tray fitted at the same time.
A fan that will not start cannot wait for the next scheduled cleaning, because a kitchen with no exhaust cannot run its line. The causes, in the order they turn up: a tripped disconnect, a failed capacitor, a snapped belt, a seized bearing. The airflow a fan must deliver comes from the standard on the NFPA 96 page, and the rest of the system is mapped on the services page.
How much does exhaust fan repair cost in Scarborough in 2026?
Scarborough Hood Cleaning prices fan repair, fan replacement, hinge kits and rooftop containment individually after seeing the unit, itemises the parts, and returns the written quote within 24 hours. For scale, hood cleaning itself starts from $385 per visit for a single-hood kitchen up to ten feet and from $725 per visit for a multi-hood kitchen of two to four canopies.
The figure moves with fan diameter, drive type, the state of the curb, and whether the disconnect and wiring need an electrician while the housing is open. A replacement with a new curb includes a roofer for the membrane tie-in, on the same quote. The kinds of kitchen this applies to are on the who we serve page, and the neighbourhoods the crew works in are on the areas served page.
Next step: call 647-370-3454 or request a written quote. One phone photo of the fan sitting on its curb usually tells the crew the drive type and which hinge kit fits.
Exhaust fan repair in Scarborough: frequently asked questions
Can a Scarborough kitchen keep cooking while the exhaust fan is down?
When the rooftop fan stops, the hood stops capturing, and the smoke and vapour that should leave the building settle in the kitchen instead. The practical answer is no. The line stops until the fan runs.
Who pays for the fan in a Scarborough plaza, the tenant or the landlord?
The lease decides. Most Scarborough commercial leases treat the exhaust fan as the tenant's equipment and the curb and membrane as the landlord's building. The quote separates the two so each party can see its own line.
Does a replacement exhaust fan have to match the old one?
The airflow and the curb have to match. The brand does not. A replacement is sized to what the hood and the cooking beneath it need.
What does black dust around the fan curb mean?
Black dust in a ring around the curb is belt rubber wearing off against a glazed or misaligned pulley. Replacing the belt and re-aligning the pulleys is done on the spot. Left alone, the belt snaps mid-service.
Is an exhaust fan hinge kit fitted on a separate visit?
Hinge kits and containment trays go on during a regular hood cleaning night, because the crew is on the roof with the fan open anyway. Getting the landlord to approve work on the curb is what usually holds the job up.