HVAC guidelines for Hot Pot type Restaurant

[MedicineEng]

Hi All:

In our property we are reconverting a normal Western type restaurant to an Asian hot pot type dining.
For the ones not familiar with this concept, a bowl of soup (usually of a spicy numbing hot type) is brought to the table and kept boiling with electric plates. Then people basically cook their own food in the soup.
I was looking for some guidelines/ideas in terms of HVAC requirements for these type of restaurants as I can only find the general "one size fits all" requirements for restaurants
A couple of things are worrying me:

1- Spread of spicy vapour within the dining areas, which can be really uncomfortable if you are not used to it, especially when hitting the eyes
2- Spread of the cooking smell to the rest of the property where the restaurant is inserted
3- Extra thermal load created by the various electrical heaters in each table (easiest of three points);

Current AHU serving the dining area has fresh air intake but only has recirculation, meaning that it doesn't have extraction. In this case, due to item 1 I'm not considering to have recirculation in order to not spread the spicy vapour through the entire dining area, but if I only use the unit as a 100% fresh air, I'll increase the differential pressure to the rest of the property and there is possibility that the cooking smell will spread.

Of course, this idea has been boiling for a while (pun intended), interior design and other specialities have been going ahead full steam and only now, a few weeks from opening, they remembered to engage the HVAC engineering to "confirm" that the HVAC will work out...

Thanks in advance for any help or idea.

 

[willard3]

Hire an HVAC Engineer.

 

[CodyK]

I would think that unless it is a DOAS unit, running at 100% OA would quickly run into cooling and humidity issues, especially with the additional heat load in the restaurant. My first thought to answer your concerns would be to install exhaust fans and a DOAS unit, but this is a very expensive and time-consuming option.

 

[EnergyProfessional]

Need to exhaust above the pots. That is similar to those Japanese hibachi grills, just less load.
I assume the pot stands there boiling for 30 minutes out of a 1 hour party.

 

[IRstuff]

Most hotpot restaurants, ala "Boiling Pot" or "ZZ Hotpot House" use Sterno-type heaters, and don't have much in the way of fume hoods, but I guess they aren't as spicy as what your establishment is contemplating. I would look to something along the lines of KBBQ ventilation, but not as strong; KBBQ coats pretty much everything with barbeque smell.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list

http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm

 

[MedicineEng]

Thank you all for your feedback.

I guess I will have to make do with the existing system, tweak it and expect that in 6 months time they change the concept again ...

 

[nuuvox000]

I'm no expert on asian hotpot but I would be surprised if the spice "vapors" are powerful and concentrated enough to cause any concern. If you really want to isolate each booth then I don't see any other choice aside from exhaust over each booth. 100% fresh air is a very expensive way to heat and cool the dining area.