Fan runs, kitchen still smokes
Almost always makeup air. You cannot exhaust air out of a room that has no path for air to get in, and the hood then only pulls what leaks past the doors.
Kitchen EquipmentPriced as an emergency callout10,702 businesses licensed for it
Kitchen hood and exhaust fan repair
When a kitchen fills with smoke or the dining room smells of the fryer, the exhaust system has failed even if the fan is still turning. Work covers exhaust fan motors, belts and bearings, hood and duct repairs, dampers, and the makeup air unit that replaces what the hood throws out. Makeup air is the part most often missing: a hood pulling air out of a sealed room cannot work, and the symptom is doors that are hard to open and a kitchen nobody can stand in.
Enter your ZIP to see the businesses listed for this trade nearest to your site, with their phone numbers.
- Free to searchno account, nothing to submit
- Public registersevery listing names its source
- License numberswhere the state publishes one
- Directyou call the business yourself
- Our estimate
- $260-$5,000
- Time on site
- 1.5-8 hrs
- Fault patterns covered
- 2
- Licensed for this trade itself
- 10,702
What kitchen hood and exhaust fan repair costs
Most of these jobs land near $640. The full spread runs $260 to $5,000, and the gap between those two ends is diagnosis against replacement rather than one business being dearer than another.
What moves it: how much of the job is parts, whether the fault is found in the first hour or the third, access to the equipment, and the hour of the day you call. We never speak to the businesses listed here, so there is no rate card behind any of this. It is our own band for the category, and there is no regional index: the figure does not change with your metro.
| How soon you need it | Typical | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled visitBooked in advance, no urgency multiplier applied | $640 | $260 to $5,000 |
| Same dayOur band multiplied by 1.12 | $715 | $290 to $5,600 |
| Emergency calloutOur band multiplied by 1.35 | $865 | $350 to $6,750 |
Our estimate from national cost bands, not a quote from any business. Every row is the same band with the urgency multiplier the site applies everywhere else, so this table can never contradict the headline number. Ask for a written price before the work starts.
Who is licensed to do this work
In California the classification that squarely covers this is C-20 warm-air heating, ventilating and air-conditioning, and the register says who holds it. Every listing on this site shows the classification, the license number and the date we read it, with a link back to the register entry so you can check it against the state rather than against us.
Overlapping classifications exist and are labeled as overlapping rather than as a match: C-38 refrigeration, C-4 boiler, hot water heating and steam fitting, C-43 sheet metal and D-62 air and water balancing. A general building contractor may hold the job and subcontract the trade, which is a real answer and a different one, so the card says which of the two you are looking at.
One thing worth being plain about: CSLB classifications do not distinguish commercial work from residential. There is no separate commercial license to hold and no register field that would prove one. That is why this page describes the equipment rather than the contractor, and why nothing here says a business has been checked out. We read a public record on a stated date. That is the whole claim.
If it is down right now
Everything below is about our mechanism. We hold no hours for any business on this site, have never contacted one, and cannot tell you who is awake, so none of this is a promise that somebody answers.
- Enter the ZIP of your premises. We measure from that ZIP to the address each business filed with its licensing authority and keep everything inside 25 miles.
- The order is distance, nearest first. Nobody buys a position in it and there is nothing here to sell.
- If fewer than three businesses clear the filters, the ring steps out toward 75 miles and the page tells you it widened. The distances you then see are the real ones.
- Each listing carries the phone number the register publishes. You call it yourself. We have no phone line, take no fee and pass nothing on.
- Our band for an emergency callout is the category band multiplied by 1.35. That multiplier is ours and describes our estimate, not a rate anybody has quoted.
Before you pay for a callout
Two minutes of checks that sometimes end the problem
We would rather you did not need a callout at all. These are the checks that end the most calls for this fault.
Try a quick fix first
Some issues resolve without a truck roll. Two minutes now can save the callout.
- 1
Check the switch and the breaker for the fan before you call. Hood fans are often on their own circuit and on a switch nobody uses because it is normally left on.
- 2
Open an exterior door and see if the extraction improves. If it does, the problem is makeup air rather than the hood, and that is a different unit entirely.
- 3
Look at the filters. Filters that have not been changed or washed choke the airflow and the fan gets blamed for it.
- 4
Note whether the fan is silent or noisy. Silent is electrical, noisy is usually a belt or a bearing, and it changes what the technician brings up the ladder.
What the visit actually includes
- Airflow measurement at the hood
- Fan motor, belt and bearing inspection and replacement
- Duct, joint and damper repair
- Makeup air unit check and adjustment
- Balance check between the exhaust and the makeup air after the work
Diagnosis
How hood and exhaust faults usually present
Written from how these faults actually present on a working premises, not from a manual.
Squeal that gets worse through service
A slipping or perished belt on the roof fan. Cheap, and it stops the fan entirely if it is left long enough, usually mid-service.
Listed for this trade
Businesses listed for hood and exhaust
Read from public license registers, so there is no ranking here and no distance: this page has no location to measure from. Enter your ZIP to sort by who is nearest to your site.
By location
Kitchen hood and exhaust fan repair near you
Local pages show which businesses are listed for that metro, how far out they sit, and the local conditions that drive demand.
Counted from the businesses we have imported for each metro center inside a 25 mile radius, and counting only those whose own license classification names this trade. General contractors licensed widely enough to take it on and subcontract it are excluded here, and still appear in a search. A metro reads “none yet” until we load a register that covers this trade there.
All coverage areasQuestions owners ask
Hood and exhaust FAQs
Short, specific answers. If yours is not here, ask the business you call before you agree to the visit.
Is this the same as hood cleaning?
No. Cleaning removes the grease and is not licensed. Repairing the fan, the duct or the makeup air unit is C-20 and C-43 work in California, and those are the businesses listed on this page.
How do I know if makeup air is the problem?
Doors that are hard to pull open, a whistle around the door frame, and extraction that improves the moment a door is propped. All three point at more air leaving than arriving.
Does the fire suppression system have to be touched?
Any work inside the hood usually means the suppression system is checked afterwards. That is a separate C-16 fire protection trade, and it is listed here under fire suppression.
Related work
Often booked in the same visit
Batching jobs into one mobilization is the cheapest way to buy this kind of work.
FryerFryers that will not light, will not hold temperature, or trip the high limit.from $190Range and ovenBurners that will not light, uneven ovens, failed thermostats and deck oven faults.from $190Dish machineMachines not filling, not draining, not sanitizing, or failing the temperature check.from $200Hood cleaningScheduled grease removal from hood, duct and fan, with the certificate and sticker.from $350
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Ready when you are
Need hood and exhaust sorted?
Search your ZIP to see the businesses listed for this trade nearest to your site, with the license numbers and phone numbers we hold, then call them yourself.
- Cost to search
- Free
- Account needed
- None
- Who you call
- The business