Matrix Systems Frequently Asked Questions

The biggest factors that impact how frequently you have to replace or exchange the media on a commercial cooking exhaust system are the following:

Frequency of Use – How often the commercial cooking exhaust system is used is a big factor in determining how often the media needs to be swapped out. A corporate café that serves employees during lunch time 5 days a week will need service far less often than a popular steakhouse or a restaurant.

Fuel Used for Cooking – A steakhouse using a gas stove for searing steak creates a lot less exhaust that needs filtration than one that uses solid fuel such as charcoal or wood. A solid fuel cooking process generates ten times more of a “load” than a kitchen using gas.

This depends on several factors. The first one being: What media does your system use? Most commercial cooking exhaust systems use the following:

• Preliminary Inlet Filter – Which should be changed every 3 to 4 months.
• Precipitator Cells – Cleaned every 3 to 4 months.
• Odor Media Trays – Exchanged every 6 months.

The automatic wash system on a commercial cooking exhaust system needs to wash the components with detergent every 4 to 7 days using hot water (at a temperature of at least 140 degrees Fahrenheit) and detergent. The amount of time between detergent wash cycles depends on the type of cooking done at the location and the food being cooked. A small café that does little cooking could go 7 days between detergent wash cycles, where a high-traffic steakhouse would need to clean the components by running a detergent wash cycle every 4 days.

The proper detergent for an automatic wash system in a commercial cooking exhaust system electrostatic precipitator filtration system needs to be aluminum safe—anything with a Ph over 10.5 will eat aluminum electrostatic precipitator collection cells. Ideally it should be environmentally friendly as well. The detergent should also include a de-foaming agent, because most drain lines have significant vertical drops and without a de-foamer the impingement of the falling detergent laden wastewater can generate foam in the drain lines, grease trap (interceptor) and floor drains.

For this reason, we always recommend that you use our Matrix SP7 detergent. It is perfect for all Smog Hog and Trion units.

If you are using the proper detergent, with a de-foaming agent, and keeping the temperature of the water at least 140 degrees Fahrenheit, you clean the drain every 9 to 12 months.

The perfect dynamic, operating, water pressure for a commercial cooking exhaust system that uses an automatic wash system is 40 PSI. If the pressure falls below 30 PSI, it won’t clean the grease. If the pressure goes above 55 PSI, it atomizes the water completely and will not work.

Absolutely. The Smog Hog line of commercial kitchen exhaust filtration systems are designed to be modular, and multiple units can be used together to achieve the cleaning capacity you seek for your business. These components are designed to fit in most freight elevators and can be welded together on site.

Many mid and high-rise buildings want to include businesses such as restaurants and cafes in order to increase revenue from these buildings, but these buildings are not always best suited for installing the ductwork and power requirements needed for a traditional commercial cooking exhaust system which may require you to install special ductwork that goes all of the way up to the rooftop. Smog Hog’s commercial kitchen exhaust filtration systems do not require this type of challenging retrofit construction to install them. The Smog Hog allows you to install the unit in a false ceiling, process the kitchen exhaust and vent it using horizontal ductwork to deliver it as warm air at street or near-street level.

Most of the time, this is due to other residents and businesses not wanting to smell “nuisance odors” emitted from the restaurant, especially if a building or area is a home to several restaurants. In addition, some areas may have air quality regulations that must be followed in order for the restaurant to operate.

Smog Hog mist collector systems are used to remove mist, smoke and fumes from industrial processes for industries such as manufacturing, metalworking, and industrial food processing.

The biggest benefits of using a Smog Hog Mist Collector are employee health and cost savings. Reducing airborne contaminants reduces the amount of unhealthy particulate breathed in by workers. These savings come in the form of being able to recycle thousands of gallons of resources such as cutting oils, lubricants. Coolants and plasticizers. They also save operational costs such as lower energy costs by cleaning and recirculating air, using a lower horsepower per CFM (thus leading to more energy cost savings), and eliminating filter replacements through the use of reusable ESP collection components.