Exhaust Fan Repair and Installation in Cambridge
Exhaust Fan Repair in Cambridge is the service that keeps the rooftop upblast fan on a commercial kitchen exhaust system turning. When the belt glazes, a bearing dries out or the motor trips, the hood stops capturing smoke and the line shuts down. Cambridge Hood Cleaning inspects the fan where it sits, quotes repair or replacement per job, fits hinge kits so the housing tips open at every cleaning, installs rooftop grease containment to keep the drain off the roof membrane, and sizes a new fan for a new cooking line. The written quote comes back within 24 hours.
Rooftop exhaust fan anatomy: belt, bearings, motor and curb
The belt and pulleys. The belt goes first: it stretches, hardens, slips on its pulleys and leaves a ring of black rubber dust on the roof around the housing. Airflow at the hood drops well before it breaks.
The bearings. The wheel shaft turns in two sealed bearings. When the lubricant cooks off, the fan squeals on a cold start, then rumbles, then locks, and a seized bearing often burns out the motor.
The motor and the curb. Grease that reaches the wheel builds on one side, the wheel goes out of balance, and the vibration works the fasteners loose from the roof curb, the raised frame the fan bolts to. A loose curb lets water and grease into the roof deck.
Repair vs replace: exhaust fan repair decisions on a Cambridge roof
A sound curb, an uncracked housing and a straight shaft mean repair. Rust through the housing, a bent wheel or a curb pulling out of the deck mean replacement.
| What the inspection finds | Repair vs replace | What gets done |
|---|---|---|
| Rubber dust on the roof, weak draw at the hood | Repair | New belt, pulleys aligned and checked for wear, tension set. |
| Squeal on start, bearing housing hot | Repair | Bearings pressed onto the existing shaft, wheel cleaned and balanced. |
| Motor trips or will not start, housing sound | Repair | Motor replaced and matched to the wheel, the voltage and the drive. |
| Housing rusted through, wheel bent or cracked | Replace | New fan sized to the hood airflow, set on the existing curb where the curb is sound. |
| Curb corroded, fasteners lifting out of the deck | Replace fan and curb | Fan and curb replaced together, with a roofing contractor for the membrane tie-in. |
Exhaust fan hinge kit installation in Cambridge: why a bolted-down fan gets skipped
A hinge kit decides whether the inside of the fan is cleaned at each visit or skipped.
A fan bolted flat to its curb cannot be opened until a technician disconnects the power, backs out the fasteners and lifts the whole unit off by hand. On a plaza roof on Hespeler Road at three in the morning, that lift is the step that gets skipped, and the wheel ends up carrying more grease than any other part of the system.
A hinge kit fixes it. The kit bolts between the curb and the fan base on one side, a restraint cable holds the fan open, and the wiring runs through a flexible whip so nothing is disconnected. Cambridge Hood Cleaning fits the kit during a scheduled cleaning visit because the crew is already on the roof. An older fan on a King Street or Water Street building may sit on a curb built for something else, so the inspection records the base dimensions and the swing direction. The canopy side of the visit is on the hood cleaning services page, and the duct is on the kitchen exhaust cleaning page.
Rooftop grease containment in Cambridge: the roofs on Hespeler Road, Pinebush Road and Franklin Boulevard
The fan housing has a drain at its base, and without a containment unit whatever condenses inside runs onto the roof.
Rooftop grease containment is a catch tray under the fan drain with an absorbent pad that is swapped and photographed at each visit. The flat plaza and big-box roofs along Hespeler Road, Pinebush Road and Franklin Boulevard are mostly single-ply membrane. Grease softens it, pools around the curb, and the first sign is a leak above the cooking line.
In most plaza leases the tenant carries the liability. A landlord or plaza management company whose roofer photographs a grease-stained membrane bills the repair back to the restaurant, and a roofing warranty can be voided on the same photograph. A containment unit with a dated record of every pad change is the tenant's evidence of reasonable care, and for a franchise line it is the record head office files.
Best exhaust fan installation in Cambridge for a new cooking line
Exhaust fan installation starts with the hood, not with whatever fan used to sit on the roof.
A new canopy needs a fan that moves the air volume the hood was designed around. Too small leaves smoke at the ceiling. Too large drags conditioned air out of the dining room. Cambridge Hood Cleaning sizes the fan from the hood specification, mounts it on the curb, and fits the hinge kit and containment tray on the same visit.
The usual cases are a franchise unit opening in a new plaza off Pinebush Road, a downtown restaurant adding a charbroiler to a line built for a fryer, and a retirement residence or food plant adding a second line. The charbroiler matters because high-volume cooking moves the system onto the quarterly interval on the NFPA 96 guide. A fan that will not start is booked as an urgent call, because a kitchen with no exhaust cannot cook.
Where to find exhaust fan repair near me in Cambridge
Cambridge Hood Cleaning services rooftop fans across Galt, Preston, Hespeler and Blair, and out to Ayr and Paris, on the overnight schedule.
The plaza roofs on Hespeler Road and Pinebush Road carry the most fans per roof, and a district manager can book several on one night. The downtowns carry the oldest fans. Coverage is on the areas served page.
How much does exhaust fan repair cost in Cambridge in 2026?
Exhaust fan repair, replacement, hinge kit installation and rooftop grease containment in Cambridge are quoted per job after inspection or walk-through, with the written quote back within 24 hours. For context, a scheduled hood cleaning visit starts from $585 per visit for a single-hood kitchen up to ten feet and from $995 per visit for a multi-hood kitchen of two to four canopies.
Fan size, drive type, motor voltage and the state of the curb move the figure. A new curb brings in a roofing contractor, and that coordination is its own line. Every part is named on the quote so a landlord or head office can approve it. The other services are on the services page, and the kitchens this applies to are on the who we serve page.
Next step: call 226-917-4064 or request a written quote. A phone photograph of the fan on its curb is enough to identify the drive type and the hinge kit that fits.
Exhaust fan repair in Cambridge: frequently asked questions
How do I know the rooftop exhaust fan is failing before it stops?
Three signs show up in order: black rubber dust on the roof around the housing, a squeal on a cold start, and smoke that hangs at the hood. Any one is worth an inspection before the fan locks.
Who pays for the fan in a Cambridge plaza, the tenant or the landlord?
The lease decides. A typical plaza lease in Cambridge puts the fan with the tenant and the curb and roof membrane with the landlord, and the quote separates the two.
Does a replacement exhaust fan have to be the same brand as the old one?
No. A replacement has to match the airflow the hood needs and the curb it sits on, not the name on the old housing.
Is an exhaust fan hinge kit a separate visit from the cleaning?
Hinge kits and containment trays are normally fitted during a scheduled cleaning visit, because the crew is already on the roof. The landlord's written approval for work on the curb is what most often holds it up.
Can rooftop grease containment be added to an existing fan?
Yes. The tray fits under the drain of most upblast fans and needs no change to the fan or the curb. The pad is swapped and photographed at each cleaning visit.