CaptiveAire Service & Repair
CaptiveAire is the #1 US commercial kitchen ventilation manufacturer, the default spec for most LA restaurants, chains, and new builds since the early 2010s. Our techs service the full CaptiveAire line: commercial kitchen hoods, makeup air units, exhaust fans, ECP controls with VFD and ModBus, self-cleaning systems, Captrate kitchen hood filters, and integrated fire-suppression interlocks. Same-day kitchen hood repair dispatch across LA County, Orange County, Ventura, San Bernardino, and Riverside.
- #1 US market share in commercial kitchen ventilation
- Factory-trained on CaptiveAire ECP, VFD, ModBus, self-cleaning circuits
- $120 commercial diagnostic, waived with repair authorization
- 5 filials, West Hollywood · LA · Thousand Oaks · Pasadena · Irvine
Where we work
Local branches across Southern California
Eight branches covering Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties. Same-day routing on calls before 1 PM.
Who CaptiveAire actually is
CaptiveAire Systems started in 1976 as a one-room fire-suppression shop in North Carolina. Robert L. Luddy founded the company as Atlantic Fire Systems; in 1981 the ventilation side spun off under the CaptiveAire name. Forty-plus years later it's still privately held, still family-run, still headquartered in Raleigh, and it's become the #1 US manufacturer of commercial kitchen ventilation, with six manufacturing plants (North Carolina, Iowa, Oklahoma, California, Pennsylvania, Florida), 90+ sales offices, about 1,100 employees, and annual revenue north of $350 million.
For LA operators, the California plant matters: parts lead times on Captrate kitchen hood filters, VFD drives, control boards, and common ECP components are shorter than if everything shipped from NC. For us, the independent structure matters: CaptiveAire isn't owned by Ali Group, Middleby, or ITW, so kitchen hood service logistics and parts availability don't get caught in corporate integration drama the way some competitor brands occasionally do.
At Same Day Appliance Repair Los Angeles we've watched CaptiveAire take over the LA kitchen hood install base over fifteen years. New restaurant construction, chain remodels, ghost-kitchen build-outs, most of them spec CaptiveAire hood packages because of CaptiveAire's reputation for fast lead times and integrated delivery (hood, fan, controls, ductwork, fire-suppression, all from one manufacturer). That means when a kitchen hood fails, our techs are on CaptiveAire hardware week after week, running kitchen hood repair across every neighborhood from Koreatown to Newport Beach.
CaptiveAire equipment we service in LA
CaptiveAire is a full commercial kitchen ventilation brand, not just hoods. Here's what our techs show up for:
Commercial Kitchen Hoods
ND-2 Wall Canopy, SND-2 Low Ceiling, BD-2 back-shelf, ND-2WI Single Island, NDI Double Island V-Bank. UL-710 / ULC-710 listed, rated for 450 / 600 / 700°F cooking surface temperatures. These are the commercial kitchen hoods we see most often in LA restaurants, if your kitchen was built or remodeled since 2010, odds are it's CaptiveAire.
→ CaptiveAire kitchen hood repairMakeup Air Units (MUA)
A-Line direct-fired MUA, the standard CaptiveAire makeup air solution. We service burners, pressure switches, interlock relays, and evaporative cooling where it's installed. MAU balance is the root cause of most "smoke rolling out of the hood" calls in LA kitchens.
Exhaust Fans
Belt-drive and direct-drive upblast fans, rooftop curb mounts, and inline configurations. We diagnose bearing failure, motor amp draw, VFD lockouts, and fan-motor replacement on common HP sizes.
Electrical Control Packages (ECP)
CaptiveAire Ecp-M with VFD drives on ModBus, interlock logic, Demand Control Ventilation (DCV) where specified. Most of our diagnostic time on CaptiveAire systems lives in the ECP. We carry the OIM fault-code list and factory schematics on the truck.
Self-Cleaning Systems
Hot-water spray cycle integrated into ND-2, SND-2, and BD-2 self-cleaning hoods. Common repair points: solenoid stuck on scale (LA hard water), hot-water supply valve failure, timer circuit on the controls board. We keep replacement solenoids on the truck.
Captrate Grease Filters
CaptiveAire's proprietary high-efficiency baffle, captures 2–4× more grease than a standard filter. We stock Captrate for common hood widths and handle retrofits when operators upgrade from standard baffles to reduce NFPA 96 cleaning frequency and grease duct load.
Fire Suppression Interlock
CaptiveAire hoods ship with UL-300 pre-engineered fire-suppression integration, typically Ansul R-102. We don't recharge suppression systems (licensed fire-protection trade) but we coordinate with your fire vendor when a repair touches the appliance shutoff relay or fuel-interlock valve.
HVAC & DOAS
CaptiveAire has expanded into Dedicated Outdoor Air Systems (DOAS), HVLS high-volume low-speed fans, and commercial HVAC over the past decade. If your restaurant runs CaptiveAire HVAC equipment and you're looking for commercial service in LA, call us, we'll scope the job.
CaptiveAire fact check, what's often gotten wrong
LA foodservice operators sometimes get bad information on CaptiveAire's corporate structure, mostly because competitor brands in the space are part of big holding groups. Here's the clean version:
- Ownership: Privately held, family-owned, independent. Not owned by Ali Group, Middleby, Welbilt, ITW, or any public company. Robert L. Luddy founded it and the company remains under his leadership.
- Headquarters: Raleigh, North Carolina. Six manufacturing plants, one of which is in California.
- Founded: 1976 as Atlantic Fire Systems; ventilation split as CaptiveAire in 1981.
- CAS Service: The manufacturer's factory technician network. Different from independent commercial appliance repair, CAS dispatches through factory channels, we dispatch from our own fleet with same-day LA response.
- Product scope: Not just hoods. Full ventilation packages: hoods, fans, heaters, ductwork, controls, fire suppression, filters, HVAC, DOAS, HVLS fans.
- Market position: #1 US commercial kitchen ventilation manufacturer by share, consistently ranked "Best in Class" by industry publications. Repeated INC. 500 fastest-growing private company listings.
Why LA operators call us for CaptiveAire service
Same-day dispatch, not factory queue
When a hood goes down during service, CAS Service can take days to schedule. We're on the road in LA already , the nearest branch rolls that morning or afternoon.
Factory-trained on kitchen hood controls
Our techs know the CaptiveAire ECP panel, the VFD ModBus network, the MAU interlock logic, and the self-cleaning circuit. Generic HVAC trucks guess through kitchen hood troubleshooting on these systems. We read the fault codes.
Stocked parts on the truck
Pressure switches, 24V relays, hot-water solenoids, Captrate filters, contactor blocks, common VFD sizes. If the part is on the truck, same-visit repair. If it's factory-only, we order and schedule the follow-up.
Honest repair-vs-replace calls
If the stainless body is sound and the failure is controls or motor, we repair. If the equipment is past economic repair, we say so. We don't push unnecessary replacements.
NFPA 96 / AHJ documentation
Every repair ticket includes parts, labor, and date, the paperwork LA County Fire and LA Department of Building and Safety inspectors ask about on scheduled compliance visits.
Coordination with fire vendors
When a CaptiveAire repair touches the UL-300 suppression interlock, we talk directly with your licensed fire-protection contractor so the system stays compliant end to end.
Common CaptiveAire problems LA kitchens call us for
Week after week our techs diagnose the same failure patterns on CaptiveAire kitchen hood and exhaust fan systems. If any of these sound like what's happening in your kitchen, a same-day commercial kitchen hood repair visit will usually resolve it.
- Smoke and odors rolling into the dining room, usually a low-airflow problem at the range hood or an MAU balance issue, not a "dirty filter" situation.
- Hood fan running louder or slower, bearings going on a belt-drive exhaust fan, or motor amp draw drifting on a direct-drive hood fan.
- VFD fault on the ECP panel after a power event, ModBus address conflict or communication loss, common after LA brownouts.
- MAU won't start / interlock fault, pressure switch, interlock relay, or control board lost its reference.
- Self-cleaning cycle skipping, hot-water spray solenoid seized on LA hard-water scale, or timer circuit failed.
- Vent hood lights not working, bulbs, ballast, switch, or control-board issue on the canopy light circuit.
- Kitchen exhaust fan tripping the breaker, motor short, VFD over-current, or a wiring fault in the rooftop disconnect.
- Grease visible in the duct above the hood, Captrate filter upgrade cuts this dramatically compared to standard baffles.
- Vent hood keypad unresponsive, 24V transformer, ribbon cable, or control-board failure.
- Range hood fan humming but not spinning, stuck bearing, seized blower wheel, or phase loss on the VFD output.
Range hood repair on CaptiveAire equipment is about controls and motors more than stainless, the body outlasts the electronics by a wide margin. For a deeper technical breakdown, our CaptiveAire hood repair page walks through diagnostic steps, model-specific quirks, and commercial kitchen hood repair cost ranges for each common fix. For comparison pricing across all commercial hood brands, see our commercial exhaust hood repair cost guide.
CaptiveAire service pages
Specific CaptiveAire repair information by equipment type:
More CaptiveAire equipment pages (makeup air unit repair, exhaust fan repair, ECP diagnostics) rolling out as we complete the commercial brand library.
CaptiveAire repair pricing in Los Angeles
Kitchen hood repair cost varies with the failure, but CaptiveAire parts are standardized enough that our price bands are predictable. Here's what LA operators actually pay for common repairs:
- Commercial diagnostic: $120 flat, waived if you authorize the repair that same visit.
- Minor repairs (pressure switch, interlock relay, hot-water solenoid, contactor): $250–$450 parts and labor.
- Fan motor replacement (belt-drive or direct-drive kitchen exhaust fan): $600–$1,400 installed, depending on HP.
- VFD replacement (common 1–3 HP sizes on the Electrical Control Package): $850–$1,800 installed.
- Controls board swap (Ecp-M series, factory-firmware matched): $1,100–$2,000.
- Captrate filter retrofit: $80–$140 per filter, plus a small labor charge if we're already on site.
- Labor rate: $150 / hour after diagnostic, one-hour minimum.
We quote on-site before work starts. Straightforward pricing on the bill. For detailed pricing on the full commercial hood repair line, see our commercial exhaust hood repair cost guide. The guide covers typical kitchen hood repair cost ranges for CaptiveAire, Halton, and the rest of the commercial hood brands installed across LA.
NFPA 96 and hood cleaning, how our repair work fits
CaptiveAire repair and hood cleaning are separate trades. We repair, we don't do certified grease cleaning, because NFPA 96 compliance cleaning is a licensed specialty with its own AHJ paperwork. But most CaptiveAire service calls in LA sit next door to cleaning compliance, so here's the short version of what LA County Fire expects:
- Monthly cleaning, solid-fuel cooking (wood, charcoal).
- Quarterly cleaning, high-volume grease: charbroilers, wok stations, 24-hour operations.
- Semi-annual cleaning, moderate-volume restaurants.
- Annual cleaning, low-volume (churches, seasonal kitchens).
Our CaptiveAire repair tickets leave documentation your AHJ inspector will accept, parts, labor, date, and scope. When your certified hood cleaning vendor also services the kitchen, we coordinate so the repair and cleaning visits don't collide and the compliance log stays continuous. If a repair touches the fire-suppression interlock, we loop in your licensed fire vendor so the Ansul R-102 / UL-300 system stays compliant.
Other commercial hood brands we service
CaptiveAire dominates LA market share, but we service the rest of the commercial hood manufacturers too:
CaptiveAire, frequently asked
Who is CaptiveAire?
CaptiveAire Systems is the #1 US commercial kitchen ventilation manufacturer, founded in 1976 by Robert L. Luddy in Raleigh, North Carolina. The company is privately held, family-owned, and independent, not part of Ali Group, Middleby, or ITW. CaptiveAire runs six manufacturing plants (NC, IA, OK, California, PA, FL) and more than 90 sales offices across North America, with roughly 1,100 employees.
Does CaptiveAire make more than just hoods?
Yes. While hoods are the flagship product (ND-2, SND-2, BD-2, NDI island, ND-2WI single island), CaptiveAire also manufactures exhaust fans, direct-fired makeup air units (A-Line), Electrical Control Packages with VFD and ModBus, grease duct systems, Ansul-integrated fire suppression, Captrate grease filters, HVLS high-volume low-speed fans, Dedicated Outdoor Air Systems (DOAS), and commercial HVAC equipment.
Is CaptiveAire the same as CAS Service?
CAS Service is CaptiveAire's factory-certified service technician network. CAS dispatches field techs nationwide from the manufacturer side. We're an independent commercial appliance repair company, we service CaptiveAire equipment from the operator side (same-day LA response, no factory escalation queue, and we work on other brands too).
Do you have a California CaptiveAire connection?
CaptiveAire runs one of its six manufacturing plants in California, which helps with parts lead time on the West Coast. Our techs source CaptiveAire replacement parts through factory and authorized distribution channels, so controls, VFDs, pressure switches, and Captrate filters arrive faster than ordering from NC.
What's a Captrate filter?
Captrate is CaptiveAire's proprietary grease baffle filter. It captures 2–4× more grease than a standard baffle, which reduces duct cleaning frequency and cuts fire risk. We stock Captrate filters for common hood widths. If your hood came with standard baffles, Captrate retrofit is usually a drop-in.
What CaptiveAire services do you handle in Los Angeles?
Hood repair (primary line), makeup air unit repair, exhaust fan and motor service, Electrical Control Package diagnostics including VFD ModBus faults, self-cleaning system service, Captrate filter replacement, and coordination with your fire-suppression vendor on Ansul R-102 UL-300 integration. We do not recharge fire-suppression systems ourselves, that's a separate licensed trade.
What's the pricing?
Commercial diagnostic is $120 flat, waived if you authorize the repair same visit. Most repairs land $250–$1,200 parts-and-labor. Larger items (full VFD replacement, control-board swap, fan motor) run $800–$2,000. We quote on-site before any work starts.
Where we run CaptiveAire calls
Central LA
Koreatown · Downtown · Arts District · Hollywood · West Hollywood · Mid-City · Beverly Blvd
Westside
Beverly Hills · Century City · Brentwood · Santa Monica · Venice · Culver City
San Fernando Valley
Sherman Oaks · Studio City · Van Nuys · Encino · Woodland Hills · Burbank · Glendale · North Hollywood
San Gabriel Valley
Pasadena · South Pasadena · San Marino · Alhambra · Monterey Park · Arcadia
South Bay / Long Beach
Long Beach · Torrance · Redondo · Manhattan Beach · El Segundo · San Pedro
Orange County
Irvine · Newport Beach · Costa Mesa · Anaheim · Huntington Beach · Tustin · Santa Ana
Ventura County
Thousand Oaks · Westlake Village · Ventura · Oxnard · Camarillo · Simi Valley
Inland Empire
Riverside · San Bernardino · Ontario · Rancho Cucamonga · Corona · Moreno Valley
CaptiveAire equipment down? Call the branch nearest your kitchen.
Same-day in LA, Orange County, Ventura, San Bernardino, and Riverside. $120 commercial diagnostic, waived with repair.