Home Improvement Articles

Effective ventilation is important for ridding your kitchen of cooking odours, excess moisture, smoke, and exhaust fumes from gas burners. If you don’t already have a good vent system in place, you should consider installing one to improve your indoor air quality. Recirculating vent fans – those without a duct running outside – also should be replaced, since all they really do is pretend to filter the air before blowing it right back into the kitchen.

The two main types of mechanical ventilation are overhead hoods and downdraft fans. Overhead systems include the basic under-cabinet types and the higher-end suspended styles with exposed ducting extending from the ceiling. Overheads are more effective and require less suction than downdraft vents, primarily because they work with nature rather than against it: Hot air rises, so all that steam, grease, and fragrant cooking air is easy to capture inside a hood and get it outdoors. Downdraft fans have to work much harder in reversing the natural flow of air and vapour. Also, many downdraft systems tend to draw heat away from burners, so your pans don’t heat as evenly when the fan is on.

Sizing is important with hood systems. The hood should be at least as wide as, but preferably up to 6″ wider than, the cooktop and at least 20″ deep. The power, or capacity, of the fan is another critical factor. Expert recommendations vary. Some say a standard hood fan should move 40 cfm for every 12″ of cooktop width; for example, a 30″-wide cooktop gets a 100 cfm fan, which is the minimum required under many building codes. Under sizing a fan results in inadequate ventilation, but over sizing it could potentially lead to a dangerous back drafting into the home.

Back drafting is caused by negative pressure: When you run an exhaust fan, air is sucked out of the house. That air must be replaced by outdoor air – often through tiny breaches in the building envelope, under doors, and other draft-producing places. But when the home is airtight, the makeup air might be drawn downward through appliance chimneys, such as that for a gas furnace or boiler. This means the poisonous exhaust from the appliance enters the home instead of going up the chimney. If your vent fan is so strong that it throws off your home’s pressure balance, you’ll have to install a makeup air duct somewhere; consult an HVAC professional. An energy auditor can test for pressure imbalances in your home.

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