30" Range Hood Info and Recs

[caleb]

I'm in need of a vent hood for a 30" range. When I say "hood," I mean something vented outdoors, not a filter. It needs to have enough capacity for a couple 18,000 BTU burners.

The space above the range is currently framed for an over-the-stove microwave.

Any tips or recs?

[htwoopup]

I am sure that there are quite a few folks more versed in this than me but I'll chime in the little I experienced....

When I had a house built a few years ago, I asked one of my friends who worked designing and building commercial kitchens to help me in figuring out mine. As I remember, he said that you have to size up on the hood. In other words if it is say a 30 inch range or cooktop do a 36 inch hood. Reason is that even though the fan is sucking the smoke and fumes up, because the hood is above the stovetop, the smoke spreads a little. Also, the vents don't go to the edge of the hood and you want them to cover as much of the area above the stovetop as possible. He also said size up in the size of hood (cfm wise) vs what I thought I would really need. At that time, I got a Franke hood based on his recommendation. It vented through what is essentially like the hose used for a clothes dryer to a vent that was installed in a soffit outside that was about a 20 foot run. It was very quiet relative to its size (I think because we could usually run it on low and it handled what was thrown at it due to the oversizing). You can also cover it in all kinds of ways. We did it in the same cabinetry as the rest of the kitchen.

Sorry, this is the only picture that I could find that included it (albeit in the background) of how it looked in the end. I think you can see that there is probably a way to fit the thing in with the framing you currently have if you hang the hood below your current space with the machinery in the microwave space and the hose fits in any space you can run say 4 inches diameter or so. Ignore the Great Dane puppy counter cruising.

sinkcruising by Jon Mandel, on Flickr

[rwsaunders]

This is a decent brand of hood and they have some sizing sheets on their website. Capacity is one thing but it’s important as well to address the lighting and the ability to clean the filters and the interior.

Buyers Guide – FAQ << ProLine Range Hoods

[rydesteel]

I had a 30" Broan at the old House. I don't remember the model # and I'm sure they've changed but it pulled 600cfm or better and required an 8" exhaust pipe. I could sear a steak and watch the smoke curl into it. Make sure you wont need some type of air intake as well, mine would pull smoke from the fireplace occasionally :>). Where I'm at now just has the filter and I have to put a fan on the kitchen table and open a few windows to get the smoke out. I just checked RW's site and it's full of good information!

[glepore]

I've had really nice hoods (viking etc) but price for dollar this thing rocks: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E4O0R10...ing=UTF8&psc=1
700 cfm, removable filters that are dishwashable, lights, timer etc. Much nicer than you'd imagine at this pricepoint.

[Too Tall]

We have >> Zephyr Anzio Island Range Hood - Core Collection | Zephyr

This is mounted at the max. recommended height for the stovetop spec. and it works well.

You can really go nuts with this eg. spec'ing for more venting than you really need and such. If you are reasonably comfortable with the fact that if you burn a pot of food the smoke detector is going to go nuts than follow the guidlines prev. mentioned.

We did not install makeup air kit. Don't tell the county ;)

[dogrange]

We have whatever the Zephyr in the $850 range is. It sucks air well, but in general is a POS, the switch indicators are laughable and fell off in a month, the lighting appears to be connected to some stupid computer that has failed 2X in less than 2 years. I would go another way.

[sine]

We have a Zypher 1200cfm whatever island model set at max recommended height. My wife wants to cook with a wok......so.

Our Zypher has been reliable.......but the foil symbols for the switches are laughable.

Vent a Hood is probably the best but I just didn't want to spend the money. I also recall cleaning was a chore.

Our house is pretty tight (plus county was lurking) so we had to install a substantial make up air system......just replaced the air filter for that.

[Cookietruck]

put in a Zephyr a year ago. the foil indicators did come off the button area. the light stopped working correctly a few weeks ago. I took it apart and pulled the little controller out, cleaned the stuff up a little, put it back together and it works fine again. maybe some grease got in the contacts?

[caleb]

Vent a Hood is probably the best but I just didn't want to spend the money. I also recall cleaning was a chore.

Has anyone here tried the M Series? Looks like with the hood and blower unit you'd be talking < $1300.

[Too Tall]

put in a Zephyr a year ago. the foil indicators did come off the button area. the light stopped working correctly a few weeks ago. I took it apart and pulled the little controller out, cleaned the stuff up a little, put it back together and it works fine again. maybe some grease got in the contacts?

I'm probably going to jinx myself......fault free. It's a champ.

[davids]

We put in a Zephyr Breeze II when we redid the kitchen.

It moves 400CFM, and cost about $375. It's vented straight out the wall behind the stove. Loud when it's running, but it does the job.

k1.jpg

[pdmtong]

I got a thermador because at the time I wanted thier range and it was buy range+hood and get dishwasher "free"

three speeds 600/1000/1300cfm plus a ten minute high power mode.

having the high CFM is great for clearing the kitchen quickly.

the killer was I had to order a custom stainless chimney to go from the home the hood top to the high ceiling. that piece alone was more than some of the prices in this thread. oh well....looks great.

[kingpin75s]

Has anyone here tried the M Series? Looks like with the hood and blower unit you'd be talking < $1300.

Not sure about the M series, however I researched hoods extensively a number of years ago and nothing touched the Vent-A-Hood Magic Lung based hoods. Sounds like they have some newer technology with the Power Lung, but I can stand by the Magic lung hoods for sure.

Yes they are expensive, but you will likely never need any maintenance and they rarely need to be cleaned. I clean mine every couple years and I use it a lot.

By far the most elegant technical design in hoods.

[nmrt]

oh man...where to start. i spent months looking at multitudes of range hoods. read literature and charts that quantified how cfm is affected not only by duct diameter but also by ducts lengths and angle. read a lot about makeup air and about the benefits of baffle filters versus mesh ones. also read about angled filters vs horizontal ones. but in the end it all came down to finding out that my house could not take a duct diameter size of more than 6 in. so, that left me with very few options. in the end i bought from a brand not many have probably heard about -- windcrest hoods (Wind Crest? by CNP Industries).

have used it for 10 months now. works like a champ and the motor seems much quieter than equivalent cfm hoods from viking, thermador, zephyr, wolf. wanted to buy a ventahood because it seemed to to the quietest for the cfm output. but eventually decided against it after reading some internet remarks by people who cook A LOT (chinese wok style) that ventahoods were harder to clean thoroughly.

lastly, while is is a good idea performance-wise to get a hood a few inches wider than the stove, bear in mind that depending on how tall you are, sometimes your head might bump into the protruding hood.

[BSUdude]

Hood height relative to cooking surface is important. Don't mount the hood any higher than you need in order to avoid hitting your head. That gives the vapors least opportunity for dispersal between cooking surface and hood. The higher you go, the more CFM is required. Try to make your duct route as short as you can while minimizing bends, and use sheetmetal rather than flexible duct. Follow the hood manufacturer's recommendation as much as possible w/ regard to duct side. There is a direct correlation between CFM and duct size, so bigger is not better, and can often be worse.

[thollandpe]

This thread got me thinking. And doubting myself. I recently bought a range hood, a 250-cfm Broan. Installed it last weekend, it's a lot better and quieter than the old Nutone. Specified a similar hood for a project that will be installing dozens of them. Then I looked at the Magic Lung and others. 300 cfm base, option up for 600 cfm. Some of these claim 700 cfm and more. Suddenly 250 cfm sounds inadequate, like a 7-speed freewheel. My god, what have I done?

For a 30" range hood? That's more cfm per linear foot than I've designed commercial kitchens to. A lot more.

What are you doing on the range? I'll have one pot at a rolling boil for pasta, not four.

And the other thing to think about is when you're pulling 700 cfm out of the kitchen, where's the air coming in from? My house is fairly tight, and 700 cfm (which is like having NINE toilet exhaust fans running) would depressurize the house to almost 50 Pascals. That's when air will be leaking in through where I don't want it leaking in. So if you're going to put one of these mega-blowers over your range you should consider how to actively introduce make-up air.

I'm wondering if these big numbers are simply BS, or maybe free-air cfm (no duct attached), or a marketing arms race.

250 cfm will do me just fine, that much I'm sure of.

[thollandpe]

Hood height relative to cooking surface is important. Don't mount the hood any higher than you need in order to avoid hitting your head. That gives the vapors least opportunity for dispersal between cooking surface and hood. The higher you go, the more CFM is required. Try to make your duct route as short as you can while minimizing bends, and use sheetmetal rather than flexible duct. Follow the hood manufacturer's recommendation as much as possible w/ regard to duct side. There is a direct correlation between CFM and duct size, so bigger is not better, and can often be worse.

BSU makes a good point, installation matters. A decent hood with proper ducting will beat an uber-hood with a crappy installation.

While a larger duct will have lower friction and losses, you want to maintain a minimum velocity so that the moisture and grease make it to the outside, and don't settle out on the inside of your duct. This is also why you want to avoid flexible duct.

I've seen plenty of installations of kitchen hoods and bathroom exhaust fans and clothes dryers with flexible duct, and this is way worse if it runs through unconditioned spaces, where a dip in the duct fills with condensed water and other lovely stuff. Yuck.

[thollandpe]

Just a further word and data point about some of the HUGE airflows casually mentioned in this thread.

The 2015 International Mechanical Code, under Chapter 5, Section 505 Domestic Kitchen Exhaust Equipment, states:

505.2 Makeup air required.

Exhaust hood systems capable of exhausting in excess of 400 cfm (0.19 m³/s) shall be provided with makeup air at a rate approximately equal to the exhaust air rate. Such makeup air systems shall be equipped with a means of closure and shall be automatically controlled to start and operate simultaneously with the exhaust system.

Let's be careful out there, TH.

[WayneJ]

And the other thing to think about is when you're pulling 700 cfm out of the kitchen, where's the air coming in from? My house is fairly tight, and 700 cfm (which is like having NINE toilet exhaust fans running) would depressurize the house to almost 50 Pascals.

Good for crosss season. Bulging eyes and sucked-in cheeks. Mega intimidating