Buying a hood fan

[calgarygeologist]

I'm looking for recommendations on hood fans. I need to replace my crappy over the range microwave with a proper hood fan because the existing unit doesn't exhaust properly. I'm tried of our smoke alarms going off with the least bit of smoke from cooking.

I can do an under cabinet or replace the cabinet with a wall mounted unit. I've checked my ducting and it should be sufficient to handle a decent amount of air flow. I want a unit that has high CFM but is also really quiet because we have an open floor plan. I also don't want to break the bank with a $1000+ unit.

Any suggestions would be great.

[sa226]

First off, is the exhausting issue your main reason for the change? Or do you just want something new? Because there could be a number of reasons why its not exhausting. The flapper could be jammed, or anything else. Also is it a ridiculous amount of smoke or just sensitive alarms mounted in bad places? We had a smoke alarm that would go off with the slightest hint of anything. So I ended up replacing it with a photocell detector and that fixed the nuisance alarm.

As for replacing the unit, we did that 6months ago. Easiest would probably be the undercabinet mount. The duct is already set up and ready to go. Potential issue is that your power source will be an outlet that was previously for the microwave, most regular hood fans are hardwired (I could be wrong) but thats not too hard to deal with.

If you go with the wall mount fan, be sure to check the alignment of the outlet and duct, because you will be going from previously covered up wall space to a bunch of open wall, and the outlet may not be in an ideal spot, as well as the duct may not align with your setup. In reality the duct should but the outlet might not.

There are a lot of options for fans out there. I would just read reviews. The wall mount fans can range from 400$ to 2000$ Its ridiculous. Biggest thing people seem to care about is the noise they make. We bought our wall mount from Ikea. Theyre rebranded whirlpool products I think.

Last thing is that if you're increasing the CFM's by a lot , you need a "make up air" unit. In the winter with the house all sealed up, if you're sending a bunch of air out of the house without allowing any in, you can create a negative pressure. I think its a building code thing. In our house there is a little white box mounted below the electrical panel, I think it senses the negative pressure and kicks on the furnace fan if required.

[calgarygeologist]

Could reasons for the replacement. One is the poor ventilation, two is the fact that the microwave doesn't work anymore and third is that a microwave unit hangs down a little too close to the range, a gas unit.

We actually replaced the smoke detector like you did because it was overly sensitive but we are still getting some nuisance alarms with the least bit of smoke.

[Mark]

I just bought one from Kitchenhoods.ca (www.kitchenhoods.ca). The reviews are great, great prices, free shipping, and good specs and selection. My friend bought from them last year and he loves is vent and says their support was great.

[Dentoman]

Originally Posted by sa226

Last thing is that if you're increasing the CFM's by a lot , you need a "make up air" unit. In the winter with the house all sealed up, if you're sending a bunch of air out of the house without allowing any in, you can create a negative pressure. I think its a building code thing. In our house there is a little white box mounted below the electrical panel, I think it senses the negative pressure and kicks on the furnace fan if required.

This is true. Our house (10 years old) has a switch that turns on the whole house ventilation fan when the hood fan is turned on. No idea what the rating is on our fan, but the builder said it was strong enough that he building code said we needed to have the two linked.

[tagheuer]

Sakura hood fan.

http://www.sakura-canada.com/sakura%20products.html

You can find the product locally at stores at :

Sakura Hood Fans & Home Appliances Inc
Address: 9650 Harvest Hills Blvd N, Calgary, AB T3K 0B3
Phone: (403) 269-7880

PS: I don't have any affiliation with both company or retailer. Just a happy Sakura hood fan customer.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by tagheuer

Sakura hood fan.

http://www.sakura-canada.com/sakura%20products.html

You can find the product locally at stores at :

Sakura Hood Fans & Home Appliances Inc
Address: 9650 Harvest Hills Blvd N, Calgary, AB T3K 0B3
Phone: (403) 269-7880

PS: I don't have any affiliation with both company or retailer. Just a happy Sakura hood fan customer.

How much would that cost me? It sounds expensive.

[Clarkey]

Costcos.

[tagheuer]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

How much would that cost me? It sounds expensive.

Sorry, it took a while for me to find the receipt.

I paid $500 cash for the U2-II HS(stainless steel) in 2012.

Still going strong after nearly 5 years of daily use.

PS. If you decided with Sakura hood fan, don't buy any gimmick features such as fuzzy logic, etc. Just get one which uses rocker switches for turning on/off both fans and light.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Mark

I just bought one from Kitchenhoods.ca (www.kitchenhoods.ca). The reviews are great, great prices, free shipping, and good specs and selection. My friend bought from them last year and he loves is vent and says their support was great.

I did the same back in 2014. Got a 36" one that matches the size of the gas range. Looks great, commercial style baffles, and I'd say its reasonably quiet but goes from 1 - 6 speeds, 6 effectively sucking out 700CFM.

http://www.kitchenhoods.ca/shop/psf-...e-filters.html