So your finally updating your kitchen and have probably come across a few additional expenses that you had not considered and now your plumber is asking you if you want your range hood to vent to the atmosphere or recycle and your not even sure exactly what the difference is.
What’s the difference?
A range hood is the extraction fan installed above your cooktop which helps remove the cooking steam and smells and if your using gas, the combusted gas fumes.
In simple terms, there are two types of range hood systems. Recycled air and vented to atmosphere.
Recycled air range hoods suck the air from above your cooktop and push it through a charcoal filter before returning the air to the kitchen. The charcoal filter helps remove smells and moisture from the air and should be cleaned and serviced on a regular basis.
Benefits – Cheap installation costs
Con’s – requires more ongoing maintenance and does not remove 100% of the smell or moisture. Where gas cooktops are used, the burnt flu gases are returned to the house.
Flued to Atmosphere Rangehoods suck the air from above your cooktop and pushes it through a flu pipe that disposes of the dirty air to outside either through the roof or wall. From our experience, this is One of the most underestimated plumbing costs that customers have. The reason for this is the cost of flu pipe, bends, terminations, lead flashings and rubber boots for penetrating the roof all add up fairly quickly. This compiled with the fact that it takes several hours labour for the installation and pending on the roof layout, may require the use of harnesses and a second person to be on site.
Advantages – maintains high quality clean air in your home as all cooking steam and burnt gas is disposed of permanently. Lower maintenance as they don’t have filters that require servicing and replacing (note they do have prescreens which should be kept clean).
Disadvantages – as mentioned, cost can sometimes be an inhibitor. In a best case scenario, a standard installation will cost over $550, and could be more than this pending on the size required and if additional offsets or complications are required. Can I just run a vented ranghood into my roof space?
Can I just run a vented ranghood into my roof space?
This is a question we get asked a lot, and no, we do not recommend this. Fats will build up in your roof space causing a fire hazard directly above the most likely place a fire will start.
Can I use the old flu pipe?
Maybe – If the size of the existing rangehood flu pipe is equal to the new flu pipe than with some slight modifications you will probably be able to reuse the existing flu including its penotration and flashing. If the existing flu pipe is smaller than the new flu pipe we do not recommend using it. It will put additional strain on the fan and likely void your warranty.
