Burnt_Toast
Assistant Cook
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2004
- Messages
- 34
What the does it do exactly?
Fan over the stove?
- Thread starter Burnt_Toast
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
JoeV
Washing Up
The range hood over your stove serves to be a firestop for the cabinet above the stove, and as a means to ventilate excess heat and smoke from cooking and baking. The hood has a filter in it that traps atomized grease and is removable so you can wash it. This keeps most of the the atomized grease from attaching to the walls and ceilings in your home. The fan can either exhaust the heat and fumes to the outside of the house, or simply filter the air and blow the heat right back into the kitchen. Exhaust to the outside is the best configuration, but costs extra for the ductwork that must be attached to it. Many microwaves are available to accomplish the same results as the plain range hood, plus the benefit of having your microwave mounted to the wall and off of your counter top.
Proper ventilation is perhaps the most important tool in your kitchen. I now cook many things I never cooked before I got proper outdraft ventilation. Food odors and grease do not linger in the air, and the smoke alarm does not go off just because I'm frying bacon!
Scotch
Head Chef
But you'd be surprised what passes for a range hood these days.
When we were looking for a new (used) house 4 years ago, we went into one very nice remodeled place that we really liked.
When I went into the kitchen, I noticed the gas range was against an interior wall, and there was a combination microwave-range hood above the stove.
Because there was a bedroom on the floor immediately above the kitchen, I began wondering how the stove vented. I opened the cabinets above the microwave-range hood and confirmed my suspicion -- there was no vent to the outside.
I turned the vent on and discovered it had a fan to suck up all the hot air, CO2, carbon monoxide, and cooking fumes and blow them back into the room, right into the face of anyone standing in front of the stove! What a novel concept! How useful is that?
I asked the real estate agent who was sitting on the house about it, and she explained that it was a "recirculating vent." Un huh, right!
So I sez to her, "So you mean the fan sucks all the hot air and gases off the stove and blows it back in my face?" "Well, yes, that's the way it works," she answered, rather indignantly, as if I were the idiot in the room.
What's next, a garbage disposal that recirculates food scraps onto the kitchen floor?
When we were looking for a new (used) house 4 years ago, we went into one very nice remodeled place that we really liked.
When I went into the kitchen, I noticed the gas range was against an interior wall, and there was a combination microwave-range hood above the stove.
Because there was a bedroom on the floor immediately above the kitchen, I began wondering how the stove vented. I opened the cabinets above the microwave-range hood and confirmed my suspicion -- there was no vent to the outside.
I turned the vent on and discovered it had a fan to suck up all the hot air, CO2, carbon monoxide, and cooking fumes and blow them back into the room, right into the face of anyone standing in front of the stove! What a novel concept! How useful is that?
I asked the real estate agent who was sitting on the house about it, and she explained that it was a "recirculating vent." Un huh, right!
So I sez to her, "So you mean the fan sucks all the hot air and gases off the stove and blows it back in my face?" "Well, yes, that's the way it works," she answered, rather indignantly, as if I were the idiot in the room.
What's next, a garbage disposal that recirculates food scraps onto the kitchen floor?
Fisher's Mom
Executive Chef
You are soooo right there, Robo! I never knew how amazing these things can be until I got a really good, high-capacity vent hood last year. I never have any kitchen smells anywhere else in the house when I use it and it cuts the amount of grease that finds it's way around the kitchen down to almost nothing! I have open shelving now for my appliances and my cookware and even rarely used items require nothing more than a dust-off before use. Totally awesome!
RobsanX
Sous Chef
That's how mine works, which is why I don't use the fan... The light is convenient though. I guess Joe has a point that the filter will trap some of the grease...
sketch182
Cook
The most important reason for having a good hood that vents to the outside, is that it gets rid of the carbon monoxide left over from your gas stove or oven. If you are using electric, it also gets rid of smells and smoke.
AnthonyStanley11
Assistant Cook
Great tip...I was going to post this, but you beat me to it!
CharlieD
Chef Extraordinaire
tHAT IS THE STANDARD MOST OF THE TIME THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU WILL FIND IN THE HOUSES. wHEN WE WERE BUILDING OUR HOME WE HAD TO PAY (oops) whole lot of money to get a decent vent that was vented to outside. I don't know why you are so surprised.
Laurel
Cook
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2008
- Messages
- 53
It's ridiculous for them not to vent (IMO) but in all of our apartments they all blew right back into your face. It made them pretty much useless. I'm glad our house now has a fan that works the correct way.
Adillo303
Head Chef
When we redid the kitchen. I installed a vent to the outside. Now I can drive my neighbors nuts with the aroma of what I am cooking.
sketch182
Cook
When I expanded my kitchen last year, I installed the best hood I could afford. I went for a vent-a-hood brand. It is powerful enough that the flames from my gas stove bend towards the centre of the hood where the air is being sucked out. It also takes out the smoke, steam and smells. I love it.
