Extractor fan

sniggings

I know the ones that do not vent outside are the worst, but they can't be this bad?

When even on full, there doesn't seem to any suction at all, I've even tried putting tissue right under it and it doesn't stick? should there be some evidence of suction? does it sound broken? it's really noisy so I was thinking it was working even those I can not cook without the smoke detectors going off every time.

CashStrapped

Boil a pan of water under the hob with the extractor on. See if the steam is drawn towards it. An extractor is not meant to be that powerful. It just ensures the steam and other vapour is drawn from your cooker.

An extractor is meant to do three things.

1) Remove excessive amounts of water vapour from the kitchen area

2) Remove odours from the kitchen.

3) Capture oils in the filter (either modern mesh or old style material)

An externally vented extractor will do all these things well. As everything is vented outside.

An internally vented extractor will capture oils in the filter but will not do much for water vapour. However it should have a charcoal filter which is usually placed over the motor and is there to absorb smells.

The actual power of the suction is less of a concern. It should only be a gentle airflow.

It could be however that the motor is all gummed up with grease and oil. Take off the filter hood and have a look inside.

sniggings

CashStrapped wrote: »

Boil a pan of water under the hob with the extractor on. See if the steam is drawn towards it. An extractor is not meant to be that powerful. It just ensures the steam and other vapour is drawn from your cooker.

An extractor is meant to do three things.

1) Remove excessive amounts of water vapour from the kitchen area

2) Remove odours from the kitchen.

3) Capture oils in the filter (either modern mesh or old style material)

An externally vented extractor will do all these things well. As everything is vented outside.

An internally vented extractor will capture oils in the filter but will not do much for water vapour. However it should have a charcoal filter which is usually placed over the motor and is there to absorb smells.

The actual power of the suction is less of a concern. It should only be a gentle airflow.

It could be however that the motor is all gummed up with grease and oil. Take off the filter hood and have a look inside.

Thanks, just to e clear I mean a cooker hood, rather than a ceiling extractor fan.

If the above still stands, I'll need to look into getting it changed to vented as it's next to useless.

It's very clean, I've had the cover off and it has the charcoal, the inside looks clean too.

CashStrapped

Indeed, my response was about an cooker hood extractor fan hence talking about pans, steam, oils etc.

What I am saying is that changing it to vented will not increase the suction power.

Test it by placing a pan on the hob and bringing it to the boil and watch if the steam is drawn into it. If it is, it is working fine, as that is all it is meant to do.

sniggings

CashStrapped wrote: »

Indeed, my response was about an cooker hood extractor fan hence talking about pans, steam, oils etc.

What I am saying is that changing it to vented will not increase the suction power.

Test it by placing a pan on the hob and bringing it to the boil and watch if the steam is drawn into it. If it is, it is working fine, as that is all it is meant to do.

thanks, yeah thought we were on the same page, just making sure as there is also a ceiling extractor in the kitchen too,which again doesn't help with the smoke alarm issue.(seems to be a bathroom extrator tho!)

Trying the pan now...

Any suggestions on a fix for the alarm issue? it has a10min cooking turn off,yet the smoke can still set it off.

CashStrapped

A smoke alarm should not be in the kitchen. It will just go off all the time.

A heat alarm is best for the kitchen.

The smoke alarm should usually be positioned at the bottom of the stairs and then one of every landing (depends on the layout of the house).

sniggings

CashStrapped wrote: »

A smoke alarm should not be in the kitchen. It will just go off all the time.

A heat alarm is best for the kitchen.

The smoke alarm should usually be positioned at the bottom of the stairs and then one of every landing (depends on the layout of the house).

It's a rented flat, so they have over done it, the kitchen is open plan, with an alarm right next to the ceiling extractor and another alarm a few meters away in the living room, they are hardwired too so removing the batteries is not an option!

Anyway tried the pan thing, guess kitchen is to warm as not much steam to see what's going on, tried the kettle and that went into the hood but even when off it went into the hood so hard to tell if the hood was making a difference.

Thanks for the help, guess we got to the answer, the daft smoke detector is inthe wrong place!!!

Saying that tho, still would be nice to not have a room full of cooking smells everytime I cook.

casper_g

I moved into a house and had a similar problem with a useless extractor hood over the cooker.


On closer inspection the unit had two air outlets with snap-off covers, one on the back to extract out through the wall and one on the top to extract vertically upwards (into ducting or for recirculating operation). The installer had removed neither, so the air had nowhere to go.


The issue with your cooker hood could be as simple as this, so have a look at how it's been set up.

sniggings

casper_g wrote: »

I moved into a house and had a similar problem with a useless extractor hood over the cooker.


On closer inspection the unit had two air outlets with snap-off covers, one on the back to extract out through the wall and one on the top to extract vertically upwards (into ducting or for recirculating operation). The installer had removed neither, so the air had nowhere to go.


The issue with your cooker hood could be as simple as this, so have a look at how it's been set up.

thanks I'll take a look as it really can't be this useless...especially given the noise it makes whilst being useless :rotfl:

sniggings

turns out the filters were fitted incorrectly, they seemed fitted fine, but when I took them out to check things out, then replaced them, all this "dust" started to come out of hood...it's still not that powerful but atleast it's working now.

Risteard

CashStrapped wrote: »

A smoke alarm should not be in the kitchen. It will just go off all the time.

Nor should an ionisation smoke alarm be used in an adjacent room - optical smoke detectors should be used.