Kitchen extractor fa and keep a window slightly ajar

diystarter7

Hi

Exactly as per title.
We have a big and powerful extractor in the kitchen and turn it on almost as soon as oven/hob is turned on and at full blast to get food smells and oils/steam out.
On of our kids said that keeping a window slightly ajar may aid the process. So we looked it up on the net and could not really get a definitive asnwer for kitchen us

Which magazine has a lot about use of extractors in bathrooms and kitchen but nothing re windows - other sites talk about bathrooms but not kitchens

Thanks

grumbler

Strange question...

Of course, if the kitchen is sealed and there is no air supply your extractor cannot extract anything.

So, there is no any definite answer - it depends on how airtight is your kitchen or your house. The only definite answer is that opening a door or a window cannot make extraction worse.

Doozergirl

grumbler said:

Strange question...

Of course, if the kitchen is sealed and there is no air supply your extractor cannot extract anything.

So, there is no any definite answer - it depends on how airtight is your kitchen or your house. The only definite answer is that opening a door or a window cannot make extraction worse.

This. 

The OP's house won't be very airtight because we can't live in a truly airtight house.  Even if it's warm, condensation would start appearing.   Most UK houses are pretty leaky.  

Ours is designed airtight with managed ventilation and the extractor works just fine.  

diystarter7

Hi
Thanks, both
Quick end to thread
Thanks

ThisIsWeird

Au contraire...

Nothing to add, except it may make a difference which window is opened.

If you open a kitchen window, especially one closeish to the cooking, then I think there's a good chance it'll interfere with good extraction by causing unhelpful air currents that'll swirl the cooking exudes around and away from the focus of extraction.

If you don't open a window, then the extractor will be able to focus on removing the smells and steam being formed immediately under it. There will be plenty of air seeping in to the house to replace it.

MalMonroe

We have a kitchen extractor fan and the instructions that came with it said to NOT open windows because this negates the air extraction process.

It's similar to air conditioning where you don't open windows as it ruins the whole effect. And in cars where if you open your windows you're wasting time having the A/C on.

Either or, but not both.

And in this day and age we are keeping our extractor fan firmly OFF and opening kitchen windows while cooking. Hopefully we are saving megabucks as well as energy. (Okay then, just a few pennies - but it all helps.)

diystarter7

MalMonroe said:

We have a kitchen extractor fan and the instructions that came with it said to NOT open windows because this negates the air extraction process.

It's similar to air conditioning where you don't open windows as it ruins the whole effect. And in cars where if you open your windows you're wasting time having the A/C on.

Either or, but not both.

And in this day and age we are keeping our extractor fan firmly OFF and opening kitchen windows while cooking. Hopefully we are saving megabucks as well as energy. (Okay then, just a few pennies - but it all helps.)

Exactly what we do, thanks.

Re A/C, I disagree as cars can be as well as houses be blistering hot and you can open the doors and windows to let out the overwhelming heat for a minute or so and the a/c kicks in. In summer, I auto open the windows and the pan roof on the car to let out heat and before I close them I tun on the climate control then get i a minute later and close the windows


Re the air con unit we had i the old house conservator in really hot weather when re retunrd home from work we'd open the conservatory doors/window, tunr the unit on and close door

Your help is appreciated espcrially confirm the kitchen extractor info. I think they had read an articl re bigh bathroom and extraor fan ove shower cublicle and window slightly ajar at the far end of the bathroom and then open a bit more after showe is off.

Thanks

stuart45

If a window.is close to the fan, it can tend to draw more of the incoming air straight out, and not as much of the air you want extracting.

grumbler

MalMonroe said:

We have a kitchen extractor fan and the instructions that came with it said to NOT open windows because this negates the air extraction process.

Nonsense written by some uneducated idiot. If a room is airtight, extraction doesn't work. It woks only if air can get to the room through gaps or from other rooms (that aren't sealed).

It's similar to air conditioning where you don't open windows as it ruins the whole effect. And in cars where if you open your windows you're wasting time having the A/C on.

An air conditioner (split system) is recirculating. It works like a fan heater, but cools air instead or heating it. That's why it doesn't need any supply of air to the room.

A portable air conditioner won't work in a perfectly sealed room because it won't be able to blow hot air outside and thus will heat the room instead of cooling it.

Eldi_Dos

What we should not lose sight off is that extractor fans are not purely about keeping moisture levels down and cooking smells under control but for replenishing air in living space, quite important if using a gas hob in well sealed kitchen with door shut.

When I used to work in confined spaces or underground structures we had to wear monitors that measured three things, one being oxygen levels, it did not take long for oxygen level to drop if three or four people were working in quite a big structure if there was no forced ventilation. If I remember correctly 19.6 % was the level that triggered alarm.

I have wondered about modern houses especially ones designed to use heat pumps and their ventilation.

Doozergirl

Eldi_Dos said:

I have wondered about modern houses especially ones designed to use heat pumps and their ventilation.

They have mechanical ventilation.  It's not about stopping airflow, it's about managing the air that leaves the house (and keeping it warm if you have heat recovery) rather than letting it all out through holes via draughts, leaving the house cold.