What is correct height for a stove top vent hood?

[Robert Macy]

Our vent hood is mounted too low for ergonomic reasons. Being tall people and having it mounted at its present height, both my wife and I either hit our heads on it, or have to duck under to even look into a pan!

Thus, desire to move to higher position.

The information in the manual for the Arietta model: CHN001MX30/ CHN001MX36 is very confusing. The manual describes distance from the bottom of the vent to the stove surface.iin the following way:

gas cooktop

30 inch minimum electric cooktop 24-30 inch min

I'm not even going to comment on the concept of a minimum dimension being given as a range of distance!

However, does that mean, NO CLOSER than 30 inches, but anything higher is ok?

Does anyone know, is it ok to mount the vent hood completely up out of our way?

[Vic Smith]

I don't know for sure, but I'll guess that too much distance won't let the hood do its job at sucking up whatever it sucks up. Too close might mean too much heat to the hood components, and not enough working room. I'd just stay within the manufacturer's recommended distance. But two things to consider is putting the range on a platform to accommodate your height, and getting a range with rounded edges to prevent injury.

[Jim Elbrecht]

That is pretty funny.

I haven't studied stove hoods, but I *have* studied how to ventilate a room from noxious fumes. I think you're OK putting it as high as you need to--- but you may have to compensate with a stronger [and therefore noisier] fan. You also want to pay attention to 'replacement air', and where *it* is coming from.

If this hood is for more than decoration, then look at some commercial hoods. The have much stronger fans. By stronger, I mean CFM rating- how many cubic feet of air they move in a minute.

Jim

[Gordon Shumway]

The manual says "minimum." As long as you are AT LEAST that far from the cooktop you have reduced/eliminated the possibility of damaging the vent from heat. Anything ABOVE the "minimum" reduces/eliminates getting one's noggin clunked.

[hrhofmann]

Are there cabinets above the hood, if so, there is little you can do except to try to find a shallower vertical height hood.

[clare]

You can mount it on the ceiling if you like - but it will be less effective. There is no maximum height in any code that I am aware of.

[clare]

Or modify or remove the cabinet.

[gregz]

I came into my house with a ceiling vent. It would have been ok if were not noisy, and it did not exit into the attic. Most lowered vents do not stick over far enough of the stove. Got to be high enough so you don't bump it. The fan should be in-line not in the same room.

Greg

[Doug]

I would answer these questions as NO because the height can't be anything if you want the fan to be effective as is. Yes it can be greater than 30" but no one can tell you just how high without knowing more information. Why not just ask the mfgr and maybe they have an engineer who is experienced with this type question?

[trader4]

Those are the issues. With a gas range there is a code minimum, which I believe is 30". That seems like a good minimum height anyway, where possible. You can go higher, but as you do you lose effectiveness at catching all the smoke. How much that matters depends on how much you cook, what you cook, and how powerful the vent is. With a 300 CFM fan higher than 30 and you'll probably not like it. With a 1200CFM you could go higher and still catch a lot more smoke than with the other fan.

[trader4]

The 5 mins for a vortex of course shows he's a total ignoramus.

Hide quoted text -

[Vic Smith]

-

Surprised he didn't mention using smoke to make sure the cyclone was established.

--Vic

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

I'd spell that 'uninformed salesperson' --- but we agree on the gist of it.

Well worth the op's time to check further. Sounds like the folks he called don't sell a stronger fan.

Jim