Draft from kitchen stove hood

[Jeff Wisnia]

The fan hood over our kitchen stove has noticeably cold air sinking out of it. The vent pipe for that hood goes up through two stories of the house and through the attic before emerging from the roof.

The weather here in Red Sox Nation has been breaking all time records for cold temperatures and there is lots of wind too.

I'd like to find a simple way to be able to block off that cold air coming down through the hood and still be able to use the fan to do its job when necessary.

I suppose I could remove the two filters in the hood, cover them with Saran wrap and put them back in, but it would be a PIA to have to remove and unwrap them every time I wanted to use the hood for its intended purpose.

I can't think of anything else to block off those cold drafts, am I overlooking something?

Thanks guys,

Jeff

[Tony Hwang]

That is very unusual venting all the way up like that. I'd have flap in the pipe installed(retrofit) You can have one manually open/close or open when fan is running. Usually they vent thru the wall behind the hood to outside with vent flap which opens only when the fan is running.

[Don Y]

I'd look at two places to tackle this (given that you probably DON'T want to do a major renovation).

At the roof, you might be able to find a vent cap with a "flap" that is gravity held closed. Air pressure opens it. Sort of like the dryer vents that exit the SIDE of a house.

The other option is at the intake (inside the house). Here, we have pneumatic dampers (imagine a set of louvers) that are held closed by gravity in the HVAC -- one atop the furnace and the other UNDER the (roof mounted) evaporative cooler.

When the furnace is operated, the damper atop the furnace is pushed open (by the air pressure from the furnace blower) to allow hot (or cooled) air into the supply duct. At the same time, this air pressure forces the damper under the swamp cooler to be held tightly closed.

When the cooler operates, the air pressure (from above) forces its damper open to allow that air into the supply ductwork. And, the damper atop the furnace is forced closed by the same air pressure.

When both are off, gravity lets them slap closed (prevents air from infiltrating or escaping).

scroll to "Wall and Roof Mounted Dampers"

You can also adopt an *active* solution (though it requires access to that ductwork at someplace (attic?). This is a damper that is DRIVEN by an actuator to open or close. You could wire this to the same switch that controls the exhaust fan.

[Micky]

You wouldn't have to do it every time. Only when it's really cold. FWIW I never use my range hood.

[dadiOH]

Aluminum foil and a couple of pieces of tape.

[Mr.E]

Check with a light and see if it has a damper on top of hood that is crudded open. If not, get a local sheet metal shop to build you a top of pipe damper/rain-snow hood to replace the weather cap.

[Frank]

Flappers can wear out and need replacing.

Surprised they did not vent through a wall on the same floor. All my vents are on the side of the house and not as subject to the weather.

You can also have a problem with critter entry. My son recently had a squirrel get trapped in his Heatilator fire place. Fortunately he was able to trap it, but one of my other sons had a similar problem and the squirrel died and cost him nearly $1,000 to remove and fix.

[Tekkie®]

Jeff Wisnia posted for all of us...

It's probably the vent (I presume) on the roof. I would have that replaced. I would also have the ductwork checked. You may be getting condensation in the ductwork from the temperature extremes. Speaking for myself I would not block it off from below because all one has to do is forget and then you can cause yourself many problems.

[Paintedcow]

I have one too, and never use it. My parents never had one, neither did my grandparents, nor any of the older homes I used to rent. This house has one, and I never even think about turning it on. Old habits are hard to break, and I guess I never saw much sense to them. Except for the light. The light over the stove is kind of nice.

If the OP had not said they want to use it, I'd suggest just cutting the wires to the fan, and screwing a piece of tin over the vent hole. Or just make a ball of tin foil and shove it up the pipe.

[Micky]

After saying what I did, I remembered that I did price a new filter soon after I moved in. It was maybe $15 30 years ago. It seemed l ike an awful lot of money, when I never disliked any of the smells anyhow. Maybe they're cheaper now with the web to shop with?

My fan just sucks the air from above the stove, through the filter, and into the kitchen again. Maybe if it went outside, I'd use it once in a while, at least when the smoke detector is shrieking.

[bob_villain]

Most/some are designed to either exhaust or just filter back...but I think you set that up when installing?

[Ed Pawlowski]

Hoods serve a good purpose for the serious cook. If you heat a pan to sear something it will start to smoke. Why breath in that stuff when at the push of a button you can get rid of it?

In the summer if you run the AC, best to vent the excess heat if you have a couple of pots cooking away.

We don't use it every day, but it is a useful, practical, appliance.

[Don Y]

To test the smoke detectors? :>

Here, Code doesn't require their installation. OTOH, if you *do* opt to install one, there are constraints that it must satisfy (flow rate, distance from other air intakes, etc.).

We opted to remove ours when we remodeled as our "slide-in" stove resides in a peninsula that *had* cabinetry and hood above. By removing the cabinetry, the kitchen are is more expansive (no artificial wall blocking sight lines) and inviting.

Adding a hood *back* in (even a minimalist "sleek" design) would have defeated that purpose. And, putting a fan up AT the ceiling level just seemed like a bad compromise. My folks had an arrangement like that -- wrapped in plastic to avoid the winter drafts. I don't think it was ever UNwrapped!

We explored downdraft vents but most claimed they weren't very effective. And, that would have been a significant venting challenge!

Of course, in a pinch, we can open the exterior door and vent the kitchen there (turn swamp cooler on to push the air out the "nearest available opening"). So far, I've not burned anything THAT badly...

[Micky]

I can't do that, because it doesn't vent outside, but I did do this:

I use the self-cleaning part of the oven about once a year, as part of spring cleaning, but I decided it would be better to do it in the winter, when all the excess heat would warm my house.

It doesn't really get that hot, but it must, even if I don't notice it.

[Paintedcow]

That explains it. I'm not a "serious cook". I toss something together to eat and do it the quickest way I can. Usually in the microwave. If I want "real food", I find someone else to cook it. Preferably a female, who wiggles her stuff while she cooks some Jello... :)

In the summer I cook almost everything outdoors on my charcoal grill. It tastes better and dont add heat to the house....

Then YOU must be a "serious cook"!

[Ed Pawlowski]

Yes, and I do about 75% of the cooking here.

[Tony Hwang]

It stinks when oven is in cleaning cycle. I have to run hood vent motor.

[Micky]

Yes, it turns out there are a lot of foods they say not to cook in the microwave that you CAN cook in the micrwave. It's just a different recipe, that's all.