Cooker Hood - Filter Mode

[swnshp]

We recently had a Cooker Hood installed, a Hotpoint HE63X. This is in filter mode, there is no vent to the outside.

However, there is only the two fat/grease filters, no evidence of a carbon filter. The instructions state the carbon filter must be provided if there is no suction.

I don't see the point of this hood in it's current form, would it be normal for the kitchen supplier to provide the filter? Also, there is nowhere for the air to leave the hood other than back out the way it came in, is this right? The pictures show a vent in the chimney, but there isn't one. I would think it dangerous to blow air back onto a cooker.

I don't think it's much more than decoration! I don't know if the above is normal, Hotpoint's instructions are not very detailed, but the kitchen fitters have got nothing else right, so is this another?

[John]

My old hood (20 yers old) was originally unvented - it had a charcoal filter and the filtered air came back into the kitchen at above head height. I later made a hole in the wall and fitted some ducting - was able to remove the charcoal filter and move a lever to vent the air outside. Does yours have such a lever?

[Harry Bloomfield]

[e-mail] explained :

Ours (not the same make/model) came with a carbon filter and was designed for recirculate or extract. A few years ago, but from memory some sort of flap or blanking plate had to be fitted/removed to decide which mode it worked in.

I fitted a duct to allow it to extract to outside - it seemed much more sensible than filtering and recirculating. It also gets rid of most of the steam of cooking.

[Lobster]

I think a recirculating hood is pretty useless at the best of times, but it is absolutely so if there's no carbon filter in there. They are quite expensive so are often omitted from the package on the assumption that the hood will be used in extract mode, when the carbon filter would be binned.

Isn't there a removable plate or something on top where the air can vent out, if in recirculating mode?

David

[Bob Mannix]

Yes. The chimney can be fitted with vents to the room or without, to ducting (Part of one of the chimney pieces will have holes in and you choose whether these are exposed or not). This was about the only thing my fitters did get right (a "well known kitchen and furniture retailer" - I made a small claim in the county court on line and got some money back - worth a try!)

Recirculating hoods are useless whatever the filters are IMHO

I have one mainly for decoration and lights but, as a final stand for rationality, I kept the Xpelair the other side of the room. I can comfort myself that , with the hood extracting from the top of the chimney into the room and the Xpelair on, at least stuff is extracted from one's face and quite a lot goes outside!

[swnshp]

There is no holes other than above the cooker for the air to get in. The picture in the manual on Hotpoint's website (they didn't leave us with instructions!) shows a vent at the top of the telescopic chimney. It's not in our installation, the chimney has no holes at all. The suppliers knew we would be recirculating as they designed the kitchen and the cooker is not on or very near an external wall.

[Bob Mannix]

Yes, the holes in the telescopic chimney were what I was referring to. It may depend on which way up the telescopic parts are fitted (ie the holes are exposed or not, one way up for vent to room, the other for external. Difficult to say without looking/taking to bits!

Depending on your relationship to the fitters you could ask them to come back and sort it.

[swnshp]

We may give them a ring, we did ask the plumber about the filter and he just left a note saying you can buy charcoal if you want!

We'd prefer certain builders not to re enter the house.