quiet cooker hood

[sm_jamieson]

Can anyone recommend cooker hoods (below 300 quid) that are fairly quiet for a certain air speed? Specs always quote their maximum dBa which is useless when the extraction rates all vary. The 850m^3/hr units from B&Q all seem to be about 61dBa at max speed. Also, what extraction rate should I be looking for ? Ducting will be about 3 metres from the top of the chimney. I want to ensure the lowest of the 3 speeds is slow enough to not remove all the hot air from the kitchen ! Simon

[Tim W]

10 or 15 yrs ago I did some research into cooker hood noise levels. My conclusion was that the noise was in proportion to the motor power which was in proportion to the extraction rate regardless of price, design, quality or anything else. Hoods with remote fans were not common at the time, but I would guess they are considerably quieter. iirc the recommended extraction rate depends on the size of the room.

Tim W

[sm_jamieson]

I think the assumption is you want to get rid of the smells so they talk about changing all the air in the room so many times an hour. That would be overkill for me. The ideal setting just removes most of the steam. On an overpowered hood the lowest setting would be too high for these purposes.

I guess the noise of the noise of the fan motor projects along the air path, and the air passing through the filter contributes. Its things like isolation of the motor from the metal surround, good bearings etc that can make the difference between a rattley old thing. You can never tell about this from the specifications. I looked at the remote fans, but they are expensive and too much hassle at the moment, I'd need an access hatch in the roof etc. I could do a DIY lash-up but the buttons on the hood would need to work. And SWMBO want the kitchen finished ! Cheers, Simon.

[Gib Bogle]

I thought about DIY, putting the fan outside, but it got complicated and in the end I couldn't justify spending the time. We mostly use the low speed setting, occasionally the middle setting. Never had to crank it all the way up.