If the windows were properly flashed they wouldn't whistle. Think about it...wind comes from outside. if wind comes thru water will also. re-flashing is the fix, caulking is a bandaid fix. your house should still be under warrenty. B that I can be, I made the builder take the brick off around the windows for one of my clients, and properly flash the windows. Builder will just want to caulk, or tighten ...but it will fail eventually. Hold out for proper flashing. best of luck with your builder!

I wish I could tell you what pv to buy, but at least I can tell you what NOT to buy. We detest our pv. Our neighbors hate it. We are actively investigating how to eliminate it and go back to venting thru the chimney (though that is unappealing due to loss of a couple % eff.) We have a Field controls SWG power vent system sidewall power venter, model swg-6s. It operates at 3100rpm. dh thinks a large part of our problem is due to the fact that we have steam heat, and we use ambient air to supply the combustion chamber. If we had it to do over again, we would get a boiler with sealed combustion. Many of the modulating condensing boilers come with this feature, which means they use outside air for combustion, and would not be subject to reverse air flow problems. The system we have requires a much higher negative pressure in the vent to insure that there is no CO backflow into the ambient basement air. Sealed combustion eliminates this risk, so a lower vent air pressure is safe, and quieter. So, depending on your type of heat (hw vs. steam) and the type of boiler you choose, you could well end up with a quiet venting system. Our neighbor has a sealed combustion system and a quiet vent. I don't think anybody even knows they have a power vent. We, on the other hand, are infamous. hth slateberry

(1) Nothing would surprise me about the limitations included in warranties; they aren't written to provide any more customer benefit than is needed to support sales. (2) Possible actions causing damage (that I can think of): Trying to force a blower assembly into a hood space it wasn't designed to fit Connecting an incompatible blower motor with a hood's included blower control. Otherwise, lock-in is a likely manufacturer goal, as is also not having to support customers who have problems when they try mix-n-match. For entertainment, review a warranty to see how many sentences provide benefit to the customer, and how many limit the liability of the company. In the case of in-line or roof or wall mounted blowers, no incompatible shape forcing is involved. If the hood has a typical continuous motor control (diac/triac, some more sophisticated control chip with SCR) module, it should work with any single-phase induction motor that is not more powerful than the one it was designed to work with. If, like the OP, there is an intent to change the control anyway, then there can be no issue with compatibility. All then that is left with a blowerless hood to warrant would be weld durability, (in the rare case of actually specifying the stainless steel it was claimed to be made of) resistance to corrosion, and maybe a lamp control circuit under one-year warranty. It would be laughable if a claim of warranty exclusion was asserted for a lamp control because the interior blower was removed. In general, I would suggest that if one is in the middle of a renovation, with all the issues that arise in design and then in execution, from lumber quality to spousal tolerance, it may be more efficient to go with a manufacturer's combination. Otherwise, given understanding by the customer or his sub-contractor of the principles involved, there should be no problem with using a different blower manufacturer than hood manufacturer when the blower is external to the hood. In general 2, I would suggest for those that can afford it that purchase from a hood manufacturer that one can determine from Internet comments stands behind their product is a good idea. This forum has some threads on lack of response or poor response from some brands' manufacturers. I don't expect there are many for Wolf, or ModernAire, inter alia. kas

A few thoughts... - Many noise apps are not very accurate. Most accurate we've found in our lab is Decibel X on an iPhone 8 or newer. Make sure you are using dB(a), not dB(c/z), are 1m from the hood, etc. More on how to accurately measure: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6040827/range-hood-noise-project - Duct and blower should be mounted with strap and NOT ever come in contact with framing or other elements that transmit vibration noise and effectively turn your house in to a giant speaker. - Yes on duct possibly being too small. If so then this will result in increased noise. - Bends/Turns (w/ proper sized duct) are actually good for noise reduction even if not so good for overall performance. - Distance to blower is good for noise reduction. - A duct silencer between the hood and blower can be very helpful. - 1200 CFM is a lot for such a small hood. You likely have a lot of noise just trying to pull a lot of air through a small baffle. - Baffle design has a big impact on noise levels. Many consumer hoods do poorly on this. How loud is it w/ baffles removed? - Your hood lacks sufficient containment volume which requires you to operate at much higher CFM's (and thus greater noise) for the same (or worse) effectiveness at effluent removal. - Blower may be out of balance. Not necessarily noise related: - Your hood looks the same width as your range. The aperture/opening s/b at least 6" wider than your range and ideally at least 27" deep.