Is there a way to have a reasonably quiet hood liner?
kitchenkrazed09
13 years ago
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weissman
13 years agokitchenkrazed09
13 years agoRelated Discussions
Is there a reasonably priced range hood that's somewhat quiet?
Comments (3)for what it's worth... In the Twin Cities, I was able to look at the Broan Allure models mounted right next to a Vent-a-Hood in the Stellian showroom. I can't recall what the VAH model was, but it was comparable in price to the Allure III, about $350. My cooking is done on a 30 inch regular electric range. Standard cooking; some broiling but fish is usually done on outside barbecue. For our family, the sound of the vent is of much more significance than the airhandling capacity--background sound prevents conversation or hearing of other things when you're slightly deaf. Loud sound is unacceptable to us and would prevent us from using the hood altogether. The Broan Allure III, which I can purchase at Stellian for a little over $300, has a very low setting which is barely audible to me, remember I'm somewhat deaf. The Vent-A-Hood was also fairly low in sound, but my (eccentric) ears said that the Allure III was quieter on low and on pretty low, and those are the modes I will be using much of the time. The Allure III on high and on ultraboost mode is med. loud and very loud and their cfm movement will suffice for occasional short time use for big smoke/stink I think. Salesperson, an old hand type, says he prefers the V-A-H but not because of sound issues. He likes the mechanical stuff with the VentAHood because it collects grease and you wash it out afterward and he says the air collecting area is better size. The Broan has a dishwasher washable grease filter and will be fine for my purposes. I have steam issues more than fat. My Broan from the 1970s still works but it's too noisy for my old ears. I generally run it on lowest setting now, unless I'm blanching veg, etc in summer. I should have bought a replacement years ago, but at least now the quietness technology is improved. As for over-the-range microwave hoods, I don't like them. Short people can't reach them and the air handling is not as good or as quiet as a dedicated unit can offer. Also, as your kids grow up, you will be saying "excuse me" all the time as two people try to do different things in the same space. If the microwave goes belly up, your vent hood goes as well. How many microwaves have you already owned in the last few years? Broan vent connections seem to be problematical; plan to buy some specialized vent ducting. In our case, we think we can recycle the old vent connection....See MoreQuiet vent hood under 350CFM?
Comments (23)We have finally moved in this month, so here is my report! We did get the VAH PRH9130, 300CFM. I like it so far, with a few caveats. It is not silent, but the noise it makes is a non-irritating whooshing sound, rather than the clattery motor-y noise made by my old builder-grade Broan. I can leave it on low the whole time I'm in the kitchen and not mind that it's going. And high isn't much louder than low. As I mentioned originally, we don't do a lot of high temperature frying or searing, but for the boiling and sauteing that I do, the 300CFM fan has been completely adequate, even when I have a big stock pot at a rolling boil on the front burner. I forgot a pan of toasting nuts the other night until they were starting to smoke, and the smell and smoke was completely contained. My only real complaint is the sharp corners on this model. They are at my forehead height, and a few times when I've leaned in to wipe the counter, I've come dangerously close to those corners. I'm think I'm getting used to it now, and hopefully will avoid bruising my head! There are VAH models that are more rounded, but they were significantly more expensive... A minor issue is that the switches for the fan and light are under the hood. It's nice aesthetically, but I have to glance under to find the switch each time. The Zephyrs I looked at have the switches on the front, and I think I would prefer that. But not a big deal....See MoreIs this cost reasonable for a liner/blower
Comments (5)I don't like the Zephyr much. Agree totally that baffles are far superior to mesh filters, so count on that upgrade. My biggest issue is that you're using a fixed 38'' "power pack" no matter how large the actual liner is. That means your collection area is really only 38'' wide. Admittedly the larger liner will trap more exhaust, but it seems markedly inferior to a liner that uses baffles across the entire surface of the hood. A full custom liner like our 64'' from Modern Aire, along with a silencer plus Fantech inline blower ran us about $600 more than the 48'' you're looking at. I wouldn't trade it for the Zephyr at any price. Better performance, better blower, silencer (which makes a huge difference), and I suspect better quality of construction for only a few hundred more....See Moresuper-quiet 600+ cfm range hood for condo - mission impossible??
Comments (81)Rereading this thread in its entirety -- a trip down memory lane -- reminded me of some web sites with filters on their search function such that when one clicks on enough constraints there are no candidates left to purchase. feisty68's constraints have a similar effect. Thinking that maybe there is some way out of the box, two concepts come to mind to bring up: (a) One can choose a hood with internal blowers (as seemingly required) that has more specified flow than the external duct can handle. In this case, at full power the flow will be low, (or possibly zero, depending on the fan curve shape), but when run at part power to yield an appropriate flow rate for the duct, there should be reasonable flow. Whether this is adequate flow would require some analysis. At partial power the blade tip speed will be less and lower noise should result. For example, a VaH hood with two motor squirrel cage fan assemblies run at part power would likely still expel grease onto their housings as intended. Choked flow, however, may be sooner (CFM-wise) than a similar over-sized conventional blower / baffle system due to the nature of a squirrel-cage blower (as implied by VaH CFM vs. pressure loss data). I wouldn't want to guess which approach was louder at the power setting that was at the point of diminishing returns, CFM-wise. Related to this category is using an inline axial blower designed for higher pressure loss at the desired actual flow rate. Fantech might help here. Such blowers may be noisier, so an in-line silencer on the hood side of the blower might be essential. There are screaming-mimi aerospace fans that can push 1600 CFM through a six-inch duct. (b) The other concept is a hybrid exterior/recirculating hood scheme. I think both Best and VaH have examples of recirculating hoods. In this concept, if the actual systems are so configurable, the path to the filter pack would be split with one branch going outside. When the pressure losses of the exterior duct path rose high enough as blower power increased during heavy cooking, additional flow would be through the filter pack and back into the room. Some recirculating hood users here have commented on effectiveness and noise and their threads might be discovered and checked for relevance. Obviously, the simpler approach here is recirculating without engaging the external ducting. In that case, a separate soffit blower, soffit face register scheme could be used for further kitchen overall ventilation, helpful (slowly) when the oven is opened. kas...See More- PRO
Trevor Lawson (Eurostoves Inc)
13 years ago kitchenkrazed09
13 years agodavidro1
13 years agodavidro1
13 years agokitchenkrazed09
13 years ago- PRO
Trevor Lawson (Eurostoves Inc)
13 years agoIf possible the best fit for you would be a remote blower with a silencer on the 5' run. I don't normally recommend a remote blower for distances less than 10' but if noise is your main concern than a remote blower and silencer will achieve lower noise levels in your kitchen.
As mentioned above duct sizing is very important to both noise and function, bigger is better, round is better than rectangular, having said that 7 x 10 is about the same size in inches that a 10' round is, the important thing with the rectangular duct is to make turns gentle a sweeping turn does not cause as much air cavitation which also creates noise.
Just so everyone knows the hood style you are talking about is attached the picture below.
kitchenkrazed09
13 years ago
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