Hood insert recommended by appliance store, is it the right one?

10 years ago

This is the hood insert that the appliance person told me to get to go over my new Bosch 800 Series 36" Induction Cooktop.
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AK8100AS Zephyr Blower Int, 600 CFM, Power Pack

27" Tornado I Power Pack Insert with 600 CFM Internal Blower, 6 Sones, 3 Speed Levels, Dual-Level Halogen Lights and Mechanical Slide Cont
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I admit that ventilation is an area of this kitchen remodel where I am completely clueless and I have not been able to grasp all the informaiton I have been reading. I don't know what an internal blower is, or what power pack means, nor if these things are normal/standard or optional and if I need them.

If this is not a suitable hood insert, can someone make a recommendation? It will be an insert in the cabinetry.
Thanks so much.

Featured Answer

weissman

10 years ago

fyi - the hood pictured has mesh filters - most people consider baffles a better choice.

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Comments (8)

sqp1015
10 years ago
I am so not an expert, but am also considering a Zephyr insert for over a 36" induction cooktop (probably Miele), and from what I've gleaned 27" doesn't seem wide enough. Based on recommendations that exhaust hood be at least 6" wider than cooktop, I'm looking at the AK94AS ("Power Monsoon DCBL") - blower goes from 250 min. to 715 max. CFM. I THINK that "power pack" means that you're buying the operational guts of the hood (motor, grease-collecting apparatus, lights, etc.) to be installed in your own enclosure (e.g. cabinetry, custom fabricated metal surround, etc.), and that "internal blower" means that the mechanism that actually blows the nasty stuff out of your kitchen is located right within the guts that you're buying - as opposed to having the blower within the ductwork or outside at the end of the duct run ("external blower"). Hope that I haven't horribly mangled anything & that someone with more knowledge will chime in!
ssdarb
Original Author
10 years ago
Is there anyone that can clarify this for us? If you have a 36" cooktop, which hood insert do you have (brand size, CFMs, etc.)?
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I am the resident expert only because real HVAC systems engineers don't frequent this forum, as far as I know. Noise introduced into the kitchen will be significantly reduced if an external blower with silencer can be fitted. A lot of the high frequency blade tip turbulence caused noise will be removed. This is also true of an in-line (duct mounted) blower. The issue of the neighbor is difficult to assess. What is the configuration of his or her windows relative to your potential external blower (1500 CFM I assume you meant). Your own window sound transmission is also an unknown. Generally, the external noise could be abated by (a) using a silencer on each side of a duct mounted in-line blower, or (b), using a deliberately under-driven* "up-blast" commercial blower (mounted as a side blast). (I think opaone is using an under-driven blower for his new system.) It is also possible to use a chase to move the blower up to roof level. I have a 1500 CFM nominal Wolf (Broan) blower on my roof. Its sound level is detectable but not obtrusive from the ground, but it might be if in a wall location where the sound is "trapped" between two houses. Possibly a more expensive but similar in design Abbaka downslope unit would be marginally quieter. ------ * commercial blowers of this type can use a pulley system between motor and fan that allows for different ratios. By choosing a ratio that operates the fan blades below their rated speed when the motor is receiving maximum voltage, significant turbulence noise can be avoided. The physical cost is a larger unit than would otherwise be required for the desired flow rate. Residential blower fans are directly coupled to their motors.
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Front to back depth should achieve the same capture goal as described for side to side. Sometimes a hood can be mounted farther from the wall and a spacer applied at the back, thereby achieving a somewhat deeper effective hood. Effluent will curl off of a flat back spacer. If flow rate is high enough this effluent will still be captured as it can't escape into the wall. Alternatively, the back spacer can be angled between the back wall and hood entry to reflect upward. Keep in mind as you think about this that the plumes have velocity (more than a meter per second in some cases) and momentum. Momentum is conserved on reflection (accounting for angle of reflection equals angle of incidence relative to the normal, just like light), but overall momentum is degraded by friction with the air and enhanced when entrained in the hood flow. Cooktops and ranges placed against walls with counters on both sides and cabinets above them that drop down below the hood provide a certain degree of flow support as the air is somewhat channeled to the hood and the plumes are somewhat restrained at the sides. Along with an excess of air flow (relative to my suggestion above), you may find that most of the plume is still captured. I have an island configuration so I can only surmise the flow patterns that will likely occur, as informed by various schlieren photographs of commercial hoods that have been published. Hoods can be at any height, but given the plume expansion, have to grow in size the higher they are placed. Commercial hoods often have their apertures at 7 feet above the floor (four feet above the cooking surface), and are built commensurately larger and have appropriately greater air flow (and MUA to replace it). You want the hood to be high enough to avoid head interception, as well as high enough to provide clear sight-lines to the interior of pots. I recommend drawing a side view sketch to scale of the cooking configuration, and add a stick figure cook. Observe sight lines and head vs. hood as the figure bends at the waist. This lends itself to experiments with hood mounting, both in height and offset from the wall. My Wolf pro island hood base is at 34.5 inches above the cooktop for a variety of reasons, and it just clears my head. Hoods that don't extend so far out may still miss one's head due to bending effects. At worst, head interceptions will train the cook to avoid the hood. :) At max power, the zero static pressure flow rate is 1200 CFM. Mounted In the hood, duct, or roof with pressure losses from baffle restrictions, hood transitions, duct losses, and in particular imperfect MUA, the actual flow would likely be closer to 800 CFM. This is higher than the 560 or so nominal flow rate needed for your newly described aperture, so you should have some margin unless the MUA is inadequate, in which case the house pressure will drop some and the flow rate from the blower will match the MUA that results from the MUA design and the pressure the house drops down to. Carbon monoxide sensors become desirable in such cases if there are combustion appliances in use. kas
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ssdarb
Original Author
10 years ago
Here is the Bosch hood insert. Is it better to choose the same brand as the cooktop? Here is how it is described on the Bosch website:

29" Custom Insert Hood
Custom Ventilation - Stainless Steel DHL755BUC

400 CFM Blower Included
2 Halogen Lights
Wall or Island Installations Up to 36" Wide
Four Power Levels
Dishwasher-safe Mesh Filters
Slide-Switch Control
kaseki
10 years ago
An insert is a hood with unfinished exterior sides. If you want to put cabinetry around a hood, use an insert. If you want an exposed hood, purchase one that is finished on the outside (usually just called a hood).

To ventilate, a fan is needed to move air through the hood and ducting to the (usually) outside, and as noted above, a hood ventilation system can be configured to use a fan in the hood, a fan in the ducting, or a fan on the roof or side of the house. Some suppliers use "power pack" to make the fan seem more impressive.

Hoods and inserts need not be the same brand as the cooktop, unless their styles are consistent and that look is necessary.

To address what is needed in size and flow rate is another very long subject and questions should follow spending significant time reading relevant messages on this forum.

kas
ssdarb
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks, I've been reading the threads about ventilation, but I'm not sure I really understand most of it.

We are planning an insert to be covered with cabinetry.

I will re-read some of the ventilation threads to try to get a better understanding.

I'm ordering all my appliances in the next day or so. I think I will leave the ventilation out of this purchse for now.

Thanks.
iyelola
3 years ago
Hi Guys, Does Hood Insert and External blower have to be the same brand. if not what blower brand works best with a Zephyrs insert?
kaseki
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Some hoods (e.g., my Wolf) use simple blower controls that can be used with a range of induction motor blowers. Others use fixed power settings that interface with separate motor windings. This scheme is unlikely to be suitable for mixed brands. A third scheme, solid-state dc torque motor speed control, will likely be very tailored to the motor design.

Adapting a different motor control to operate a different brand motor may require electrician and/or electronics skills to accomplish, assuming access to everything relevant is practical.

I have no knowledge of Zephyr designs.

Hood insert recommended by appliance store, is it the right one?

weissman

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sqp1015

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Hood insert recommended by appliance store, is it the right one?

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