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Confused about horizontal range hood baffles

9 years ago

I noticed that some range hood baffles do not slope at an angle to drain grease into a back tray, such as the Kobe RA028 or RA038 series. When I called Kobe, all I could get was a vague response that these have slots that allow grease to drain below. The lady said there was no mesh filter with the baffle, such as Imperial uses for their 6" high below cabinet range hood. With Imperial, the baffle is purely cosmetic and the mesh filter backing actually is all that collects the grease. I want a true baffle for ease of cleaning. At this point I have no idea how those Kobe baffles actually drain and their real life effectiveness. I would like to install a 6" high range hood below my cabinet but don't see anything with a true sloped baffle. (Six inches is my maximum height to allow 30" from cooktop to range hood for under cabinet install. Width is 30".) Install time is almost here, and I still am undecided. There will be enough extra wood and trim from my cabinets to have a custom range hood cabinet built. I'm considering going with the Imperial hood insert with baffles, dual fans, and an 8" duct. This should provide about 735 cfm for my situation. I just don't want to go this route if an undercabinet is available that meets my requirements. Maximum budget for the hood itself is about $1000 as I want good quality. Vent-a-hood below cabinet hood with dual fans is another option. I just don't know if I want to get into crawling up into the hood for cleaning in my senior years. I'm open to any suggestions. Don't especially care for the aesthetics of the range hoods that use the oil cups, but if you love the function of yours, please let me know. Sorry if all of this is rambling and confusing.

Comments (4)

gigelus2k13
9 years ago
My RA02 does have a small slant front-to-back, but I think it's too small to effectively drain the captured grease.

Anyway, I just cleaned up the capture "bucket" which, after 15mo of hood use, was empty. However, I clean the baffles every two weeks or so, because they will smell bad if they get too dirty - the grease and smoke stuck to the baffles will release odors back in the kitchen.

Bottomline is, if you clean the baffles regularly enough, they don't have to be inclined.
texasgal47
Original Author
9 years ago
Gigelus2k13, your information is extremely helpful. I love the looks of the Kobe RA028 and RA038 series range hoods. How long have you been using yours? Are you happy with it overall? I'm wondering if the fans will fit inside a regular depth cabinet as their specs show a depth of over 11" for the parts that go inside a cabinet.
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Theoretically, the baffles would remove the easily precipitable grease and the rest would go up the ducting, leaving the interior of the hood above the baffles relatively clean. I doubt that this will be the case with either hood, so in both cases be prepared to wipe out the hood interior. Otherwise, cleaning baffles in the dishwasher would seem to be easier than cleaning a motor/blower assembly, but I haven't had to do either yet. kas
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The desired air flow velocity in a cooking hood duct is 1000 ft/min or higher. The small effect of either rising effluent momentum or warm air buoyancy re. gravity is relatively negligible. The only advantage of up over sideways is one less bend to cause slightly greater pressure drop in the duct. Also, let me repeat myself from earlier posts: kitchen hoods do not suck anything up that is more than a few inches from the baffles. Instead, they depend on the velocity of the rising and expanding cooking plume (can be a meter/second) to bring the effluent to the hood. The blower induced flow then overcomes the tendency of this plume to reflect from the baffles and hood parts when there is not supplemental air flow. Note that if the hood does not overlap the entirety of the expanding cooking plumes from the pans below then not all grease and odor will be captured and contained when it rises. Instead, the room air will be contaminated and will be slowly cleared over time based on the rate of air flow vs. house volume. Grease settling may occur during this period. kas
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gigelus2k13
9 years ago
Hi Texas Gal,

My hood is the RA0236SQB-1 model, a chimney-style that seems to be phased out in favor of a newer model. Overall, I'm very happy with it, although it may not mean much as prior to installing it last April I had no active ventilation in my kitchen.

After the rotary switches failed and were replaced (within the warranty window), there has been no issue with this hood. I also don't expect any, as it's a simple, mechanical appliance, a fan driven by a brush-less AC motor installed in a steel box.

Having sad this, I think that you're looking at a different hood: http://www.koberangehoods.com/product/RA-028SQB-WM-1.html. If that's right, then you're talking about a different animal. The depth is only 19.5", which means poor effluent capture. The baffles look different too and I couldn't find a picture showing the underside so it's not obvious how much is covered by baffles. Did you look at the
CH-122SQB-1 model? At least it's 22" deep.

Cheers,

P.S. How does one send private email via gardenweb?
kaseki
9 years ago
In my Wolf (made by Independent), there is no cup as in commercial hoods, but the slanted baffles drain into stainless steel trays at the lower sides of the baffles. The oil puddled there is very slight with our usage. Much of it will stick to the baffles themselves as a coating.

Horizontal baffles might slowly move oil to the side as the level rises. If the mentioned slot drains to a tray of some type then the drainage function may be adequate. One might want to be careful removing the baffles if well oiled as there could be more than just a film inside.

kas

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