I went to the Broan site and to AJMadison, opened the PDFs. Many things are good. - Capture volume in the canopy (18"h) - Dual blowers - One 10 inch duct or two 6 or 7 inch ducts. - Blower: -- external blower -- many size options -- in-line blower -- many size options -- "1200 CFM internal blower is included on "T" models." -- internal blower -- other size options too, I think. Designed to duct out of the hood shell in either horizontal or vertical direction with any blower configuration. -Variable speed control remembers last setting. -Heat Sentry detects excessive heat and adjusts blower speed automatically. Page 5 of the Install pdf shows Ductwork if blower is internal OR inline OR external. Page 4 of the Install pdf shows Blowers HLB3, HLB6, HLB9, HLB11, -- inline (I remember these were good options when I did my survey of the market) 331H, 332H, 335, 336 -- exterior but doesn't mention the internal blower options. (Interesting, and worth a phone call to broan tech support, to find out if they say there is necessarily more noise when the blower is internal, even when the duct is only one foot long.) Page 16 shows the internal blower, an SV08097 model. Not sure if you put one only or if you can have two. Somewhere else I saw two internal blowers. On other pages between p4 and p16 there is more information about the internal blower option. I think the big reason Broan does not have a following here is that they are a faceless conglomerate that controls a huge percentage of the market and that does not do ANYthing to please the designer market. They buy up companies constantly and take decades to integrate them into the Nutone-Broan family, all the while making it look like the purchsed company is still a competitor. E.g. next year, Best-by-Broan will end its distribution contracts with the upscale market (this is public knowledge), and they will sell through any channel. So not only can you order a Broan E60 and a Broan HLB through a big box store, but soon all the "Best" products too. Another fan company purchased by the faceless conglomerate is Venmar (search on Venmar). That's all, ta da gotta go...

Now that I'm back home, I think its a miracle I've never burned myself on that lamp -- but so far, I haven't. The rocker switch is directly in front of the knob that varies fan speed. The right side lamp is about 2" to the right of them. Somehow, just far enough away to miss. As you can see from robj's second photo, there is a small concave capture area underneath the hood where the baffles are canted at an angle. Its adequate. Sure helps to turn the hood on before smoke appears. Depending on your cooktop burner layout (and cook's height), it could help to set this hood forward a couple inches. We have 7" diameter round ducts (I'm sure there's a good reason for this, but no idea what that was). A gradual 90 degree bend to the right, then a straight shot 6 ft. out the wall. Tried running on highest speed with the baffles in and out -- perhaps a tad quieter with baffles removed, but not enough of a difference to notice, I'd say. To whine once more about those lamps: Its a trivial thing, but they symbolize how little pressure Broan must have felt from competing products, to not upgrade those ridiculous lamps to a more usable screw-in style (like a PAR20). This is not so much Broan's fault as a sign of scant incentive to improve products in a backwater industry.

bob_cville, hold that thought. I'll be starting the rip out around Feb. 8. My kitchen is what I am sure is the old front porch to this 1880 farm house. It's the L shape, two story called Folk Victorian. My carpenter thinks he can run the duct through the ceiling joists and out the side wall but I don't know......he says they HAVE to be deep enough to support the roof but again, where is that written? I fully expect to find the corner porch posts as the corner posts for the room. OR they're what's holding up the shelves in the fruit room in the basement. This guy is experienced so I'm not worried about it and if it doesn't work out like he thinks, he'll come up with an idea to solve the problem. He will be in Florida until Feb. 1 so as soon as he's here I'll have him take a look at the hood and then if we need parts I'll get back to you ASAP. Yowzers! $41!! Had you by the short hairs, didn't they! Warmfridge, I'm sitting here trying to see out the window. The blizzard we are getting tonight/tomorrow could have drifts 10 to 12 feet high. Grumble, grumble. I skipped work today knowing I'd be heading home again at noon so saved myself the aggrevation of even going. I don't want to be here now, I want to be here in February! Sears is driving me crazy. I started keeping track of the price of all the ranges; checking them every day. They're different almost every day! And the sale price isn't always the price shown on the web page. AFTER you add it to your cart it shows different. Today if I bought it at the store (NOT on line) it would have been $2800. On the web site it's listed at $2974.99. And no one knows what kind of cord it needs or where to get one. SEARS doesn't know if the range needs a cord or if it's with the range. And if it isn't with the range, which cord does it need? I'm speechless at the ineptness of this whole kitchen process starting with trying to buy that hood locally. I guess I'll wait as long as I can......Sept./Oct. sales are not so far away but it will sure make my counter a challenge. 120 days from now, we should be winding up winter and I will be a happy camper!

I just installed a Broan Elite external blower on my roof. I wish I could answer question regarding "ice dams" but I live in GA where that's not an issue. But I can speak to your question about whether it's a difficult job and that's why he doesn't want to do it. It's not. Mine was much more complicated than yours, and it only took 3 hours for my contractor to install my ventilation system from an inside wall. My 10" duct had to turn and go sideways through the top of one of my kitchen cabinets into and up through my 1st fl hall closet then up through the 2nd fl linen closet, attic and roof. Yours sounds very straight forward if someone else from the North can address the ice dam issue.