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External blowers for range tops

15 years ago

Does anyone have an external blower for their hood? If so, do you have pictures of it? Is it mounted on your roof or outside on the ground? How big is it? I don't really get this whole hood thing, but I think we are going to go with an external and I want to know what to expect.

Thanks.

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Comments (6)

Jean Farrell
15 years ago
Well, I didn't know what to expect until I came home and mine was installed, and I was kind of shocked to see this quite unattractive large metal thing installed on the side of my house. It looked like something you would see on the back of a restaurant, and I was appalled at first. I have a brick house, and it really stood out like a sore thumb. But we painted it a brick color, to blend in, and now I don't notice it much.

When I expressed my shock to my GC at how big it was (we have a commercial grade range) he said "yeah, people are always shocked." I thought "why not warn us?"

I'm sure it depends on what size you are getting, but it was rather larger than I thought it would be, but like many things, we just got used to it, and it doesn't bother me anymore.
sankaty_91
15 years ago
I just had my external blower installed this week. I had gotten the measurements in advance and knew what to expect but it was still a shock. I was going to have it installed on the side of my house where there is a staircase to the back deck. When I realized the massiveness of the unit, I changed its location to a less conspicuous location and one that would not be dangerous to walk near. The contractor and assistant had a horrible time installing it because it was heavy and sharp around the edges. But, it is in - won't be very obtrusive, and I painted it the color of the siding.
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I think your builder thinks installing a blower on the roof is a bad idea and is looking for excuses for you to pick another alternative. In some ways, he's right - it will cost you more and if the blower needs servicing, you'll need to find someone willing to go up on your roof to service it. This post was edited by weissman on Mon, Jul 1, 13 at 14:18
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I raised trevorlawson's comment with my very experienced GC. He says it still will be quieter! So I guess that it is up to me to make the decision. Our house has 3 stories and no attic, so venting that way and mounting the EB on the roof is not an option. I will look at Windcrest and Imperial as well. Part of me still lusts after the Rangecraft Canterbury hood for looks. It has (and still is ) out of my budget, but as the price of these hoods and EB's and accessories add up, maybe the price difference is not so substantial. A sales person at Rangecraft said that if we are venting directly out the wall, I do not need 1200CFM's, and can get away with 600 CFM's, to reduce the cost. My range is a 6 burner Bertazzoni with combined BTU's of 40,050. I do sear my steaks or grill them indoors once a week. The Rangecraft hoods only have internal blowers. I do not know what to make of her suggestion, as 600 CFM's seems rather low. After all of my research on appliances, cabinets, flooring, cabinet hardware, lighting, tiles and paint colors, I seem to be getting nowhere with this range hood issue probably because it is so driven by specs and not aesthetics. Wouldn't it be great if both the spec needs and my aesthetics could be solved by a Rangecraft hood?
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In my view, losing only 300 cfm given the duct pressure loss, the hood transition losses, and filter losses, is pretty good for a fan curve. However, I would suggest using a larger 1500 cfm fan to improve chances of successfully capturing and containing the effluent that is possible from such a large and powerful cooktop. Given the hood size that is needed, a large flow rate is needed to keep the air velocity high enough at the hood aperture. It is essential that the hood overlap the cooking surfaces by enough to capture the rising expanding effluent. Assume from each cooking surface an expansion half angle of 22.5 degrees, and determine for the intended hood height whether the expanding cone stays within the hood aperture. Don't ignore that when Broan or others assert a flow rate, they are assuming that the cooking area pressure equals the outside pressure. This would require an outdoor kitchen or near perfect make-up air system. Any house negative pressure will cause the maximum flow rate to drop per the relevant fan curve, another reason for increasing the fan capability. Broan publishes their fan curves so the effects of pressure loss can be clearly quantified. kas
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Comments (5)
gemini16, As mentioned above, a "squirrel cage blower works fine for powerful and (relatively) quiet ventilation... a 600cfm internal blower with a squirrel cage and it kicks butt. You are always going to have noise from air movement, no matter where the blower is located... " Just to go back to basics : -- all hoods at a cost higher than the low-end of the market have centrifugal (squirrel cage) blowers. They do a better job than blade fans and are quieter too. -- all air moving makes some noise. Breathe in and out slowly making as little noise as possible and you can still hear "something". In the range of 250 to 400 CFM you may not find baffle filters are quieter than mesh. There are also Other advantages to mesh filters in this range of CFM. At high end of the CFM range, baffles are clearly best. "If i want to vent outside, do I need to purchase an external blower?" - NO, all blowers can send air outside. Some blowers are in-line, halfway between your hood and the outdoors. Most blowers are in the hood. Some blowers can be outdoors ("external") but this is not required in any way. HTH -David
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kelleg69
Original Author
15 years ago
This is what I am worried about! We are thinking it will go on the same wall as our AC units, but still all those metal boxes. Do you think you would have preferred to have an inline blower where you would instead of had a large vent on the side of your house or on the roof?
jen4268
15 years ago
We just installed ours this summer- I love it. Ours was insalled on our backside of the roof, and it was basically the same dark color as our roof so I have never even noticed it there. If the roof is an option for you I would go that way- it was almost a straight shot up for us and closer than the outside wall.
sankaty_91
15 years ago
I could not use an inline blower because it was not compatible with my range which is a duel fuel Dacor. I ended up chosing that range because it did have a pop up ventilation system. The range is installed on an island and I didn't want an overhead hood/ventilation system. My kitchen is above my garage so it was easy to vent down and out through the garage.
User
15 years ago
we have had ours on the rear roof for 2 years now. It is a lighter aluminum color than our dark roof but we have skylights etc so it is just one more thing up there and it is to the back so most never see it.

It is great as it is so quiet and powerful. We have the 1400 cfm Thermador remote. c

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