I've owned two Zephyr hoods (first one in old home then purchased a second hood for the new home). Zephyr is a great hood but I've read great reviews about Vent-A-Hood.

I have a Best by Broan and I can barely hear it when it is on less then medium. In fact it is so quite that it ran all night one time because I did not realize that it was still on. Best is the higher end of Broan so they cost more.

Another one I found is Kobe CH7736 SQB (720 CFM) $735. Kobe filters are dishwasher safe. Are the others?

Mine has baffles and mess and i always put them in the DW. They come out very clean.

I love my VAH. Easy to clean. I think the air flow design is great. Glad I spent the $$.

mimipadv is the VAH filter dishwasher safe?

Yes, but we hand wash-very easy. Glad I didn't get baffles.

Apparently in my town anything over 400 cfm requires make up air damper. Is that purchase separately, sorry I am confused?

Check your local rules and regulations, but as I Understand it, you need - for a gas stove- never less than 550 CFM and 100 CFM per 10,000 BTU of heat from your stove - if you have 6 burners on your 36" gas range, you may have more than 60,000 BTU and you many need more than 600 CFM, so that takes out the Broan and the Vent A Hood. Remember this tid - bit often forgotten - lighting counts!

I'm also looking for a hood with similar specs. Please let us know what you pick/picked :) .

i am considering Kobe CH7736SQB (760
CFM) or proline
PLJW 120.36 (900 cfm)

I've seen and heard the $1200(600CFM ) vent a hood in a store ,it's really quiet at highest speed if not for the $$$ price tag I would've bought it that same day .it is dish washer safe .

What is the total BTU of your stove top?

Two 20,000 btu burners, three 15,000 btu burners and 5,000 simmer burner. Total is 90,000 btu.

should i go for the 18'' high hood or 10'' ( same cfm)? The 18'' looks massive, but I do have a big kitchen, will the 10'' on the other hand look too small ?

"Ok! Minimum 900 CFM. At least in Toronto, by law, ( or code) you must have a 900 CFM hood, no discussion no debate."

AreBe, do you have the actual code indicating that?

I found the following text from a website of a professional gas installer. He works in Ottawa area.

"Ventilation Code (CAN/CSA-F326 Residential Mechanical Ventilation Systems)

While gas ranges are approved for direct venting into the home, the ventilation code for newer homes requires a range hood of at least 100 cfm (cubic feet per minute) exhausting capacity to be installed above a standard 30" gas range or cook top. New homes containing combustion appliances also require carbon monoxide (CO) detectors, but many older homes do not have CO detectors. While today’s gas ranges and cook tops are very clean burning, there is a lot of moisture and some combustion byproducts that are best vented directly outside. Therefore range hoods should be used and CO detectors installed for the safest appliance operation. "

Note at least 100 CFM is not total btu related. I understand in practice 100 CFM is well not enough, but it seems that 900 CFM by total btu in this case is not required by the code. Considering people getting 48, 60 inch range, they would have hard time finding such hood calculated based on full-on capacity.

Ventilation text in Toronto bylaw: http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/municode/1184_629.pdf, section 629-39

Can I find a copy of the regulation? The short answer
is yes and no. I can find the regulation that points to the regulation, but
cannot actually find the regulation – The government of Ontario- probably quite
reasonably, said “Exhaust fans- the law is the expert opinion and recommendations
of this third party agency” etc. … The rest of this post is a rather hellish
long answer, so I will start with what is the easiest to get, and go from
there.

Best
I could find was this, from a Canadian vent manufacture: http://www.venmar.ca/32-detail-advice-required-cfm.html

REQUIRED CFM

For gas cooking
surfaces or range, a minimum ventilation level of 100 CFM (Cubic Feet per
Minute) per 10,000 BTU is recommended. However, the hood must have a minimum of
500 CFM of ventilation power.

Clearly, for a unit of
40 000 BTU, the range hood must have 500 CFM (100 CFM X 4 = 400, but the
minimum required is 500 CFM). For a unit of 80 000 BTU, the hood must have
800 CFM minimum (100 PCM X 8 = 80 000).

Now the hellish part

Building Code Act,
1992 Loi de 1992 sur le code du bâtiment ONTARIO REGULATION 332/12 BUILDING CODE Consolidation
Period: From January 1, 2015 to the e-Laws currency date.Last
amendment: O. Reg. 191/14.

6.2.1.1. Good
Engineering Practice

(1) Heating, ventilating
and air-conditioning systems, including related
mechanical refrigeration systems, shall be designed, constructed and installed
to conform to good engineering practice appropriate to the circumstances such
as described in,

(a) the
ASHRAE Handbooks as follows:

(i) Fundamentals,

(ii) Refrigeration,

(iii) HVAC
Applications,

(iv) HVAC
Systems and Equipment, and

(v) ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA
90.1, “Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings”,

(b) the
CSA F280, “Determining the Required Capacity of Residential Space Heating and
Cooling Appliances”, and the outside winter design temperatures shall conform
to MMAH Supplementary Standard SB-1, “Climatic and Seismic Data”,

(c) CAN/CSA-F326-M,
“Residential Mechanical Ventilation Systems”,

….

Section
6.3. Chimneys and Venting Equipment

6.3.1. General

6.3.1.1. Requirement
for Venting

(1) Except as provided in Articles 6.3.1.2. and 6.3.1.3.,
the products of combustion from solid fuel-burning appliances
shall be vented in conformance with the requirements in the applicable appliance installation standards listed in Article
6.2.1.4.

Leads to…

CAN/CSA-F326-M, “Residential Mechanical Ventilation
Systems”,

Leads to: 1.2

This Standard also applies to the installation
requirements for ventilation components such as supply and exhaust ventilation
fans and associated equipment, including bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans and
range hoods, with or without ducts, intended for operation in dwelling units
referred to in Clause 1.1, whether or not a part of a ventilation system conforming
to this Standard. (See Appendix B.)

http://shop.csa.ca/en/canada/energy-efficiency/cancsa-f326-m91-r2014/invt/27003241991

And I found this too-

A review of available literature, engineering
guidelines, and current standards related to combustion air requirements was
conducted. In the United States, the requirements for combustion air outlined
in the current standards and model codes are fairly uniform. Previous studies
that provide a technical basis for NFPA 54 and national model codes do not
account for large input rated appliances utilizing power burners. In Canada,
CSA B149.1-10 provides different criteria specific to appliances with a large
rated input (exceeding 400 kBtu/hr) and appliances utilizing power burners.
Engineering guidelines for industrial/commercial boilers specify criteria for
combustion air requirements for boilers with an input rating exceeding 200
kBtu/hr. http://www.nfpa.org/~/media/files/research/research%20foundation/rfcombustionairrequirements.ashx

Canada: http://shop.csa.ca/en/canada/energy-efficiency/cancsa-f326-m91-r2014/invt/27003241991

http://www.enefen.com/images/SK_codes_of_practice_gases.pdf
all you ever wanted to know about gasses and the Saskatewan building code

And check out this: https://books.google.ca/books?id=IY85AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA209&lpg=PA209&dq=CFM+BTU+regulation&source=bl&ots=qKmUXcPfyi&sig=2MsjkLcsaeZynVfLMghKfe0DQiI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tC09VYhM9N2wBJDLgaAD&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=CFM%20BTU%20regulation&f=false

Yes. 100 CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) per 10,000 BTU is a very well known rule of thumb here. But it is a recommendation or best of practice. I was just saying it may not be mandated by the law. In practice, one almost never will have all the burners at full capacity. Say I have a 36" range top with total 133,000 BTU/hr., which would require a 1330 CFM hood. VAH 42" size does not have a model with more than 900 CFM because there is no place for a 4th motor. For 1330 CFM, the only option should be a remote blower. And guys with a 60" range would be out of luck. However, when I cook, I would not have more than two burners at max output, e.g. one for wok and the other for boiling water and that is about 50,000 BTU/hr. I may have additional burners at simmer level. So 900 CFM is practically well enough.

But I agree in this case, it is best to select 900 CFM since it is readily available. But 600 CFM may be fine too, as it support two 20,000, one 15,000 and one 5,000 at full. A $1200 VAH is really not that expensive, considering some VAH models at 900 CFM would cost more than $3000. The thing is due to VAH's low noise, you would not hesitate to use 600 CFM or 900 CFM when needed or even when not really needed. As for other hoods with internal blowers, their exponentially louder noise at high CFM makes you set the actual speed maybe less than 600 CFM anyway. Just go to an appliance store carrying those hoods and compare.

That stack of ASHRAE Handbooks would cost a bit. I have a copy of "Applications" if anyone needs a specific topic looked up.

On rules of thumb: Commercial ventilation typically uses CFM per linear foot of edge around the aperture (excludes the back and sides, I believe, when it is against a wall). The 100 CFM/10k BTU/hr is another; I'm not sure where it started from. I prefer a more fundamentalist approach based on uprising plume velocities, which track more closely the temperature of the cooking surface. (Thermal plumes of kitchen appliances: part 2 cooking mode, Kosonen, Koskela, and Saarinen.) I use 90 CFM/squre foot of hood aperture (not overall size), and scale up to account for pressure losses.

The subject of CFM methods is well treated in the Greenheck Kitchen Ventilation Systems Application & Design Guide, 2005, page 9 et al. Greenheck's Guide is available at:

Kitchen Ventilation Guide

In my view, this document is a good starting point for anyone wanting to know what the goal is that a residential hood should strive to approach while retaining some semblance of aesthetic acceptability. Just keep in mind for hood sizes that commercial hoods are typically mounted above 7 feet from the floor in busy kitchens and thus have to overlap the cooktop by a greater distance than residential hoods that are normally mounted 30 to 36 inches from the cooktop in the nominally less disturbed air of a home kitchen.

kas

abick2, what hood did you pick? I'd love to read a super quick review :)

I picked proline 900 cfm. It's installed and looks nice, but I haven't used it, because we are still not in the house. Sorry, I couldn't be of much help.

Thank you abick2!

Eshmh, what make up air unit do you have?

Mine is from builder. It is one of Thermolec air heaters ( http://www.thermolec.com/en/productView.aspx?type=product&id=77) plus a separate current triggered flapper. The heater tries to heat the air to 15 C (PWM), activated by the air flow. It is a passive one and connects to the air return of the furnace via a 10 inch duct. It is not as sophisticated and highly performed as Kas's.

Please note that mine is still incomplete and hence is only virtually sophisticated. :)

Abick2, any update for us on your hood? Hope you are enjoying your house by now :)

nope, no updates. still not in the house :(

Oh bummer abick2. Gosh do I know about delays!!

Any updates? How do you like the Proline?

Sorry, still nothing. Hopefully in a month.

abick2, I was just reading your granite thread. How is the kitchen now? Do you like the granite? How did it all come together? You still aren't in, right? I have sympathy for you b/c I built a house 6.5 years ago and it was so stressful and you do burn out. I hope that your will be in a month. I look forward to seeing pictures of your finished kitchen. Good luck.

It's ok. I think at this point I don't care much about granite and etc. I just want it finished and forgotten :) Can't wait to post pictures. If I had to do it over I would have probably went with quartz because granite has some imperfections which I didn't expect.