As far as I can tell, Fantech is a reputable company. I have some of their stuff and have talked with them on the phone. I intend to buy more.

When comparing in-line blowers, you need to compare blowers designed to interface with the same size duct, and compare the flow rates versus differential pressures across the blowers to ensure at least as much flow in your situation. The electrical interface needs to be compatible.

I would consider calling them if I were you to find out which of their blowers they believe is at least comparable to your particular Prestige blower.

kas

True ...they are elusive. Their website didn't even have a list of dealers so I had to call. Took awhile to get someone on the phone. One of the phone options said the mailbox was full. I read such good reviews on houzz about them though.

I would not be surprised at all if Fantech themselves were the ones making the inline blowers for most or all of these hood companies. I know that the external blowers are mostly made by Abbaka and Broan/Nutone, regardless of brand name.

I have a subfloor ventilation fan installed by a company that bought a fan from Fantech Australia. The inline fan itself comes from Soler Palau, a spanish company.

Fantech does OEM a small number of fans for different companies. Not Many

That being said, I have used fantech many times. They work well and are more compact for tight spaces. Plus some brands use a boxed squirrel cage blower, which is a noisier less efficient design (fantech is a straight through blower)

I have an inline fantech blower for my 10" hood exhaust. The blower is variable speed and works wonderfully with my ModernAire hood.

The fan is rated for 1265 CFM on high. We almost always use it on low speed. Even while using the Wok on full blast from the BlueStar RNB the low speed is able to keep up. I think in large part because we went with a hood that is 3" wider and deeper than our range on all sides.

I bought the blower from waveplumbing.com. I also bought a 10" Silencer that sits between the blower and my hood, and I suspect is larger responsible for how quiet the fan is, I would definitely recommend that you use some of those savings on buying the blower and spend it on the silencer if you have room for one.

One thing I found out today for what's it worth...the Fan tech lowest speed is not "one" cfm for example. It's lowest setting starts closer to 300 cfm, and from there up it is variable. This is what their customer support said. I than called prestige, and they said theirs was 100 percent variable. But was not confident in their response.

That's because it's not 100% variable from 0 to max cfm !

Yea I don't think it would make sense for the lowest speed to be nearly off. I think the fan needs a certain amount of power to even get the blades moving from a stop, so there is always going to have to be some minimum speed required that is a ways above '1 cfm'. With that said, I wouldn't complain if our lowest setting was even lower.

The lowest possible speed on the blower has nothing to do with the blower itself and everything to do with the variable speed control you're using it on. Most high quality variable speed controls have a minimum speed trim adjustment. It's up to the installer to adjust it to the proper setting. Set it too low and the motor may stall out, or be useless on the minimum speed. Set it too high and the minimum speed will be noisier and more powerful than necessary.

hvtech42 is correct - there are certain technological limits to the lowest operating speeds of range hood blowers; certain trade-offs have to be made, or the entire design/type of the blower motor has to be changed, in order to accommodate a "true" 0-to-max speed variability. For this reason, the vast majority of range hood blowers on the market have a minimum starting speed - manufacturers choose motors based on factors such as overall efficiency, production cost, and longevity.

Sacrificing the option of the 0-to-99-CFM range (or 0-to-199, etc) for the sake of offering a product that performs more efficiently, and lasts longer, is the most common route.

In other words, be wary of promises of "true" variability... they often come at a price.

Just a follow up. Unfortunately, I have no room for that silencer by Fantech...wow, that is large in length and diameter. Fantech said they make another model in the "EC" series. They are called EC motors and are truly 100% speed controllable and use a DC potentiometer for the control. However, the potentiometer is very ugly and not something you would necessarily want on your kitchen wall. Regarding the non EC versions which I was originally looking at, Fantech said at lower speeds they give off a nasty humming sound. Which is why they claim to be 30% adjustable (ie. 1000cfm motor would run between 1000 and 700 cfm). Has anyone heard a humming sound from theirs?

I didn't realize that they were offering an ECM motor version. It definitely makes sense that would make less noise at lower speeds than an AC motor on a solid state control. Since the blower is remote mounted, that should help with the noise though.

The Fantech guy said he never heard of anyone using in a kitchen? Not sure why he said ths. Bad thing is that the CFMs are much lower. For an 8" duct, the max cfm offered is 428 on model FG 8EC for example. Than a 10" duct gives you 489 cfm on the model FG 10EC.

For the non EC fan, the 8" duct get you 800 plus CFM on model FKD 8XL. This has me all confused now. Still have not decided. Feel all screwed up...the cabinet guy has this backwards, he made the cabinet size first, versus making the cabinet to fit the insert. Which forced me into a narrower depth insert. It appears most better inserts are 20 plus inches in depth. My options are very limited. The prestige seemed nice, but had issues with the blowers. Because their inline blower was too long and too high, I than looked into a 1000 cfm roof top version. Than Fantech because it was smaller and could fit into a 3 foot vertical run to the roof. But cannot install a silencer.

Here is the controller...an odd size and chunky. May look out of place on a kitchen wall? Not a standard size box from what I can tell too. They say recessed or external mount.

Your prestige hood has a variable speed controller. It will work with the FKD series blower. Thats the best bet. The instances I have seen them used in were a little further away than yours, but they were silent. I doubt given where you will likely put the blower that you would hear much.

More info for those interested in the FG EC fans (ECM motors). You can use another 10K potentiometer. Fantech agreed theirs is really a European style control and ugly. They recommended using the Digi-Key online site. Part number 987-1320-KD. And knob part number 226-3091-ND (metal). They have many knobs if you prefer something different. You can get matching knobs so they match with the lighting control also. The potentiometer can install into a regular outlet box, or can easily replace your existing 120 volt type controller used in non ECM motors in your actual range hood. They have the same mounting (hole with threaded extension and large thin nut to hold it in place). Fantech said the ECM motor is much quieter plus has full variability.

Got the potentiometer. Easy fit into the existing Prestige housing. After taking the regular AC control from the housing, it is funny how cheap they were. Look at the photo, the potentiometer is metal and seems better made...the Prestige parts are plastic. I also purchased larger knobs from Digi-Key, although the ones on the housing were interchangeable. They just seemed too small. The larger ones are much nice.

POTENTIOMETER:

PRESTIGE CONTROL. LARGER KNOB ON THE LEFT COMPARED TO PRESTIGE ON RIGHT:

Forgot to add, does anyone have wall control switches, and do you like them over the controls in the hood? Not sure reaching over the counter is better/easier than reaching up into the hood?