Summit doesn't make; they rebadge. So you should look around for an identical looking hood with identical specs then check the reviews on that. Usually even the owners manual (available online at places like ajmadison) is pretty much the same except for the front cover, too.

oh, thank you! good to know. do you have any recommendations on a brand of range hoods? looking for ducted, wall mount, under 600cfm calculated btu. quiet and functional.

Information at their website https://www.summitappliance.com/catalog/model/SEH1530C in one location claims a 600 CFM blower is installed, and in another location claims the maximum air movement of the hood is 600 CFM. Both statements cannot be true. Most likely, the blower is rated at 600 CFM at zero static pressure loss, and the actual flow with hood transitions, filter loss, duct loss, and make-up air restrictions will be considerably less. Perhaps, say, 400 CFM.

What flow rate is needed for best containment of the rising and expanding cooking plume that is intercepted by the hood aperture? Assume the aperture has the hood dimensions of 20 x 30 inches. This area at a desirable 90 CFM/square foot would need 375 CFM actual flow rate. Under typical conditions, a 600 CFM rated blower should be able to achieve that.

The website also notes a sound level of 11 sones. Depending on the frequency range, this might be a tad loud. https://www.captiveaire.com/CATALOGCONTENT/DOCUMENTS/SOUND%20CONVERSION%20CHART.pdf

kas

A quiet and functional hood is probably not going to be inexpensive, as you originally requested. Quiet cooktop ventilation results from using large, slow, external blower assemblies, and/or external blowers with a silencer in the path of the ducting.

originally requested inexpensive where? Do you have any recommendations on brands for hoods?

I don't recommend brands I haven't owned, although I do relate the names of vendors who make specific items, or tailored items, that are useful in the ventilation system. There are hundreds, at least, of hood related topics on this forum where others' recommendations may be found. If you want to know about my Wolf Pro Island hood, I will freely discuss it.

Your actual words were "Nothing expensive please." in http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/4056601/looking-for-a-range-hood-please-help?n=2

Thank you for your help! Yes- I remember you answered my other post. I've corrected that post and asked for any recommendations since I've been reading that it's obviously better to invest in a good hood rather than a cheap one for aesthetic purposes. I am a new home owner and I clearly don't know anything about this, hence why I asked and corrected myself.

The best approach is to determine the desirable hood characteristics from basic ventilation principles, your tolerance for escaping grease and odor, and installation constraints, then determine which of these characteristics may have to be relaxed due to cost. We can go over those if you specify such things as the cooktop dimensions, cabinet plan, duct plan, etc.

There are several, at least, suppliers of quality hoods and blowers. For residential ventilation, these include, in no particular order, Wolf, ModernAire, Abbaka, Broan, Prestige, Vent-a-Hood, Zephyr, Kobe, and so forth, depending on your price tier. You can find comments about all of these and others in this forum, and probably in other forums.

As I've noted before: Performance, Aesthetics, Affordability -- pick any two.

kas

Kaseki- Thank you! I have been searching through this forum religiously the past week or so. Im still getting the hang of it. Ive seen comments and reviews on a lot of products. These hoods are confusing as is and the reviews really go both ways.

We have a modern grey/brown melamine L shaped open layout kitchen. The island will separate the kitchen and living room. Ceilings are 8 feet in the kitchen but will have molding of 6.5 inches everywhere except the hood portion. There will be no molding there. Cabinets will be on both sides of the hood. We have chosen black stainless samsung appliances. we have a 6 foot wide patio sliding door almost near the range. One of The cabinets I mentioned on the side of the hood is near the door. So the hood will not be far. I believe a 36 inch window on the other side of the other cabinet near the hood. The kitchen itself is 9x13 feet. The range model is NX58K9500WG. Ive calculated the BTU from the range and i would be needing about 580CFM (I could be wrong) I rarely and i mean really rarely use more than 2 burners at a time. Which is why i wanted to stay under 400CFM. (but not sure if thats possible?) As I've said before I don't cook a lot or often. I don't dear often either if that makes any difference. Id like a curved or round shape or maybe even another shape I'm unaware of, Im not picky about that. But i am staying away from T shaped hoods as I've heard mixed reviews. Id really like the hood to be affordable and good performing when necessary to use. I don't want to spend over $600-800 (honestly) and most likely will not spend more than that. I would love a Wolf but thats a bit out of our budget and not for an unprofessional like me. This is our first home and most likely not our last. But we will be spending the next 5-10 years there.

The hood will be ducted and vented to the outside on the side of the hood ( i apologize I don't know the right terminology). The contractor will make a hole and properly support it to vent to the outside. Impossible to make a chimney at this point to vent up outside. Id like the hood to be relatively quiet- normal convo level?

OK, lets go at it piecemeal.

What is the width of the range?

Is it electric coil, gas, or induction?

If installed, or if there is a fixed installation plan, what is the spacing of the upper cabinets on the sides of the range?

With respect to air flow: There are several commonly used rules of thumb, one of which is based on total potential BTUs. The BTU method is an indirect method of estimation of needed flow rate, and doesn't account for how well the hood overlaps the range.

I prefer the more physical approach based on the needs of capture and containment (what hoods are supposed to do). Capture efficiency depend on how well the hood aperture overlaps the rising and expanding cooking plume (effluent). Containment efficiency is determined by how well the hood air flow through its baffles (or mesh filters) keeps the plume from reflecting out of the hood when it hits the sheet metal baffles or mesh structures. A generally sufficient air velocity is 90 ft/min for gas cooking; induction cooking may allow one to get away with a bit less as it doesn't have a gas combustion plume adding velocity to the cooking plume. Electric coil plume velocities may be in between; the lab measurements that I've seen published don't include coil cooking measurements.

(Gas cooking can cause the central part of the rising plume to reach 1.2 m/s.)

The necessary air velocity has to exist over the entire hood aperture; we don't get to block off portions of the aperture that we are not cooking under. The aperture has some area -- more if there is good overlap of the plume expansion. Hence I suggest 90 CFM/square foot of aperture to get 90 ft/min everywhere.

(You may notice that this is about half of the uprising velocity. We don't need to equal it, only keep it from reversing while the baffle aerodynamics take control of it. Baffle design and mesh flow effects may vary how well a given average air velocity works. I know that around 90 ft/min works for me when induction wok cooking, and that Greenheck suggests for similar cooking a value of 85 ft/min for their commercial hoods. There are types of commercial cooking that call for considerably more velocity, such as grilling, but this is not in the scope of our present discussion.)

Ideally, to get good capture to make use of this containment, the hood has to overlap the locus of hot pan bases by about 10 degrees half angle. From this another rule of thumb has arisen that suggests overlapping the cooktop by 3 inches on the sides and front. This overlap is probably too optimistic for some searing or wokking, but many here have reported good capture with this size. For a 30-inch range, this would require a 36-inch wide by 27-inch deep hood.

You may not have room for this, or you may wish to depend on the side cabinets to channel the effluent from rear burners and cook the greasiest stuff there. So for a 30-inch range, the minimum hood would probably be 30 inches wide by 24 inches deep (front to back). I suspect for most 20 inches deep is too short.

As you may appreciate, the larger hood thus has higher total air flow requirements than the smaller hood, costs more, and requires more make-up air. So you may also appreciate that this aspect of performance alone is in conflict with affordability for a given level of aesthetic design.

Wait until we get into make-up air issues.

kas

Kaseki-thank you once again for your help. I've showed what you wrote about capture and containment to my husband and he seems to understand more than I do. You lost me- I had to read and reread several times until I understood some of it :) so, I'll have an issue with coverage how deep do you think I will have to go with the hood? My other question was mesh or baffles?

I I cannot go bigger on the hood even though I'd like to and you are right. Space only allows for 30 in max hood the cabinets on the side are 31.5 in height and 24 in width. So the cabinets on the sides will have to provide the coverage. I'm ok with cooking the greasiest stuff in the back. Not an issue. There shouldn't be any space between cabinets and hood. I opted out for that. Not sure if I did the right thing.

Gas range is 30 in wide 26.4 depth. 36.2 height.

If I were you I would try to find a hood that is 27-inches front to back. Use AJ Madison to search brands for fitment. Also, I think Wolf makes one. Even a 27-inch hood will have a smaller aperture due to lights and controls at the front.

Meshes and baffles work by different methods. Both provide the required firestop. Both can usually be cleaned in a dishwasher. Baffles likely provide a lower pressure loss, even when the mesh is clean. Hence, for the same blower, ducting, and MUA pressure loss, the blower should flow slightly more air with baffles.

The mesh filter collects grease by direct impingement. Unfortunately, meshes progressively obstruct the air flow as they capture grease and lint. They need to be cleaned often.

Baffles collect the larger sizes of the grease particle spectrum by centrifugal impingement by rotating the air moving past them. The rest of the spectrum has low probability of collecting on the ducts and is expelled. The grease collects onto the baffle surfaces and drains to a collection area. They remain effective no matter how apparently dirty they are. Wash cycles can be weeks or months, depending on cooking and frequency of visitors.

Whatever hood you choose, before deciding on its mounted position draw a side view of range and hood and a stick-figure cook. Have the cook bend at the waist and check for head contact. Do this for a spouse-sized figure also. For low-mounted hoods that are sometimes necessary, observe sight lines to pots and pans to ensure that they can be looked into.

kas

Thank you for everything!!!