ianorc, I planted a Compassion this last spring and do agree it has some lovely blooms. Glad to know it does so well for you. I haven't been to the San Juan Islands yet, but hope to next year. All of this area is really beautiful. I hope you'll visit more often and post. I'd love to hear what all you grow and about your garden. Suzy, I've often thought that your descriptions make up for all the pictures you don't post for us. That's a lovely picture with words. It sent me back into old pictures of birds that lived in my southern garden, bluebirds, woodpeckers, flickers, titmice, several kinds of finches, robins, lots of cardinals, hummers. Lots of other kinds of animals here but I miss the small birds out my kitchen window. Here, I know the birds must be out there, but the forest cover is so dense and food so abundant that I don't see them. Or haven't learned to yet. Must work on that, I miss them. I hope your waxwings come abundantly for you. Thanks for posting.

I would doubt that ice dams of any significance would occur for any roof steeper than 4:12, and plausibly for even lower pitches. Not only is the heated area small, but the heat (BTUs per hour times hours of use) exhausted due to cooking is much less than the household heat passing into an attic in cases where ice dams are a problem. I had a major ice dam this winter at the edge of the roof over my kitchen, but the kitchen ceiling was insulated by only a tarp. However, the question of blockage is an interesting one. A sufficiently wet and heavy (yet blowing) snow might pile up in a way that reduces the aperture of the style roof cap that Broan, say, uses for the larger model fans. However, these fans have overhang at the exit (down side) and I doubt that total blockage would occur. So long as some air can pass, then pushing out warm air should clear a larger hole as needed. I won't be able to attest to that until next winter, but I can say that here in southern NH, when in use a Nutone mushroom style exhaust fan with an air exit point about 10-inches above a 5:12 roof, has never been blocked by snow in 20-some years. If a snowstorm were found to be depositing snow that was suspected of being perverse in the blockage sense, then running the fan during the storm should maintain sufficient air clearance to allow the fan to work when the snow hardens up. kas

I thought about going straight up with it, but I don't have a lot of room due to the angle of the ceiling. Plus, I am going to be using a canopy style hood, so the chase would have to be rather large to be in proportion with the hood, and I'm not sure how that would look. I did think about placing cabinets on top and then a chase above that, but again I am probably too close to the rafters in the attic due to the slope of the ceiling. Consequently, out the wall and into the garage attic seems to be the simplest way to go. Plus, that gets the inline fan away from the house and makes everything more accessible. I don't mind enclosing the vent in drywall to bring it up to code. While the vent needs to be in a soffit, what about the inline blower? It seems like the blower should be left out in the open, with the remainder of the duct enclosed? That said, I can see what you are saying about direct penetrations from the garage into the house are not permitted due to fire concerns. However, would a solid duct running from the kitchen into the garage attic and out the roof fall within that logic? There are no breaks in such a duct run, since the only openings are at the hood itself and wall/roof cap. So as long as the penetration where the duct goes from kitchen to garage is sealed with fire caulking around the duct, how is there an issue? Again, I don't mind enclosing the duct run in a chase if need be, but it seems like overkill....

This is what makes MUA such "fun." If the air is conditioned, it can be introduced distant from the kitchen or at least distant from the hood and have the best chance of not disrupting the rising effluent plume. If the air is unconditioned and cold, then close proximity is called for (although it is unlikely to be so close as to not chill-out the cook. This could have long-term ramifications. :) Insertion under the range is a good approximation of proximate, but might have these deficiencies: o Some ranges may not like this. Someone on this forum in the last year, I think, pointed out that high-end Brand X gas range instructions prohibited it. I don't recall who X was. I do not know what the basis of the manufacturer's objection was. o For cooktops, cabinets will be in the way. A grill at the feet may be used instead of a cabinet base, and for peninsulas and islands, another on the other side is plausible. Keep in mind that the grill will have to have a rather strong air velocity unless the grill is as large as the hood. Alternatively from floor insertion, a slotted counter top design around the cooktop would provide an ideal air feed location, but inadequate area for the flow rate. Also, it could be an opportunity for difficult cleaning. Pop-up vent systems run backwards come to mind. The air flow onto the cooktop could be disruptive to the flame pattern, so probably should be aimed outward. Flow would likely be too low without a very large pop-up. kas