VENTILATION CONSIDERATIONS

SIZE MATTERS

Always make the rangehood slightly wider than the cooktop.

This ensures cooking vapors are removed efficiently.

GET THE TIMING RIGHT

Start the rangehood 10 minutes before required.

Leave it running for at least 10 minutes after use.

10

min CLEAN THE FILTERS

Clean filters in the dishwasher.

Use a ‘heavy wash’ cycle. Do not use detergent as it could react with the aluminimum

IDEAL AIRFLOW

Multiply the volume of your kitchen by ten to work out the ideal airflow.

For a kitchen of 3m x 4m x 2.7m (high): (3 x 4 x 2.7) x10 = 324. In this case any Ikon rangehood with airflow equal or greater than 324 m3/h will easily do the job.

MORE EFFICIENT DUCTING

RIGID IS BEST

When possible, use rigid ducting. Semi rigid ducting isn’t as streamlined which can cause air pockets - ultimately affecting airflow efficiency and increasing noise.

BENDS MATTER

For every bend in your ducting, deduct one meter. Each bend will decrease airflow, so you’ll need to make the ducting shorter to compensate.

NEED FOR SPEED

Four to five speed rangehoods are quieter to run than three speed.

Because it’s possible to go up in smaller increments

TALK WHILE YOU COOK

Minimise noise with a remote motor.

Higher extraction usually means more noise. Moving the motor away will solve this issue.

THE RIGHT DISTANCE

Maximum recommended ducting distance is 7-8 meters. Anything further will adversely affect the airflow efficiency

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CHOOSE THE RIGHT VENTILATION

The layout of your kitchen will determine whether your rangehood can be mounted on a wall, incorporated into your cabinets, suspended from the ceiling or installed into your bench top.

By that we mean that windows, ceilings, cooking on island unit or wall unit, and the position of your kitchen in relation to your home all contribute to what rangehood options you have available to you. This is where a kitchen designer’s experience is invaluable and will help with your options prior to design.

One of the main considerations is what option is more effective and less noisy. In our experience remote motor options are always the quietest because the motor is positioned somewhere other than where it is extracting, so reduces the noise of the motor. Traditionally canopy hoods have always been the noisiest because the motor is positioned at head level so will be louder. We find that a rangehood with only three speeds is generally speaking nosier as the extraction goes up in larger increments meaning it is all or nothing.

If you intend to go with a traditional canopy or island rangehood then look for something with more speed levels to combat the motor being at head height level or opt for the ones that offer remote motor options.

DUCTING

Another important consideration is the ducting of your rangehood which is unfortunately often an afterthought. Builders tend to put in flexible ducting which has a significant impact on the flow and noise of a rangehood, especially if it is more of a technical design.

We are now seeing the kitchen industry taking particular care when planning kitchens making sure to discuss ducting with the homeowner at the design stage. Not many people know that you can achieve an extra 10-15% increase in flow and decrease in noise by using the right ducting for your rangehood. There are companies out there who specialise in just the installation of rangehoods and install rigid ducting to achieve this.

EXTRACTION RATE

We have also seen consumers get smarter at interpreting what is marketing spin and specifications.

Years ago everyone just looked at extraction rates of rangehoods and compared extraction rates only. Now people are asking whether these are gross figures or net extraction figures.

Gross means what the motor is capable of extracting but not necessary what the rangehood extracts once it is installed. Whereby others market it as net rate, meaning what the rangehood can extract with the motor in it.

AIRFLOW POWER

The airflow power required normally depends on the size of kitchen and type of cooking. The correct airflow for your specific kitchen can be easily worked out. Simply multiply the volume of the kitchen by ten and you will obtain the ideal airflow for that room.

For example, for a kitchen of 3m x 4m with a height of 2.7m: (3 x 4 x 2.7) x 10 = 324. In this case, any Ikon cooker hood with airflow equal to our superior to 324 m3/h will therefore guarantee the complete and efficient ventilation of the room. For a large family, for those who love cooking as an art, or where a group of friends are gathered together in a spacious kitchen to experiment with some exotic recipes, the hood capacity should be over 500 m3/h.

Effective capture of cooking fumes also depends on the correct use of the product, where the product is mounted, what you are cooking and how and how the rangehood is ducted.

TYPES OF DUCTING – DUCTED VS. RECIRCULATED

Ducting a rangehood can be either ducted through the eaves, wall or roof. The ducted version will carry the steam, vapours and oils to the outside vent and remove them from the kitchen, whereas the recirculated version captures the air, purifies it through charcoal filters and sends it back into the kitchen environment.

Where possible we always recommend a rangehood is ducted as opposed to recirculated, however sometimes this is not possible. To duct a rangehood is always more expensive to begin with but nothing is required after the installation. However, with the recirculated versions, you do need to replace filters on a regular basis which becomes an ongoing cost and inconvenience to replace.

The ducted version must be connected to the outside through ducting that carries all the captured air from the house. This requires piping with a sufficiently large diameter at least 125mm (though 150mm is preferred). The piping must also not be too long or tortuous, otherwise the aerodynamic resistance of the passage can cause “power loss”, that is cubic metres of lost airflow.

Piping is not required for the recirculated version, since the captured air is purified through the rangehood’s active carbon filters and then returned to the kitchen environment. In this version it is extremely important to observe correct maintenance of the odour filters, and to replace them when necessary.

REMOTE MOTOR TO MINIMISE NOISE

The only way to reduce the noise on your rangehood is to have a remote motor. Some of the noise of a rangehood comes from the motor located just inside your rangehood. You will always have some noise in a rangehood, which would be the actual air movement through the vents provided to extract, but it is significantly reduced with a remote motor.

The higher the extraction, the noisier your rangehood will be unless you remove the motor from its rangehood body and place it somewhere else in the house. Note, remote motors are brand specific.