Cooker Hoods or Extractors - clueless - help please

Hippodrome Song Owl

My house came with some sort of extractor unit or hood above the integrated hob. Believe it or not, I have never lived in a house with any sort of cooker hood or extractor previously, so I'm clueless.

It's a Candy unit that has to be plugged in. It does not vent to outside, unfortunately but has a changeable filter. The house pre-purchase inspection report stated that it "vents back into the room and a flexible duct should be fitted and routed to a new.grilled opening to be formed in the external wall."

When switched on it seems like it does nothing in terms of steam and smells, and I'd like to get it sorted.

1. When switched on, there is no suction at all - is that normal for this type, or should there be suction?

2. If I replace it with a similar type, who does that - an electrician? A handyman?

3. If I were to get a proper vented one installed, who do I need to do that? (Presumably, a hole has to be knocked through to the outside?)

I don't know where to start with this, so I need some advice, please. Thank you.

The Red Ace

To be anyway efficient it needs to be ducted to the outside, from your description it was used with a charcoal filter, this is supposed to remove the grease from the steam. Remove the filter and set it for external extraction

Hippodrome Song Owl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120789384#Comment_120789384

It is not connected to outside by any duct. - there doesn't seem to be any outside vent in the wall. There are no settings on it other than switching a slider between 3 different "speeds".

Who would I have to get to create an external vent so a new unit could be connected up for proper extraction?

embracingLife

Hello Op did you get this sorted out since? I know it's been awhile but I'm only reading this now.

If you still looking for answers:

A handyman can easily replace the fan-it's generally called a "hood". You can buy similar ones in shops that sell kitchen appliances.

The hood runs off a 3 pin plug and usually there's a socket close by that the original one is plugged into etc.

To drill a new hole in the wall requires a 4 inch core bit attached to a drill. Usually the tradesman hires the drill and core bit from a tool hire as not everyone has this bit etc to hand.

Also the flexible ducting is easily got in hardware shops etc it's very common thing.

Hope this helps

byte

Be careful as many newer hoods tend to be mostly 5" or 6" vents. Of course you can get reduction adapters but you'd lose some effectiveness of the hood.

Hippodrome Song Owl

Thanks for the information. No it's not sorted yet.

So a handyman could create the hole in the wall and connect up a new hood? I don't a need specialised tradesman? I really would prefer to have a properly vented unit if possible.

I now see that on the outside wall behind where the unit is installed there is a vent like there is in most rooms of the house. However you cannot see this vent from the inside of the kitchen as it is hidden somewhere behind the false cabinet that the hood is installed under.

Would a new unit be connected to this vent or do you need to create a new hole?

This is a photo taken of the top of the hood. Is that black circle the part that should be connected to an outside vent?

embracingLife

Yes a handyman would easily do this job. As I mentioned in my other post the tradesman (and also handyman) can easily drill a hole through the wall the fit the ducting which is then attached to the hood which is the round black part in your photo.

This photo has a black plastic cover over the hole in the top of the hood,so you will need to see whether that round plastic flat piece either pulls out/or unscrews or/ it maybe the lid and is attached by a hinge or a spring mechanism to the hole in the fan in order to attach the ducting to it.

Regarding the vent hole in the wall behind the kitchen cabinet, you have to see whether it's a square hole or a round hole. If it's square and sufficiently wider than a ducting then leave the hole as is and run the ducting in it out to the exterior surface of the vent. If it's round and 4 inch hole then it's sufficient but make sure that the fan lid is 4 inch too.

Then only thing left is to cut a hole in the cabinet to allow the ducting to fit.

But we don't know what size and shape is the vent you said that you can see on the outside of the kitchen wall. If you can take any photos of the outside of this vent and post it here.

Hippodrome Song Owl

Thanks for the information.

I will almost certainly buy a new cooker hood anyway as the grease inside this one is beyond cleaning.

This is the vent on the outside wall. It's 8x5 inches on the outside. Other vents that look the same and are accessible inside have a circular hole when you remove the cover on the internal wall.

The picture uploads sideways unfortunately.

greasepalm

Is that vent clean as would expect it to be dirty if from the overhead unit.

On another note most people get it the same size for the hob ?

Why you mention as i have / use a foodi and an Air fryer and on countertop beside the hob and vents above because its wider.

How long do those flexy pipes last before rotting as i used a solid pipe.

embracingLife

That's good you got a vent already in the wall so no need to drill the wall.

Only need handyman to cut a round hole in the back of the cabinet where this hole is and cut another hole in bottom of the cabinet to run the ducting through. Then plug the new fan into the existing socket/however the existing fan is wired into wall socket etc.

#greasepalm who knows how long, never seen any rot, they last years.

embracingLife

#greasepalm the op said in their first message that the fan is not connected to the wall vent, it's only attached to the cabinet but no ducting in place.

embracingLife

HippopodroneSongOwl when you open the back of the cabinet to expose the room side of the wall vent it's possible that the wall vent is round same as the others in your house.

Hippodrome Song Owl

Is it possible (obviously anything is possible, but is it at all likely), that the pre-purchase survey was wrong in saying that the existing cooker hood is not vented to outside? Having removed the disgusting and beyond repair mesh grease filter, the hood does seem to remove steam from the hob.

The hood model shows that it can be vented from the top or the back. My photo taken from above shows that the top vent is covered with a plastic cap. This is what the surveyor would have seen. But it could be connected up at the back - especiallysince I can't see the inside part of the wall vent so it must be behind the hood itself? Could he have got that wrong?

embracingLife

Probably the surveyor didn't inspect the hood fully, whether even removed the mesh filter on the front.

I doubt they googled the model number of the fan/hood to see if it filters at the back.

So is the hood attached to the wall with no cabinet above it? If its attached to the wall on its own and no obvious ducting above it then the usual assumption is that it's not connecting to any ducting/wall vent as the hood is rectangle shape and maybe about 4" high approximately as a wall vent is usually much higher than the top of these cooker extractor fan/hood. Wall vents in general are up high on the wall few inches below the ceiling so it's common that if there no obvious ducting above the hood then it's not joined to a wall vent at all.

I assumed in my earlier messages that there was a cabinet above the hood.

Tbh there's no way to know if the hood is vented at the rear without removing the whole thing from the wall and seeing then if its connected to a duct/wall vent. It's kind of light weight and usually held to the wall with few screws accessed through the inside after the mesh front is removed so it's easy to remove from the wall.

Secondly contact the surveyor and ask them about this matter but it'd be better for you firstly to get the fan examined and also removed from the wall to see if it's vented to the outside and go from there.