Cooker Hood - no extraction duct

[Pot Bellied Fool]

Hi all.

Recently moved this year and slowly fettling stuff after undoing all the 'old lady decor' and lack of maintenance. (Top Tip: Get a laser level! Invaluable for the myriad of things that I was tasked with assembling, errecting, hanging or breaking!)

Anyway, In our old place the cooker hood led to the outside world via a small duct. Makes sense to my mind. Just dismantled it every so often to clean off congealed grease and change the filter paper insert. Not the nicest of jobs but doable, and we don't deep fry stuff so not too much grease heading into it. Unlike the previous owner - industrial degreaser for the win back then!

But the new place has a cooker hood that leads nowhere.I know they can be set up like that but... but... with no extract, how are they of any use? It has a metal mesh instead of filter paper. Is it just a case of cleaning that every so often? Are they even effective? (Thye kitchen will get ripped out at some point but need to build up the funds after all the more pressing works that were needed first so we'll have to put up with this for a couple of years yet.)

So really just asking - what';s the point of the ones with no extraction to the outside? Worth having? How to clean? What should we put in its place when kitchen (small kitchen/diner) is redone?

Edited by Pot Bellied Fool on Monday 11th November 15:18

[OutInTheShed]

Ducted is way superior, but some un-ducted ones use carbon filters to help with smells.

IMHO, ducted is essential to get rid of water vapour.

[Panamax]

Yes, essential to find a way to install some ducting to outdoors IMO. Otherwise it's just an annoying noise that achieves nothing.

Why are they installed in the first place? Because cheap solution and looks nice in estate agent photos.

[Pot Bellied Fool]

Thanks, my suspicions confirmed!

[Hoofy]

The non-ducting variant is actually really good for removing oil from the air if you're frying something. Without it, my fire alarm in the landing goes off. Simply switch it on and it stops this happening without having to open the windows. YMMV!

[Shooter McGavin]

We've got an unducted one, it's ste IMO.

[bigpriest]

Even the ones with a carbon filter usually have an absorbent sheet that you wash or replace regularly. Maybe the last one was greased up and they never replaced it.

[Whoozit]

Adding an external hole is a perfect excuse to hire a core drill for an hour, and feel super manly afterwards covered in brick dust. The ducting is simple to assemble so long as there is a convenient joist into which to screw supports.

Honestly one of the easier jobs I've done in the house.

[boyse7en]

Whoozit said:

Adding an external hole is a perfect excuse to hire a core drill for an hour, and feel super manly afterwards covered in brick dust. The ducting is simple to assemble so long as there is a convenient joist into which to screw supports.

Honestly one of the easier jobs I've done in the house.

Surely that depends on the location of the cooker relative to external walls? Or how keen you are on having an 8" pipe trailing across the kitchen ceiling.

[bigpriest]

boyse7en said:

Whoozit said:

Adding an external hole is a perfect excuse to hire a core drill for an hour, and feel super manly afterwards covered in brick dust. The ducting is simple to assemble so long as there is a convenient joist into which to screw supports.

Honestly one of the easier jobs I've done in the house.

Surely that depends on the location of the cooker relative to external walls? Or how keen you are on having an 8" pipe trailing across the kitchen ceiling.

Should definitely be steel ducting on display on bare brick so you can where a chef's coat, run around and swear at people.

[Simpo Two]

Pot Bellied Fool said:

But the new place has a cooker hood that leads nowhere.I know they can be set up like that but... but... with no extract, how are they of any use? It has a metal mesh instead of filter paper. Is it just a case of cleaning that every so often? Are they even effective? (Thye kitchen will get ripped out at some point but need to build up the funds after all the more pressing works that were needed first so we'll have to put up with this for a couple of years yet.)

So really just asking - what';s the point of the ones with no extraction to the outside? Worth having? How to clean? What should we put in its place when kitchen (small kitchen/diner) is redone?

A hood set to 'recirculate' is largely useless IMHO, even if it has filters.

If the hood in your new house doesn't back onto an exterior wall, I would consider how best to dun a duct (as big as possible) to the outside.

boyse7en said:

Or how keen you are on having an 8" pipe trailing across the kitchen ceiling.

Mine is a round duct painted white; in practice it just looks like slightly big coving.

[wyson]

The unducted ones sound like my air filter.

I have an externally ducted cooker hood, which is weak as st. I brought an air purifier, that looks like a white bin and stands by the cooker. It scrubs oil and moisture particles from frying. The kitchen surfaces are much less sticky with it on. The intake holes on the purifier get filthy, so its definitely cleaning the air.

So I reckon an internally venting cooker hood with a decent set of filters would do a similar job and be better than nothing.

[Whoozit]

boyse7en said:

Whoozit said:

Adding an external hole is a perfect excuse to hire a core drill for an hour, and feel super manly afterwards covered in brick dust. The ducting is simple to assemble so long as there is a convenient joist into which to screw supports.

Honestly one of the easier jobs I've done in the house.

Surely that depends on the location of the cooker relative to external walls? Or how keen you are on having an 8" pipe trailing across the kitchen ceiling.

I found cooking was much more pleasant with the duct in place and don't mind the industrial look. Can always be boxed in if that is important. YMMV of course.