The hood is a full-fledged "resident" of a modern apartment. If you often cook in the family, then you can’t do without this device. You don't want your newly refurbished kitchen to lose its splendor in a year, do you? The answer is obvious, and if so, you will have to take care of the fight against fat and soot. You can, of course, arrange a general cleaning after each cooking, but it is better to buy a hood. How not to make a mistake when choosing this device - you will learn from our material.
Before purchasing something from household appliances, it is advisable to at least in general terms understand how this something works. Extraction is no exception. Fortunately, this device is simple, so it does not take much time to study it.
The main task of the hood is to protect the ceiling, furniture and appliances in the kitchen from soot and grease settling on them. Cleaning the air from unpleasant odors, often arising in the process of culinary witchcraft, is also her life's work. In addition, the hood also serves to illuminate the kitchen worktop. Of course, modern hoods look quite attractive, so they may well decorate the kitchen. In general, the device is one, but there are many pluses.
The design of the kitchen hood is as follows: a body made of metal or plastic, sometimes with wooden or glass inserts, a motor (sometimes two) and filters for cleaning the incoming air.
Construction type
Depending on the installation location, the hood itself is manufactured in an appropriate housing and has some other technological features. According to the type of design, the hood can be divided into:
Island Such hoods are attached to the ceiling above the working area. The need for an island hood arises if the stove is in the center of the kitchen or does not adjoin any of the walls (according to its location, the stove is a kind of “island” - hence the name of the hoods).
Wall mounted (dome or fireplace) This is the most common type of hood, designed for wall mounting. They are made in domed, pyramidal, rectangular and other shapes.
Corner hoods This type refers to wall-mounted hoods, the body of which is optimized for installation in the corner of the room.
Built-in hoods The type of hoods is designed for installation in the lower part of a hanging cabinet above the stove. Often such hoods have a retractable panel, which is designed to increase the air intake area. Most kitchens have a small area, so such built-in hoods allow you to save working space as much as possible.
Circulating and flow
According to the type of air purification, hoods can be divided into circulation and flow. Many modern models of hoods can work both in flow mode and in recirculation mode.
Circulating hoods purify the air they suck in with the help of a filter system and return it back to the room, thus keeping the heat in the apartment, which is especially important in the cold season. First, the air passes through a grease filter, which traps large enough particles such as fat droplets, combustion products, etc. Such filters can be both disposable and reusable. Disposable filters are usually made of synthetic winterizer, interlining or paper. Once these filters become clogged, they must be discarded. Therefore, it is much more economical to use reusable acrylic or metal filters. After greasing air passes final cleaning in the coal filter. Such filters are disposable and must be re-purchased as they become dirty.
Pros:
There is no need for a building ventilation system.
Ease of connection.
Keeping warm in cold weather.
Minuses:
Replacing carbon filters (as they become dirty).
Low cleaning efficiency. No matter how high-quality the filters are, they do not purify the air by 100%, most often this figure is closer to 70%.
We recommend circulation hoods only if there are significant difficulties in connecting the hood to the ventilation shaft.
The flow cleaning method is based on the removal of polluted air outside the premises. This type is more difficult to install, as it will require drilling technological holes in the wall to connect to the ventilation system. But at the same time, hoods using the flow cleaning method are much more efficient, since polluted air will be completely ejected, and clean air will replace it.
In flow hoods, only a grease filter is installed. It is needed so that a layer of fat does not accumulate on the walls of the hood and fan blades, which can lead to failure of electrical parts.
Types of filters, their cleaning and replacement
There are three types of grease or coarse filters:
synthetic winterizer, non-woven or paper filters are disposable. Signs are applied to their surface, which can be seen through the protective grille of the hood housing. Replacement is made when the marks cease to appear on the filter surface;
Acrylic filters are classified as reusable filters. Periodically, about once a month, they should be washed in warm soapy water. In this case, the filter does not need to be squeezed hard, since it can be easily damaged;
aluminum filters are also reusable. As it gets dirty, about once a month, such a filter must be cleaned with a degreaser or placed in the dishwasher. Since the aluminum filter is usually composed of several thin layers of perforated aluminum, it must be handled with care to avoid damaging the surface.
Charcoal filters consist of activated carbon. They are disposable and are replaced approximately every 4-6 months. More precise filter replacement times should be specified by the hood manufacturer. We emphasize that all filters must be constantly monitored, since a clogged filter surface during active use of the hood will drastically reduce the operating performance and increase the load on the engine, which can significantly reduce the life of the hood.
Extraction performance
When choosing a hood, it is necessary to pay attention to such a parameter as throughput or performance of the hood. This parameter shows the volume of air that the hood can pass through itself per unit of time. It is measured in cubic meters of air per hour. To calculate this parameter, there is the following formula:
Productivity = (Volume of the room) x (Frequency of air exchange).
It will not be difficult for you to calculate the volume of the room by multiplying the area of \u200b\u200bthe kitchen by the height of the ceiling. For greater accuracy, the volume that the kitchen furniture occupies can be subtracted from the resulting volume.
The air exchange rate is a value that determines the number of air changes in the room in one hour. For optimal air exchange, this parameter should be equal to 12.
However, in any case, it is better to choose a hood with a performance margin, since constant operation at maximum power will greatly affect the service life. In addition, the hood at maximum speed will make a rather loud noise. In addition, if the duct constructed for the hood has bends, this will create an additional load on the hood. As already mentioned, as the filters become dirty, the performance of the hood also drops, which must also be taken into account.
This formula is only a recommendation. So, for example, in a kitchen of a small area, the concentration of harmful substances during active cooking can very quickly approach critical values. To avoid this, you may have to look at the hoods, the performance of which is 1.5-2 times the recommended one.
Dimensions and noise level
When choosing sizes, it is necessary to build on the size of the stove. So the width of the hood should be greater than or equal to the width of the plate, then it will capture the entire flow of air with the volatile substances contained in it. Standard hood widths are 50, 60 and 90 cm.
The noise level is measured in decibels. So, for example, a noise of 40 dB is comparable to quiet human speech at a distance of several meters, and 60 dB will be comparable to the level of human speech at a distance of about 1 m. The average exhaust level at maximum power is approximately 60-70 dB. Since people can often be in the kitchen for a long time, noise can have a very negative effect on a person's mood. If you want to avoid this, then you need to pay attention to hoods with two fans and high-quality electric motors.
Control
The main controls for the hood are the motor switch, speed controller and lighting. The speed controller is useful from the point of view that it is far from always necessary to use the hood at full capacity. And in cases where it is really necessary, turbo mode will be useful (not present in all models).
The switching itself can be push-button, touch or electronic.
The simplest type is push-button control, which consists of a group of switches located on the front panel of the hood. Depending on a particular task, it is necessary to turn on or off the desired switch.
With touch off, instead of large switches, there are tiny buttons that turn on with a light touch of the keys. At the same time, the button is located at the level of the panel and does not sink into it, which will favorably affect the ease of cleaning the hood. The pluses of such control can also be attributed to a beautiful appearance.
The most expensive control is electronic. So the electronic unit allows you to set various modes of operation of the hood at certain time intervals. In addition, such hoods have a large number of additional functions. For example, an automatic increase in the performance of the hood, in case of severe air pollution. Automatic switch on when cooking. Turning on the lighting when a person approaches the stove, filter clogging indicator and much more. Of course, you can easily do without all this, but all the additional features add a lot of pluses to such a criterion as ease of use.
The residual stroke function will be useful: it leaves the fans on for another 10 minutes after the hood has already been turned off. This provides a final clean air after the end of cooking. No less useful is another option - the interval mode. The hood automatically turns on at low power every hour, thereby providing additional ventilation to the room.
As you can see, it is not so difficult to figure out which hood is preferable for your kitchen. The main thing is to take into account several basic parameters. By doing this, you will get an excellent device, the benefits of which are strange to talk about if you do not want to have a smoky ceiling and greasy kitchen furniture and appliances. Extraction costs vary. There are economical models, and there are devices with built-in radios, TVs, with the ability to connect to a computer, using expensive materials in the finish. The choice is yours.
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April 26, 2024 10:54:12 +0300 GMT
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