Hood power for the kitchen: calculation and model selection
When choosing a hood for the kitchen, one should take into account not only its compliance with the design of the room and the brand under which it was produced. One of the most important selection parameters is the performance of the hood for the kitchen - the volume of air that the hood is able to clean per unit of time.
How to determine the desired performance, and how to choose the right hood for your kitchen - we will talk about all this in this article.
Hoods of different types
Flow hoods
When choosing a hood, you need to familiarize yourself with all the available assortment - after all, various types of hoods are presented on the modern market. The most common designs include two types of hoods: flow and circulation. Their work on cleaning the air in the kitchen is based on different principles - and therefore each of the varieties of these devices should be considered separately.
Flow type hoods work according to the following principle:
- Polluted hot air under the influence of the electric motor blades rises through the air duct and is removed into the ventilation ducts of the building.
- In the process of removal, the air passes through a special metal filter. Particles of soot, soot, as well as drops of fat suspended in the air settle on this filter.
Note! The anti-grease filter should be periodically cleaned of contamination, otherwise it will offer too much resistance to the air flow. At the same time, even the most powerful kitchen hood will not cope with the removal of dirty air.
- Since the air passing through the ducts no longer enters the room, additional filters (for example, anti-odor) are almost never installed in such hoods.
- The efficiency of this type of hood depends not only on its rated power provided by the operation of the internal engine, but also on the condition of the building's air ducts. In houses with clogged ventilation ducts, a significant part of the hood's power will be lost.
Circulating hoods
The choice of hood by size and power
Hood dimensions
An important parameter for choosing a hood, which directly affects the efficiency of its work in cleaning kitchen air, is the size:
- As a rule, the best way to cope with the tasks assigned to them is hoods, the area of \u200b\u200bwhich is equal to or greater than the area of \u200b\u200bthe hob or gas stove (as shown in the photo). In this case, sufficiently powerful kitchen hoods are able to completely capture the vapors rising above the stove - and either remove them into the air duct or effectively clean them by filtering.
- The standard size of industrial hoods corresponds to the most common dimensions of hobs. Most models on the market have a width of 50 or 60 cm (brands such as ELICA, FALMEC, SMEG, etc.).
- More powerful, but at the same time - more expensive hoods have a width of 80 cm to 1 m. Their performance is sufficient to completely clean the air over a large hob - therefore, such large models are sometimes considered semi-professional.
- As for do-it-yourself hoods, their performance depends both on the installed engine and on the configuration of the dome and the hood duct. That is why, when starting to independently manufacture an exhaust device, it is better to include in the project some margin in terms of dimensions, and hence power!
Hood power
However, the key factor on which the operation of the hood depends is, of course, its power. The more powerful the hood, the faster it cleans the air in the kitchen, which means the more comfortable you will be in this room.
The power of the hoods is measured in cubic meters of air per hour.
The minimum productivity of industrial hoods is about 200-300 cubic meters per hour. Such models are quite inexpensive, but they cope very poorly with air purification. It is for this reason that the installation of such low-power hoods can only be recommended if you cook very rarely - otherwise the unpleasant smell and headache from carbon monoxide will become your constant companions.
If you cook often, then a standard (about 600 cubic meters per hour) or reinforced hood is suitable for you. High-power devices are capable of passing through themselves up to 1000 cubic meters of air per hour, but the price of such devices is quite high.
Extraction power calculation
If you are in doubt about which hood model to choose, we recommend that you calculate the minimum required power of this device for your kitchen. Power is calculated by the formula:
Q = 12 x S x H where:
- 12 - sanitary norm for air exchange within an hour (i.e. for a comfortable stay in the room, the air must be replaced at least 12 times).
- S is the area of your kitchen.
- H is the height of the kitchen.
The resulting value will be the minimum power of the hood. If the model you have chosen has less power, you should not purchase it. And if more, then the performance margin will not harm the exhaust device. However, there is one nuance, which we will discuss in the next section.
Hood and noise level
Powerful kitchen hoods have one very significant drawback - they make quite a lot of noise during operation. It is unlikely that you will be able to appreciate the noise during a demonstration in a store, so instructions will come to your aid.
It usually indicates the volume at which the fan is running:
- If the volume is 30-45 decibels, then you can install the hood in the kitchen.
- If the sound level exceeds 55 decibels, then such a hood can be installed only in a very spacious room. Otherwise, discomfort is guaranteed!
We hope that the recommendations in this article, which describe how to determine the capacity of a kitchen hood and what factors to pay attention to, will help you make the right choice. After all, a high-quality hood is one of the indispensable conditions for your well-being. At least while you're cooking in the kitchen!