Silent kitchen extractor fan

[upinthehills]

I am in the process of planning an extension which will have a kitchen,diner and small living area. The main living room will be elsewhere in the house, but as the new bit backs on to the garden and gets the sun I can see us using it a lot.

I hate cooker hoods though - with a passion - I find the noise incredibly annoying. I've been doing some research about extractors with silent or external fans.

Does anyone have one in practise?

I am guessing that this will dictate my kitchen design which is already a bit fiddly already. I am worried that external extractors might breakdown a lot due to extremes of weather - snow for instance!

[middleagedspread]

Watching with interest. My current extractor (vented outside) sounds like a plane taking off.

[upinthehills]

I seem to remember reading before that commercial ones external vented and external fan may be the way to go for minimum noise - I may the wrong though!

[skandi1]

Is your hob going on an island or along a wall?
If its on an island, get a down draft extractor. It's motor sits elsewhere, either in basement underneath or outside. Caple do several and they are significantly cheaper than de Dietrich etc.
if its along a wall, there are several models where you can get an externally mounted motors. As others suggest, you can get commercial ones which will have the most powerful extraction.
Miele, Elica both do wall mounted with external motors (not cheap tho!), airuno (best value I think) and cable and westin.

The caple external motors work with their wall ceiling and downdraft extractors. I have one of their downdraft models with a motor mounted outside and it's very good. No complaints at all.

Remember you have to buy an extractor and the motor separately. Most sellers/retailers will make you aware of this.

I think Elica models (£££££!) are around £3000+ and de Dietrich very similar. I expect Miele will cost more. Airuno about £1000. Caples motor costs circa £1000 and the extractor unit will set you back between £500 and £800 depending on what type (down draft most expensive).

If its going to be wall mounted you may find that an entry level commercial one is cheaper. Not sure where you buy though.

[pootlebug]

We have a Westin one with external motor. You can still hear it - but I would say on powerful extraction rate it is quieter than having a similarly powerful extractor there in the kitchen iyswim. But it's not silent by any means.

[PigletJohn]

if you want a wall-mounted extractor fan, get a large, two-speed one. You may have seen them in offices.

My mum's kitchen has a Vent-Axia, I think a 10-inch model, it is whisper-quiet. I recently took it off the wall for cleaning (this is not difficult) as it will accumulate dust and cobwebs, but, being in a kitchen, also greasy dirt. It is built into the brickwork and has a square plastic liner that the fan itself unplugs from after undoing the retaining screw.

Alternatively, you can get very effective and quiet fans that are mounted above the ceiling. They are most often used in lofts where there is plenty of room for the fan and duct.

It's a pity you don't like cooker hoods because your kitchen is going to suffer from greasy dirt.

Cheap bathroom extracors usually have a nominal rate of 80 cubic metres of air per hour. In a kitchen, without a hood, you need four times that, as you are not capturing the steam, fumes and grease at source.

There are tables of extract rates needed for kitchen per Building Regulations which I don't have to hand, but I get a more powerful one with two speeds so it can run quietly at low most of the time. They are not as widely sold as the small ones. I don't think a six-inch one will be adequate. Smaller fans have to run faster and more noisily than big ones. They don't generally have grease filters so will get dirty.
an example but it seems to be single speed

this one is quieter but less powerful

or these

[fossil971]

Anything on this page likely to be of use? Remember if the fan is external you will need a switch somewhere for it ideally near the cooker.

[fossil971]

the building regs ask for, in kitchens;
30 l/s at the hob (ie. cooker hood) OR
60 l/s elsewhere (i.e. wall or window Xpelair type fan) OR
13 l/s if continuous (normally involves ducts and a very low power fan in the loft, so part of a whole house system).

I hate noisy fans too I had an Xpelair in the last kitchen and continuous extract now. Kitchen companies are keen to sell cooker hoods but they are not essential.

[fossil971]

60 litres per second is 216m3 per hour by the way.

[upinthehills]

Oh thanks - lots to digest here.

I am not adverse to cooker hoods - they just need to be super quiet!

I'm not sure where the hob is going to be - may be on an island. Had already found the Bosch downdraft ones. Didn't realise how expensive this was going to be though...

[PigletJohn]

I got an Elica one recently, 3 speed, used on low speed pretty well whenever the cooker is used, turned up to 3 for bacon or kippers.

low speed is quiet.

get one that's wider than your cooker to prevent fumes getting past the sides.

[middleagedspread]

PJ, I'm having a fake mantel type over my oven, DH says if must be wall vented. Would you recommend the same?

[PigletJohn]

venting through a wall is essential, and it needs to extend at least the size of your hob. Have it fitted above your head height and you will be unable to hit it unless you jump up.