One of the most important functions of a kitchen ventilation system is to effectively eliminate odors and excess moisture that occur during cooking.
In addition, most of the polluted air coming from other rooms is usually removed through the kitchen ventilation system. Practice shows that the presence of a large window in the kitchen and a natural ventilation system is not enough to effectively remove polluted air and combustion products. The kitchen needs a controllable device that can provide increased airflow when needed, such as mechanical hoods.
These hoods are installed above the source of pollution, directly above the stoves. Currently, there is a wide variety of kitchen hoods on sale, differing not only in manufacturer, functionality and design, but also in performance. Performance should be a key factor in choosing a range hood. The performance of the hood should be sufficient to provide ten-fold air exchange throughout the entire volume of the kitchen for 1 hour. In other words, you need to multiply the area of the kitchen by the height of the ceilings, and multiply the resulting volume by 10. The air duct of the kitchen mechanical hood must be made in a separate ventilation duct, not combining the air flow from it with the general ventilation of the kitchen, since the hood turns on automatically if necessary for certain periods of time (intermittent operation), and ventilation in the kitchen must be ensured at all times. That is why experts recommend having two ventilation ducts in the kitchen: one for connecting a mechanical hood, the second for natural air circulation. Along with a relatively cheap way to provide ventilation in the kitchen, there is also a more expensive, but also more efficient – supply and exhaust ventilation with a heat exchanger. Supply and exhaust ventilation with a heat exchanger is not only an efficient air supply system, but also its use will significantly reduce the cost of heating the entire building (by several tens of percent). Annual savings, depending on the type of home heating (heat pump, gas boiler or electric heating), as a result, can range from several hundred to several thousand hryvnias. A significant impact on the savings component, when using this system, affects the efficiency of heat recovery. When choosing supply and exhaust ventilation with recuperation, it is necessary to take into account its power and price, so that it does not turn out that the systems with the highest parameters will simply not be profitable due to the high price. In addition to saving on heating the house, this system also has a number of advantages: intensive ventilation of the room, always effective heat exchange in the required amount, regardless of outdoor weather conditions, heating or cooling air, as well as its filtration.
In short, this system is able to provide a number of additional benefits that guarantee comfortable living, which ordinary ordinary natural ventilation systems cannot boast of. In this article, we looked at several ways to effectively clean the air, get rid of unpleasant odors and give the kitchen a healthy microclimate. Which of the above methods, cheaper or more expensive, is up to you to choose. The only thing to remember is that in any case, your choice should be based on the calculation that is necessary for you, the required power of ventilation equipment.