Stovetop Venting?

[PorscheGAL]

Okay, Braintrust, I currently have a glasstop electric cooktop with a built in down draft vent installed in my kitchen. I would like to install a gas cooktop. I believe it would be a pretty easy thing to have someone run the gas to the location because I already have a gas fireplace and gas water heaters and it is only 8 ft from the meter. Do I need venting on a gas cooktop? There are a few that come in the 30" size that have downdraft but at $1400+, it seems a bit steep. Could I just have a cooktop installed with no vent? If I absolutely need a vent, could I use a hood that recirculates or do I need one that vents to the outside? Thanks.

[masraum]

We've got gas with a recirculating vent hood.

I'm not aware of any requirement to have an exterior vent for a gas cooktop, but then I'm also not a contractor.

[Zeke]

You will be happier with one that exhausts to the outside. Jenn Air has been selling down draft units for years. They seem to work OK. That would be your simplest solution. I can't find a price on one.

[RWebb]

yes you want the exhaust to go to the outside and remember "air does not like to turn corners"

you want the hood to be as close as possible (which means as close as you can stand) to the cook top

you want a powerful and quiet blower fan to move the air (usually means it should be mounted remotely)

you want powder coated since it is a lot easier to clean and cheaper than stainless

do you know where the gas pipes run?

will you make more bread for us?

[john70t]

Originally Posted by PorscheGAL

Do I need venting on a gas cooktop?

No, but you'll want one.
Cooking releases a lot of water vapor(good in the winter, bad in the summer), oil, and odors. There nothing like trying to get rid of a smokey oven while having a dinner party.

Unless the kitchen is on the corner of the house with two windows with a warm breeze for cross-ventilation, something is needed.

Originally Posted by PorscheGAL

There are a few that come in the 30" size that have downdraft but at $1400+, it seems a bit steep. Could I just have a cooktop installed with no vent?

See above. Look for used vent hoods at Salvation Army, Craigslist, and other resale venues. Hook it up and listen to the motor, clean any buildup off the blades with alcohol or another solvent, and maybe repaint the hood.

You have a downdraft already.
-It may be a recirculation one(which is garbage IMO because warm air rises).
-It may be a vented to the outside. Check the floor underneath to see if there is a pipe running to the exterior rim joist.
If so, this penetration on the exterior will have to be blocked off esthetically, the drywall knocked off the kichen ceiling, and new piping run to the exterior. That may cause a serious structural problem depending on which way the floor joists run. The siding will have to have a hole cut in it, and a flapper vent installed to keep cold air from entering the house.

With my new house, I had a vent already in place. I installed a microwave with a top-vent exhaust and just hooked it up to the existing piping, sealing all connections and joints with metal tape. Two bird with one stone.

Originally Posted by PorscheGAL

If I absolutely need a vent, could I use a hood that recirculates or do I need one that vents to the outside? Thanks.

One to the outside is better.
Recirculation-types only trap oil.

[look 171]

Here in LA, you must vent it to the outside. Recirc. is not longer legal. My advice is to get it to the outside so you house does not smell. Over time, the smell of oil or grease will not go away. It sounds like you already have the down draft ducts hooked up. All you have to do is just make the connection. Jenn-air is about the cheapest one. I will try and get you a phone number to a local dealer that deals with blemished appliances. I am talking a about t small ding in the back of the appliance. Something really minor. They will ship all over the country. Get me a pic of the ducts down below and I will see if I can help.

jeff

[Mark Henry]

Originally Posted by Zeke

You will be happier with one that exhausts to the outside. Jenn Air has been selling down draft units for years. They seem to work OK. That would be your simplest solution. I can't find a price on one.

We have a Jenn Air gas cooktop, if I had of paid full pop for it I'd be totally p i s s e d.
We got it off of kijiji (like craigslist) >3 years old for only $150 (regular $1200 IIRC) and it's barely worth that IMO. My main compliant is after one meal it's totally filthy and unless you clean it it looks like poop. If it was just a wipe OK, but I've almost thought about putting it in my bead blasting cabinet. Mind you it's white enamal, black would be just as bad, maybe the SS one would be better, at least you could scrub it with comet. We line it with tinfoil just so we don't have to scrub it every freaking time.The grill is a novel concept, but it is slow, smoky and did I mention dirty? It really should have a top like a BBQ, at least it would cut down on the smoke and you could hide the mess. With out a top it can't keep up with the smoke of just a couple of steaks, I stick forks in the DD vent grill and prop up a deep baking sheet to direct the smoke and stop the splatter. The fingers for the burners warp and forget about putting a small saucepan on it. Also the heat is almost impossible to regulate at low temperatures and high is no where near what a commercial unit would put out. For a "higher end" cooktop it has cheap plastic knobs that will deform and become brittle with the heat.

Other than that I'm happy with it....

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Mark Henry

My main compliant is after one meal it's totally filthy and unless you clean it it looks like poop. If it was just a wipe OK, but I've almost thought about putting it in my bead blasting cabinet. Mind you it's white enamal, black would be just as bad, maybe the SS one would be better, at least you could scrub it with comet.

We've got a Kitchenaid stainless gas cooktop. It was almost the top of the line (1 step from the top) Architect II series. It's a great stove, but holy carp, a stainless cooktop sucks butt. Our previous cooktop wast a white enamel gas cooktop. The stainless steel shows grease much, much, much worse than the white enamel did. It's hard to clean. You can't just use comet because it's a brushed stainless surface so any scouring shows. I love the cooktop, but it is fairly high maintenance or you just have to live with it looking dirty.

[RWebb]

yeh - stainless has problems - I wish my stuff was enamel.

I advise buying a used commercial blower unit and putting it outside (or in the attic) - much less noise, and you can even have a hood made for you at a sheet metal shop - or buy a busted one and gut the motor.

I wish I'd done that, but I believed the hype about the quietest most powerful vent hood (Vent-A-Hood)...

[azasadny]

Whatever you do, don't vent with an overhead microwave oven with a fan installed! We made this mistake when we built our addition and kitchen 6 years ago and a couple years ago the $500 GE microwave died and I took it apart and it was completely coated in grease and was disgusting. We threw it out and bought a stainless steel Broan hood with a powerful fan and connected it to the exterior vent, so it vents outside and it's much better than the "microwave with a fan" option. Whoever thought of that microwave/fan combo just wasn't thinking. Even cleaning and replacing the screen/filter doesn't prevent the grease from coating every interior surface of the microwave, at least in the crappy GE model (Profile series). Good luck!

[azasadny]

Steve,
We use "KrudKutter" to clean all of our stainless steel surfaces in the kitchen and it does a great job! After getting the surfaces clean, we use "Invisible Glass" to shine the surfaces up and everything cleans up great!

[look 171]

Remember hot air or hot grease rises. You really need a hood. I found the down draft units isn't effective at all.

Mark Henry,

The microwave unit do not really neither due to the weak motor and the small amount of air float through it.

[look 171]

A Vent-A-Hood is one of the quiet and better units out there and they don't cost as much as a viking or Wolf with better performance. You want quiet and effectiveness, get a roof blower to suck the air out. Install muffler(s) to reduce turbulence. Not too many people know about the mufflers, but they are around should you need them. They quiet up about 50% of noise.

Randy,

Do you really want to look at a commercial blower unit on your roof? Still there is a huge amount of air going through the pipe(s). You will hear all the wind noise right at the hood on the inside of your home hauling azz through the ducts. The motors are pretty quiet on most decent units but a roof mounted units are the best way to go if you have the bucks.

[billybek]

The venting over the range microwave are not really ideal.
After pricing out the appliances when I did the kitchen renovation, only one salesperson informed me there was only two types of microwaves that were rated for an over gas range installation. (it is vented to the outdoors)
I bought one and it has been OK. Not great but better than nothing. (Kitchenaid)
It is a great microwave though!
The next reno, I will replace it with a hood.

[azasadny]

Our $500 GE Profile microwave over the stove just pulled the grease into it and only some of the exhaust went outside. Even with the external exhaust, the grease accumulates in the microwave. Just wait until it fails and you try to "repair" or replace it, you'll see that the interior of the microwave is completely covered in grease and scum. I can't believe that an electronic appliance could function at all with that much gunk on it... The Broan hood with the heavy duty exhaust fan is noisy, but it works!!

[Zeke]

I clean SS with Pledge. And it's a hell of a lot easier next time. Fake SS as is used on a lot of appliances, especially fridges (it's just a veneer), is terrible to clean.

[azasadny]

Yep, we have used a stainless steel "polish" our our GE and Bosch stainless steel appliances and it smelled and worked just like Lemon Pledge, so it's probably the same thing, just repackaged and more expensive. After I clean everything with KrudKutter, I use Invisible Glass or the Stainless Steel Polish and things stay pretty nice and shiny for awhile. We have a "working kitchen" and my wife cooks every meal, so the kitchen doesn't stay clean for too long, but I can't complain as she has prepared some of the best meals I've ever had in that kitchen.

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by look 171

Remember hot air or hot grease rises. You really need a hood. I found the down draft units isn't effective at all.

Mark Henry,

The microwave unit do not really neither due to the weak motor and the small amount of air float through it.

didn't even knew downdraft venting existed, it sure doesn't exit in Europe.
But other then performance of the draft(which i would think it ain't to great , hot air and steam does rise), it seems terribly impractical to have, what if you have as spill ? grease , water, food, all goes in that vent? I wouldn't wan't to be the one that has to keep that thing clean...

[Hugh R]

Use "go-Jo" the mechanics waterless hand cleaner on SS, it cuts grease and shines it. It's what we used in the galley in the USMC, 40 years ago. No I wasn't a cook, everyone got 30 days of KP a year.

[enzo1]

Originally Posted by svandamme

didn't even knew downdraft venting existed, it sure doesn't exit in Europe.
But other then performance of the draft(which i would think it ain't to great , hot air and steam does rise), it seems terribly impractical to have, what if you have as spill ? grease , water, food, all goes in that vent? I wouldn't wan't to be the one that has to keep that thing clean...

it has a stainless filter and holes that vent down to a glass jar that holds the grease...the performance is pretty good unless you walk off and it gets out of hand, it won't pull smoke from the room... mine is electric