Una wrote:

Anticipating a new roof in the near future, we've been looking into
also adding a venting hood over the range oven combo. The range is
on an inside wall and has a basic residential grease trap "hood".
We like high-temperature stir frys, deep frys, and (ultra messy)
fried onion and chili pastes.

In another thread someone mentioned a downdraft venting range. Do
they really work? That might be a good solution, venting down and
under the kitchen floor (in a crawlspace ... except there is some
ductwork there already)) and out the wall near ground level. The
other option is a standard vent, up through a cabinet, crawlspace,
and roof.


We have both kinds of vents, as the cooktop is an old JennAire electric
with interchangeable grill/burner
set. Our downdraft is very powerful and probably would not work with
gas. The fan is centered,
between burners, and there is a "well" that is lower than the fan and
collects a lot of grease. There is
also a steel mesh filter before the fan. We are on first floor, slab,
so duct goes along inside of
cabinet, through my broom closet, and then out. I hate the whole
contraption, because
it is a glob of grease. I like to grill outdoors. The ductwork for the
downdraft vents right
next to our front door. Odd arrangement, but it is a condo. No sign of
grease on the outside,
and we use it a lot. I do stir-frying, but the whole point of that is
to use minimal grease. Chinese
stir-fry was invented to conserve scarce fuel - the cooker has a small
bottom to concentrate heat
and uses liquid in the food to cook by steam.

Someone here mentioned venting a hood down under the floor; how is
that done? Where would the vent pipe go?

Is it necessary to have the fan at the intake point, or can it be
installed somewhere inline or at the exit to the outside?

Thanks,

Una