Range hoods or vented hoods are becoming more familiar concepts to every house owner these days due to their excellent values offered. Installing a range hood through an exterior wall for your kitchen is evidently not the easiest task you have taken. It may take a little planning and effort to complete the range hood installation through the exterior walls.
Range Hoods' Benefits For Your Kitchen
To begin with, should you be not convinced enough to install a range hood for your kitchen, here are some of the most outstanding advantages you can get when using one in your home. The first benefit would be improving air quality and health conditions. This benefit is a selling point for hoods, especially for households or individuals with respiratory diseases. The more upgraded the air quality is, the lower chance of their symptoms developing into serious situations.
The second gain you may have using the range hood in your kitchen is an almost 0 percent chance of your fire detectors hitting the false fire alerts. The third benefit is that you would now save some time in the cleaning after cooking, and you can also be capable of cooking a wider variety of dishes since there is now no concern about unpleasant smells in the kitchen.
And last but not least, a range hood can add an elegant touch to your overall kitchen layout. You are free to choose any hood that blends into the scene well, and there should not be a concern for selection because thousands of hood designs are available in this day and age.
What Are The Common Mistakes When You Install Range Hoods?
Coming to the next section, we would now discuss thoroughly the mistakes people often make when installing range hoods through exterior walls. The list will extend pretty much, in our perspective as there are up to 7 mistakes, which easily mess up your range hood installation.
Inappropriate Duct Sizes And Types
The first and most common mistake that has been made is the inappropriate duct sizes and types. This would usually result from miscommunication and agreement among customers and providers. An incompatible duct will lead your range hood to malfunction or not even function at all. Adding to that, it will create annoying noise when you start the range hood.
Issues In Ductless And Recirculation Installation
In several contexts, it is impossible to connect a range hood with a duct outside. Numerous accommodations have been forbidding any adjustment piercing the outside wall for the sake of building conservation, not to mention that various places have excluded the possibilities.
This is where the solution of installing range hoods in ductless, which is named recirculation mode. The operating mechanism of the model is quite simple. When the hood is installed in the recirculation mode, it uses charcoal filters for odor absorption, and then filtered air would be released back into the area. Because in some situations, the potential of this design is highly limited, issues can occur during the operation.
Duct Discharge
Among the mistakes that are most capable of messing up your range hood installation is to terminate your duct in enclosed spaces, which can include the attic area. Back pressure would not allow the hood to function properly. What's more, the enclosed space can easily channel warm moist air into the device, making it an ideal place for mold growth, and this definitely has serious consequences in the long run.
Wrong Duct Cap
It is highly advisable that you have a duct cap for an outside duct. The problem with duct caps is that they are often selected wrongly, leading to issues in airflows and static pressure. However, choice of duct caps are not the biggest concern you should have because you can easily reach the provider for detailed advice and support.
Electrical Connection Issues
The next error that can cause range hood installation to fail is the electrical connection issue. Unstable connection would be the most popular in the section of electrical connection. Some range hoods are specially advised to be plugged in grounded sockets.
Removal Of Protective Film
Protective film is a layer which should be fully or at least partially around the hood. Removing the protective layer can result in shortened lifespan of the range hood. Also, the protective layer keeps your hood from getting scratches while in use.
Poor Compatible Support
Long-term support when in lack would affect both performance and longevity of your hood. Many people when installing do not pay attention or apply any type of joist or structural beam. Besides, having poor support can later on cause several dangerous situations for users.
Guidance On How To Vent Range Hoods Through Exterior Wall
As you have known what to avoid when installing range hoods, now would be the most emphasized section of the whole article, which is the guidance on how to vent range hoods through exterior walls for your kitchen. The process may take some time and effort, but if you follow the guide strictly, it is much likely that you would end up with the desirable outcome.
Step 1: Dissembling Your Range Hood
Attempting to mount one whole range hood would not be recommended because of its excessive weight. That's why we say that you should disassemble the parts of your range hood before installing it.
Step 2: Planning And Marking
For this step, you may need several measuring tools to measure exactly the figures of your range hood. Measurement would affect not only the first period of installation but also have an impact on the later functionality of the range hood. Once you have done measuring the figures, you can now start to mark the outline, representing how you would mount the range hood.
Step 3: Drilling Holes And Cutting The Outline Marked
Take your driller up and begin to drill precisely where you marked in the previous step. Power drillers are highly suggested for the third task because manual ones are going to have detrimental effects on the wall, hence, it would cause serious damage to your house. One more note is that you had better drill from the inside, bit by bit. Next, you should be using a masonry chisel to chip out the overall layout of the hood.
Step 4: Mounting Your Range Hood
Now you would hang up the range hood, based on the layout given and tighten the hanging with screws. You can use a hand for this step if you don't think you can handle it alone. After that, use tapes to join the duct to the hood, ensuring it is held in position.
Step 5: Installing The Wall Duct Cap
The wall duct cap is a device that functions as a cover for the duct. Its major duty is to ensure that the duct looks neat and organized to users. By using manual screwdrivers, you can easily lay the wall duct cap over the duct and connect it to the hood.
Step 6: Assembling The Hood
Here is the last step in the whole guidance, which is assembling the hood. However, this is by far the trickiest task in the process of range hood installation. Electrical cables are to be connected to the power clamp in matching color codes.
You should read the manual description from the maker once again if you are not certain about the cable destination. After you have finished the task, you can start the hood and run it once to see if anything has gone wrong. If nothing goes wrong, you have now completed the work of range hood installation.
Conclusion
Venting range hoods through exterior walls is possible, unlike many people have claimed. For guidance, we have given out the 6 steps to install a range hood for your kitchen. If you have any difficulty in the task, you can always ask for help. Also, keep in mind about the mistakes you may engage in, they can be a huge preventor of your installation process.
