Filtration for kitchen exhaust
lance_p
| Posted in General Questions on
I’ve searched for “grease filtration” and only seem to come up with solutions for commercial kitchens. Can an ordinary filter be used to remove airborne cooking particles? If so, what MERV rating would be recommended? If not, what do we use?
What type of filter is used in recirculating range hoods? They are carbon filters, but other than being carbon they have no standard ratings that I can tell.
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Replies
If you have a 5" round exhaust port, you can use the ones Zehnder sells. It's a cone filter, with a very open structure. The cone gives more surface area than a flat filter of the same diameter, and the open structure means very little restriction. They're also washable.
https://zehnderamerica.com/zehnder-store/zehnder-store-detail/?itemid=27
Range hood filters are just cartridges with carbon in them. They are only intended to filter odours, and I guess really large particles will get caught up in there. The baffles on the range hood are meant to capture a lot of grease. I read that the stainless louver style baffles are superior to the aluminum mesh style.
This makes sense; the aluminum mesh "filters" in our over the range microwave/range hood are not effective at all. We cook a lot, barely ever wash the filters, and they never seem to have much gunk in them. The microwave sure fills up with gunk, though. Our microwave failed a few years ago and needed replacing, and man was the fan area FULL of grease and gunk. What a mess!
Thanks for the tip on the Zehnder filters. I wonder if they capture much given their open structure and low restriction? I guess they'd be better than nothing.
Agreed the design of the hood is paramount. So many hoods just don't capture much.
The filters will remove smoke and odors but the inherent design of the hood not the filter is reason for their average performance vs a proper vented range hood.
Do your best to install a vented range hood because recirculating hoods do not remove moisture. ack pfft!!!
Apparently recirculating hoods work great if you don't cook. :)
Came across this website a couple of weeks ago. Looks interesting, but don’t know anything about them.
https://www.plasmamade.com/
Looks too good to be true! I checked out their site and didn’t see any reference to patents, which I’d assume a new technology would qualify for if it was legit.
EDIT: I found their patent references. They look like conformity certificates to me:
https://www.plasmamade.com/test/