Can a range hood or microwave fan improve the air quality in your home?

Most kitchens are equipped with a stove fan (or range hood or microwave fan) to reduce smoke and improve air quality in the kitchen. With wildfire smoke and other air quality issues, some homeowners are wondering whether these fans will improve the air quality in the rest of the home .

Do fans really clean the air after cooking, or do they just spread airborne particles around the house? We asked HVAC experts for their opinions and here's what they had to say.

Effectiveness of stove fans in the kitchen.

Cooking produces smoke, grease and odors and promotes high humidity, which can lead to problems like mold growth and water damage over time if not properly mitigated, says Myles Robinson, HVAC expert at Compare Boiler Quotes . Gas stoves in particular release a large amount of additional gaseous substances into the environment. Turning on the stove fan while cooking reduces the buildup of these cooking byproducts in the kitchen. The deciding factor here is whether your furnace fan has ducting. EITHER without channel.

Fans with or without ducts

As the name suggests, ductless fans are not connected to additional plumbing in the home. They simply work like fans and circulate the air throughout the kitchen. In contrast, duct fans are connected to the home's HVAC system or to a stand-alone duct that is used to extract air from the home and replace it with new, fresh air through the home's registers. Range hoods may or may not be ducted, as may microwave fans. Determining what type of fan you have in your kitchen can give you an idea of ​​whether the air is simply being circulated or directed outside.

Another factor that can affect the effectiveness of a kitchen fan when the air is contaminated is the presence of filters. Most ductless fans that circulate air in the kitchen are equipped with some type of filter. The three most popular types of range hood filters are carbon filters, stainless steel baffle filters, and aluminum mesh filters, each of which has its own strengths.

No matter what type of stove fan you have, experts agree that turning on the fan is an effective way to combat airborne particles, smoke, and fumes created while cooking. "By turning on the furnace fan, you prevent buildup in the indoor environment," says Josh Mitchell, founder of Air Conditioner Lab .

Effective when the general air quality in the house is poor.

Given the benefits and limitations of kitchen fans, does it make sense to turn them on outside the kitchen during times of poor air quality? Can they improve the air quality in your home ? Experts agree that it depends.

Oven fans equipped with filters can be somewhat useful for filtering air, but they are not designed to improve air quality beyond filtering out cooking byproducts. These filters are typically designed to capture relatively large particles, unlike true air purification filters such as HEPA filters , which trap at least 99.97% dust, pollen, mold, bacteria, and any airborne particles that are 0.3 in size should remove micrometers. according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency .

"When the fan is blown outside, it can help create a slight negative pressure inside the home, making it easier to let fresh air in through windows or other openings," says Mitchell. However, if outdoor air quality is a concern due to wildfire smoke or high pollen levels, you shouldn't let outside air in, he says. In this case, Mitchell recommends investing in a high-quality air purifier with HEPA filters.

Even your stove fan, range hood, or microwave cannot act as a solution to your air quality problems - they require maintenance.

"The important thing to know about range hood filters is that they need to be cleaned or replaced regularly to maintain their effectiveness," says Mitchell.

So if you want your fan to impact the air quality in your room, you need to make sure it is well maintained.

The essential

Using your stove fan is a good idea any time you cook in the kitchen, especially if you have a gas stove. Because that's exactly what kitchen hoods are for. The fans effectively extract cooking byproducts, including large particles and contaminants.

However, if you're concerned about air quality outside the kitchen, experts agree that it's better to add an air purifier (or two) to your home than to rely solely on the range hood, stove fan, or fan. Microwave fan.

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