Range Hood Repair

Common Failures of Built-in Ventilation Hoods
Cooking is always accompanied by various smells, either pleasant or not. Sometimes it can be the smell of burnt food. Not to mention fried fish odors! You can install a ventilation hood to prevent such smells from spreading over your house. Modern appliances are made of durable heatproof materials that can resist rust. But sometimes a kitchen hood may fail in operation. As a rule, most of faults are connected with wrong installation, improper operation, or lack of timely maintenance.

Kitchen equipment
Nowadays modern kitchen equipment is far from being limited by a basic gas burner and fridge. A wide range of home appliances allows to equip a kitchen with devices that create the most comfortable and pleasant cooking environment. One such appliance is a kitchen hood that removes various contaminations from the air.

Built-in hoods
Compact sizes and method of installation allow built-in hoods to save space in the working area. Since only the device working surface with control elements are visible to a user, such hoods can perfectly fit in any interior. Built-in hoods produce a low level of noise thanks to kitchen cabinet sound absorption.

Common faults
When installing a hood, one may expect reliable and stable operation for the complete service time. As a rule, ventilation hoods of popular brands live up to such expectations — they effectively clean air and are easy to maintain. Possible faults are usually related to physical equipment wear or improper operation.

Improper installation
A built-in hood is installed in a wall-hanging cabinet or special container. When selecting a ventilation hood, you should keep in mind the dimensions of your stovetop. The appliance will work effectively only if it perfectly matches the stovetop dimensions. A hood must fully cover the stovetop area. It’s also important to maintain the required distance to the stovetop. The distance must be 2’3.5" for electric burners and 2’7.5" for gas burners unless other values are specified in the hood manufacturer’s manual. The correct installation is crucial when a hood works in air exhaust mode — it must have the right diameter and direction, tight connections, no kinks and unnecessary turns. Poorly fastened connections, excessive gap between a cabinet and hood, and air duct mismatching the exhaust channel may cause abnormal noise in operation.

Faulty button panel
The button panel is one of the safest options for hood control. However, ingression of dust, fat, or damp from careless cleaning may result in burnt or corroded control button contacts. The condition of contacts and board traces can be checked after removing the protective screen. If no damage is visible, check the circuit with a tester. In case of a failure, replace the faulty button or, if possible, clean off and resolder the broken contact.

Touch control is not working
If the hood touch control is not working, the first thing to do is to restart the device. Sometimes such an easy action can solve the problem. If restarting didn’t help, you can check outlet voltage availability, cabling continuity, and contact performance. This can be done by visual inspection or a multimeter. If these elements are serviceable, the problem lies in the control board. Another indirect indication of such a fault with a hood switched on is flashing illumination lights and a running motor that is not reacting to any commands. As a rule, the board in this situation must be replaced completely and cannot be repaired.

Noisy fan
Any hood makes some noise in operation. This is a regular situation that has nothing to do with a fault. But if upon activation the exhaust fan makes some abnormal noises, like increased noise, creaking, whistling, or cracking, you should turn it off and sort out the problem. The possible reasons are excessive vibration of the impeller, increased bearing friction, poor unit assembly, and damaged or dirty blades.

Fan not rotating
If the hood internal wiring is fine but the motor is not running, the motor is likely to have a fault. The smell of burnt wires may also indicate a thermal switch burnout. It is usually located in the middle of the motor casing at the start of the stator primary winding. If the motor is humming and the fan is not rotating, check the start capacitor for a breakdown. The next step is to check the rotor for jamming. Coked-up rotor shaft and copper graphite bushings of the motor may also result in a motor fault. If this is the case, disassemble the motor and clean off the contaminations. If the motor failure is caused by burned winding, it must be rewound. However, it’s easier to buy a new motor in this case. It’s better to leave motor diagnosis and repair to specialists.

Poor airflow
Low performance of a built-in hood can be related to several problems. First of all, you should check the condition of filters. If it’s been a while since you rinsed a reusable grease filter or replaced a disposable filter, their filtering surface gets clogged with fat, soot, and other contaminations. It results in lower carrying capacity of filters and poor hood performance. It also overloads the hood motor and results in wear or a potential breakdown. In this case, the solution is to replace or rinse the filters. A reusable grease filter must be rinsed at least once a month, while carbon filters must be replaced every 3-6 months depending on the stovetop rate of usage, unless otherwise specified in the manufacturer’s manual.
Another reason for poor hood airflow in air exhaust mode is clogging of the house air ducting. You can check the airflow by placing a thin sheet of paper to the ventilation hole. Naturally, it should stick and stay on the grill pulled by the airflow. Air duct cleaning is a task for a specialized service with corresponding permissions. Self-cleaning of an air duct is only possible in the very limited area close to your apartment or house.
Lack of natural ventilation may also lead to poor airflow. Modern vinyl windows and closed doors make the rooms almost airtight, which is unacceptable for hygiene and results in hood operation disorder. In some cases, this situation may lead to reverse airflow when the hood is working. The solution is to provide a sufficient supply of fresh air.

Ventilation hood triggers circuit breakers
Sometimes circuit breakers in the switchboard get triggered when the hood is switched on. The first possible reason is a fault in the circuit breaker itself. A breaker can also be triggered by overload if a hood is switched on at the same time with other high-powered consumers. In this case, the circuit breaker load must be redistributed, or even better, the hood must have a separate power line with safety elements. A short circuit in the hood may also trigger the circuit breaker. If so, the appliance must be diagnosed and repaired.

Illumination is not working
There are two reasons for illumination not working in a ventilation hood: a burnt lamp or faulty control element. A burnt lamp can be replaced. The step-by-step procedure is described in the appliance manual. A faulty control element like a button or a slide switch must be disassembled with subsequent repair of a damaged contact. If the illumination is controlled by a touch panel, it is usually non-repairable. Such elements must be replaced.

Grease filter faults
Since a hood grease filter is responsible for the first stage of air cleaning, it does most of the job. Regular maintenance of this part includes manual or dishwasher washing. As a rule, you should use low temperatures up to 104 °F and mild washing modes. Don’t clean the filter with harsh wire brushes and sharp objects. A broken filter element impairs air cleaning abilities and results in contamination of major hood units with fat and soot. Since a damaged filter is not repairable, it must be replaced.

Protective screen is not pulling out
Some ventilation hood models are equipped with a pull-out screen. This allows to increase the exhaust area when necessary, and at the same time to reduce the appliance dimensions. A hood is designed with a special mechanism to pull out the screen — most models have telescopic guideways that help to slide it out. The breakdown may be caused by broken guideways or control elements of the pull-out mechanism. In the case of control elements, especially if it happens after a power outage, take out the grease filter and press the buttons in the sequence mentioned in the manual. If the issue is with the guideways, they must be repaired or replaced.

Various cloggings
While a hood is responsible for air cleaning, its effectiveness can be reduced by various cloggings due to working in quite harsh conditions of humidity, contamination, and high temperatures. Hood filters, air ducts in air exhaust mode, and house air ducting are subject to clogging. Moreover, contacts, bushings, bearings, fan blades, and other appliance internal units may get dirty over time. This can be avoided by regular appliance cleaning. This job is not for everyone, so you should better call a specialist from our company.

Damaged wiring
Usually, a ventilation hood is connected to a separate outlet. That is why the first thing to do is to check outlet voltage availability. This can be done by simply connecting a desk lamp or any other device to the outlet; another option is to use a tester. If voltage is not available, one should check the continuity of the full circuit starting with the circuit breakers in the switchboard. It’s better to leave this job to a qualified electrician.
If electric wires and the outlet are in working order, the hood plug, power cable, and appliance internal wiring must be checked. A plug may have a built-in fuse that can burn out; in this case, it must be replaced. The internal wiring must be checked visually and with a special device. Any burnt or damaged wires must be replaced and bad contacts restored by tightening the screws and crimping the lugs with pliers.

Who should I call for repair?
If you face any faults or problems in hood operation, the best option is to call our company as your attempts to save money by calling shady individual specialists may result in much heavier expenses. An individual may fail to determine the fault cause correctly, install unsuitable parts for your model or just break the appliance. Our technicians are experienced and skilled enough to diagnose and repair such devices. They can repair your hood and replace faulty elements and units in a prompt and competent manner. In case of a serious and costly fault or unserviceable obsolete appliance, we recommend considering the option of buying a new modern hood.