Your Cooker Hood Is Not Extracting Steam

The purpose of the cooker extractor hood is to suck up the steam and odours emitted when you cook your food. It's thanks to this appliance that you can cook without the risk of your house being affected by steamed and condensation. Here we help you understand why your cooker hood is no longer extracting and how to resolve the problem.

THE POTENTIAL CAUSES FOR THIS ISSUE:

• The hood has not been installed correctly

• The extractor ducting is damaged

• The non-return valve is jammed

• The filters are clogged

• The impeller is not tightly screwed on

• The extractor fan motor has rusted

• The main circuit board (PCB) is defective

WARNING
Before you do anything to your appliance, make sure you disconnect it from the power supply.
There is a risk of electric shock.
Wear suitable protective gloves if you need to dismantle anything.
There is a risk of getting cut or injured

The hood has not been installed correctly

It is important to install cooker hoods properly and in the right position. If you have an open-plan (American style) kitchen, we recommend going for a ducted extractor hood rather than a recirculation type if at all possible. If you install a ducted extractor hood in a kitchen closed by a door, it will create a vacuum effect in the room, which could prevent the hood from evacuating the air. In closed-off kitchens with just a door, a recirculating extractor hood can be installed. This will filter the air in the room up to ten times per hour and reduce the odours produced by cooking. Note: ducted extractor hoods only filter the grease from the air they evacuate, whereas recirculating type hoods are fitted with both a carbon filter (for odours) and a grease filter. These filters do of course reduce the hood's extraction power to some extent. To keep things working efficiently, the carbon filter should be replaced once every three months.

The extractor ducting is damaged

The extractor ducting you install to evacuate the air via your hood must have no sharp bends or kinks in it. We recommend avoiding overly flexible, accordion-type ducting. For maximum efficiency and effectiveness, the cooker hood ducting must be no more than two metres long (around six foot) and should have only one bend in it. If you increase this length by adding additional elbow bends, etc., your hood may not work as efficiently and could have problems extracting the air. Don't forget to install a non-return valve at the point where your ducting reaches the exterior. This will prevent wind and cold entering from the outside.

The non-return valve is jammed

Most cooker extractor hood systems are equipped with a non-return valve. Over time and with use, or due to the build-up of grease deposits, this valve can end up getting jammed. You can check and clean this component yourself. It will be located at the exterior end of the ducting. You'll find it fixed to the external vent.

The filters are clogged

Active carbon filters (as used on recirculating type hoods) should as a general rule be replaced once every three months, whereas grease filters simply need to be cleaned regularly. If the carbon filters get saturated with grease, your cooker hood will struggle to work properly and won't be able to remove cooking odours efficiently. Important: if you have a ducted extractor hood rather than a recirculating one, don't forget to take out the carbon filters. Also remember to regularly clean the metal grease filter; most are suitable for washing in the dishwasher.

Purchase a carbon filter for the extractor hood

Purchase a metal grease filter for the extractor hood

The impeller is not tightly screwed on

The impeller is the part that actually sucks the air. It screws onto the motor spindle and will normally be made from plastic. The impeller could be broken or may have got jammed by a foreign object. Another possibility is that the nut has come loose, leaving the motor spindle simply turning freely without engaging and preventing the impeller from sucking. You can check this yourself and retighten or clean as necessary.

The extractor fan motor has rusted

The extractor fan motor enables the cooker hood to extract the air from the room. If the motor jams or rusts up due to the humidity and build-up of grease, it will no longer be able to run and rotate properly. You can try removing it and cleaning and/or unjamming it. If this doesn't work, you will need to replace it.

The main circuit board (PCB) is defective

The main circuit board (PCB) manages all your cooker hood's functions (motor, light, etc.). If you've already checked everything else detailed above but the motor is operating at a slower than normal speed, it could be that the circuit board needs replacing. You can actually change this part yourself; it will be located either behind the control panel or in the section leading to the duct. Alternatively, you can call on the services of a manufacturer-approved engineer.