Cleaning 1200 CFM vents at home

[lizztwozee]

Greetings, gastronomes! I have a fabulous Broan 1200 CFM vent hood, installed 30" above my commercial Vulcan 4-burner range and oven unit in my home kitchen (don't tell the fire inspector -- although I do have an air gap within the counter cutout . . . ). Anyway, I've been using this range quite frequently for about 3 years now, and notice that when I remove the screens above the range, the inner workings are gathering drops of oil, which sometimes drip onto the screens. Should I be having this cleaned in some way, perhaps every year? The amount of grease is not large, but I thought I'd ask the experts. Thanks, everyone!

Lizz

[Joe Blowe]

It's not the fire inspector you have to worry about, it's your homeowners policy insurer -- if there's a fire and they trace it back to anything in the vicinity of your Vulcan, you won't be covered.

[lizztwozee]

-- if there's a fire and they trace it back to anything in the vicinity of your Vulcan, you won't be covered.

Yep, you're right . . . interestingly enough, when I ordered the oven/range from the vendor, the specs indicated there could be "zero inches clearance to combustible materials", even though they did not advocate installing it in the home. So I thought I'd be double safe by enlarging the countertop so it doesn't actually touch the edges of the stove. I think it should be OK! Thanks for the note.

[scubadoo97]

I have a 46" Viking hood with a 600CFM motor above my rangetop. It has two baffless instead of screens. Every couple of weeks I do a full cleaning. I remove the baffles and clean with Greased Lighting. http://www.greased-lightning.com/

With the baffles removed I clean every part I can reach. Be surprised how much grease builds up in a short period of time. If I could clean the fins in the motor I would since they are caked in grease but I just can't get to them well.

[qrn]

Greetings, gastronomes! I have a fabulous Broan 1200 CFM vent hood, installed 30" above my commercial Vulcan 4-burner range and oven unit in my home kitchen (don't tell the fire inspector -- although I do have an air gap within the counter cutout . . .  ). Anyway, I've been using this range quite frequently for about 3 years now, and notice that when I remove the screens above the range, the inner workings are gathering drops of oil, which sometimes drip onto the screens. Should I be having this cleaned in some way, perhaps every year? The amount of grease is not large, but I thought I'd ask the experts. Thanks, everyone!

Lizz

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My ventilation is a hood with a 1200cfm, roof mount fan unit. Its a 10inch 4 foot long pipe from the hood to the fan unit. It serves the 5 burner gas cook top , and a 50K btu gas, resturant type grill that is used often. I inspect the pipe and fan unit every so often for grease build up. It has been there since 1977. I have never had to clean any thing other than the screens on the hood. that may not be your situation but may give you some indiction that is helpful.

Bud

[budrichard]

I have a 46" Viking hood with a 600CFM motor above my rangetop.  It has two baffless instead of screens.  Every couple of weeks I do a full cleaning.  I remove the baffles and clean with Greased Lighting.  http://www.greased-lightning.com/

With the baffles removed I clean every part I can reach.  Be surprised how much grease builds up in a short period of time.  If  I could clean the fins in the motor I would since they are caked in grease but I just can't get to them well.

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The fins on the fan which is really what is called a squirrel cage fan can be removed from the motor shaft by a small allen wrench on the set screw on the shaft. The fans should then pull off for cleaning. Remember which fan is which because they have preferred orientation for air flow when reinstalling. It requires a bit of manual dexterity because you are basically working blind to fit the correct allen wrench in the set screw but can be accomplished. Good luck.-Dick