Repairing your Vent A Hood

There is nothing worse than when your cooking and the fire alarm goes off! Having to open the doors and windows to air out the house when the kitchen gets a bit too steamy can be a pain, especially when the nights draw in and the weather turns colder. Fortunately, however, the addition of an extractor or Vent A Hood is the perfect way to combat such a nuisance.

Adding aesthetic and function, an extractor combats fumes from building and helps to freshen your cooking space. As with all appliances extractors sometimes need maintenance and other more problematic faults which you will need to call a repairman. However, for simple things such as replacing the filters or lightbulb you can consult the instruction manual.

Due to the nature of an extractor fan, the filters and grating can often become slick with grease and so it is important to regularly clean and upkeep the unit. The mesh filters can be cleaned with ordinary dish soap and warm water, whilst replacement filters can be purchased from your local white goods retailer.

Not only will regular cleaning of your extractor ensure that it looks presentable, but it increased the longevity of the unit, in particular with regards to the fan. The fan is perhaps the most important part of the extractor as it is the part that actually sucks the air up through the filters, aiding in getting rid of all the cooking smells and steam build up in your kitchen. However, as with any moving part, the fan can get clogged with grease residue or simply malfunction. If this is the case, then calling your local repairman might just breath life back into your unit.

Of course, the cost is always a factor in repairs, and whilst an extractor hood usually is not so expensive to get parts for, you need to weight up call out feels for having someone come to your home to fix it. As cooker hood and extractors are less complicated than most white good, usually the best course of action is to order the parts yourself and ask an electrician to install them. With most manufacturers, however, they will come out to fix or replace a unit during the first years guarantee or during a policy period if you took out insurance.

However not all extractor faults are as simple as something going wrong with the unit. Faulty wiring can cause issues just as much as misuse. When designing a kitchen it is imperative to ensure that you get the right extractor for the job. Do you need one that it vented outside or self-circulating? Is the extraction unit big enough and powerful enough for your space and cooker? If you are choosing a disappearing or island extractor, have you considered the additional potential for mechanism faults?

When all is said and done, the vent a hood is a vital part of the kitchen proper, and with regular maintenance and cleaning, are relatively inexpensive to keep running.