During cooking and washing dishes, heat, smells and moisture are released into the air in the kitchen. If the kitchen ventilation does not work, they spread to the living quarters. What kind of comfort can we talk about if the aromas of borscht and cutlets are constantly floating in the house!
And the owners are asking the question "how to make ventilation in the kitchen in the apartment?".
Subtleties of the work of kitchen ventilation
Before you make a quality ventilation system in the kitchen in the apartment, it is important to understand the principle of its operation. Most of the old houses surrendered with ventilation protrusions in the kitchen - the essential components of an air exchange system like mains and satellites. From the “satellite” apartments, air is collected in a common highway and led out. With a similar ventilation scheme for kitchens, air cannot penetrate from a mine into an apartment, it doesn’t get from one apartment to another, including in case of fire on the lower floors. The shaft for ventilation of the kitchen is hidden in the ledge shown in the photo above.
Features of ventilation of apartment buildings:
- Air channels (ducts) from the kitchens of different apartments are interconnected;
- From one apartment should be removed from 60 to 90 cubic meters of air per hour.
The basic law of air exchange is the circuit. So that the exhaust air is drawn out into the street, it must be replaced by fresh air. But most owners of high-rise buildings have already replaced the old wooden windows with plastic ones, creating an airtight structure, completely blocking the clean air from the path to the apartment.
The hosts believe that the solution to the problem is more frequent airing. But this is a mistake. A healthy microclimate can provide only constant and regulated air exchange.
Window openings in winter lead to sharp jumps in temperature in the apartment, drafts. At the same time, outflow of air through the ventilation ducts (if they are not clogged) is possible only with open windows.
The rest of the time, residents suffer from:
- high humidity;
- lack of oxygen;
- high levels of carbon dioxide;
- mold development;
- the spread of smells of cooked food throughout the apartment.
That means that the ventilation in your kitchen worked perfectly, you must provide only two conditions:
- inflow of fresh air;
- blowing off the exhaust air.
Now make ventilation in the kitchen with your own hands for you is not difficult. Work on the restoration of kitchen ventilation should begin with a diagnosis.
Checking common ventilation
In some cases, you can restore ventilation in the kitchen yourself. There is a common ventilation system in every house, but often it does not work at all.
How to check the ventilation in the kitchen:
- Take a piece of thin paper with a palm size and attach to the ventilation grill. If it holds and does not fall, it means that the ventilation in the kitchen is working, and you are worried in vain;
- Light a match and bring to the grate. If the flame tongue is pulled into the ventilation duct, then everything is in order with the kitchen ventilation. Checking ventilation in the kitchen in the photo. When the tongue is held vertically, the ventilation of the kitchen does not work. And if the flame leans into the kitchen, then in the ventilation system there is reverse draft. This method is never used by professionals, as flammable gases can accumulate in ventilation ducts.
A safe method for checking ventilation in the kitchen is shown in the photo.
If the ventilation in the kitchen does not work, you can remove the grill, rinse it (sometimes it is so clogged with dust and grease that it does not allow air to pass through). Then insert the brush on the long handle into the ventilation hole in the kitchen and clean the air duct as far as you can.
It is strictly forbidden to clean the entire ventilation shaft from the kitchen to residents and restore it yourself. This is the job of a management company. Specialists with equipment and skills are called. Sometimes it’s enough to remove the bird’s nest from the ventilation ledge and the draft in the kitchen magically appears.
But it happens that the neighbors simply dismantle their part of the ledge for ventilation in the kitchen to get additional space for the pantry. Then you have to build ventilation in the kitchen with your own hands.
A reasonable solution for decorating the ledge for ventilation of the kitchen in the photo.
Good furniture hides the flaws of the kitchen with a vent for ventilation in the photo.
How to ensure the flow of air into the apartment
The supply of fresh street air to the apartment for ventilation of the kitchen can be organized in two ways:
- window air inlets;
- wall air inlets.
The installation of a window valve will have to be entrusted to specialists. And the installation of a wall supply valve is possible for any home master.
Window ventilation inlet valve
These are simple and inexpensive devices that are today an indispensable element of the ventilation schemes of the kitchens of modern houses. The valve provides a regulatory airflow, delaying street noise.
Supply air valves are installed on a sash or frame. The window in the kitchen in the apartment, equipped with a ventilation supply valve, never fogs up. A neat and small valve is almost invisible, does not let dust through and does not cause air cooling.
You can not just make ventilation in the kitchen, but also provide it with such a technical “twist” as the hydromanagement of the inflow. There are supply valves with this function on sale. They open and begin to air exactly when soup is cooked in the kitchen or cakes are baked, that is, air humidity is increased. The sensor responds to humidity and changes the flow area.
An additional acoustic visor can be purchased for the valve, which absorbs street noise.
A wide range of supply valves allows you to choose the right one for any window profile: white, black, oak or teak.
But for the supply valve to perform its function efficiently, it is necessary to ensure the outflow of air from the kitchen.
Wall ventilation inlet valve
Wall air inlets are also called “Finnish vents”. This is a small device, which is not difficult to install, but without it the proper organization of ventilation in the kitchen is impossible. The wall valve allows air to enter the room, trapping insects, dust and drafts.
The advantage of wall valves is easy installation. No need to call the wizard, spoil the plastic profile of the windows.
Other advantages of wall valves:
- does not use electricity;
- absorbs noise;
- It has a small size and nice design;
- easy and quick to install.
There are wall valves with air filtration and automatic air supply based on hydraulic regulation. The air supply intensity can also be adjusted manually by closing or slightly opening the curtain.
Once every 6 to 12 months, it is necessary to clean the filters, rinsing them with warm water.
Installing a wall supply valve
Before installing the ventilation valve in the apartment, it is necessary to choose a suitable place in the kitchen. It is better that the valve is not too conspicuous. Many people choose a place near radiators. The air coming from the valve will preheat. The main criterion for choosing a place is having access to the street for fresh air:
- A hole is made in the wall slightly larger in diameter than the valve pipe. A small margin is necessary for the correct location of the pipe;
- The pipe is inserted into the ventilation hole in the kitchen. The cracks between it and the wall are foaming;
- An extra piece of pipe is cut off (usually it is sold in a standard length of 1 m). Outside, the pipe should be flush with the surface of the wall, and inside should protrude no more than 1 cm;
- In pre-marked places, holes are made for body fasteners;
- Filters are inserted (if provided by the design), and an external grill is installed;
- From the side of the street a rainblower is hung, preventing the ingress of moisture. If you drill a hole with a slope towards the street, a rainwater collector is not needed.
The correct organization of passive supply ventilation in the kitchen is possible if an outflow of air is ensured.
How to ensure the outflow of air in the apartment
If the common-house ventilation system in the kitchen does not work, you can organize the outflow of air on your own using mechanical traction.
Ventilation exhaust fan
A very simple and effective tool when the exhaust ventilation system in the kitchen does not work. The fan can be used independently, as well as in addition to a cooker hood. Many experts recommend installing an exhaust hood with air recirculation (a filter that purifies the air and feeds it back into the room) and a fan to do the DIY air duct.
Typically, axial fans are used to properly organize kitchen ventilation.
When choosing a model for ventilation of a kitchen in an apartment, the following parameters are taken into account:
- power is determined by the formula: kitchen area * ceiling height * 10. Here 10 is the rate of air exchange per hour;
- emitted noise - from 40 to 70 decibels;
- safety (work with hot air). There are models that can withstand up to 120 degrees;
- the presence of grease filters;
- the presence of humidity sensors. Turn on and off in automatic mode.
Before you make the ventilation in the kitchen with the help of an exhaust fan, you need to choose a place to install it. It can be a window, a ventilation hole in the kitchen supporting wall, or a ventilation duct.
An example of installing mechanisms for ventilation of a kitchen in the photo.
Cooker hood in ventilation
Most apartment owners resort to this method. It is really effective, since the exhaust device is located directly above the hob and immediately evacuates fumes and odors. From the hood, the ventilation duct is discharged directly into the general ventilation. And here you must certainly observe one rule:
When leading a pipe into a shaft, do not block the ventilation hole in the wall.
On sale there are special ventilation grilles with two outlets: for the natural movement of air and for the exhaust pipe. This decision is the most correct.
Vapors and warm air in the room rise and for the evacuation of the steam cloud, it is necessary to leave the grate open. Through it, the exhaust air of residential premises is also removed.
By blocking the grill, you completely disrupt the natural ventilation. Gas service employees will point out this error and instruct it to fix it as soon as possible.
It is important to choose the right cooker hood. Its dimensions and power should be adequate to the room. So, the most effective hood, the umbrella of which is equal to the area of the hob.
The weakest kitchen hoods work with a productivity of 250 - 300 cubic meters of air per hour. The most powerful - 1200 cubic meters of air per hour. An overly powerful appliance in the kitchen can disrupt air circulation in a house-wide ventilation scheme, calculated on average at 75 cubic meters of air per hour from one apartment. In the kitchen ventilation system air is created, pushing “your” smells into the neighboring apartments.
Therefore, the performance is calculated by the formula:
The area of the kitchen is multiplied by 10.
For efficient and safe operation of the hood as an element of the ventilation scheme of the kitchen, it is important to install it correctly. The closer the umbrella to the hob, the less heat and aromas of the kitchen will spread around. But too low installed, the hood can interfere with cooking and even melt from the temperature.
The optimal installation height of the hood is 55 - 56 cm above the stove.
In addition to the kitchen ventilation schemes described above, there are also supply and exhaust equipment that provides maximum comfort. But it is rather cumbersome and expensive, therefore, when equipping kitchens of apartment buildings it is usually not used.
Video about installing a window air inlet valve:
