Kitchen Hood/ chimney is a great way to enrich the kitchen environment. There are basically 2 types of chimney- Ductable chimney and Recyclable chimney.

Ductable chimney also called as vented chimneys, channels out the smoke, heat and other impure gases out through a PVC or aluminum pipes. Ductable chimneys are best and preferred for Indian kitchens. Also the performance of ductable chimneys is much better than recyclable ones.

Before buying ductable chimneys, home owners shall take care of few important details like space availability, ducting length, diameter, bends, etc. for better and long lasting performance.

Duct Space Availability – Before buying kitchen hood, home owner shall find out if there is space or any kind of provision given/available to install a ductable chimney. A hole, slightly bigger than 6” is required for ducting purpose. If at all this is not done, home owners can request dealers to get the breaking and brick word done as required. This work would be an added cost for home owners wanting to install ductable chimneys.

Size of Duct Pipe – Usually 6 feet pipe is given along with the chimney. If the duct hole is more in length than 6 feet, than an additional pipe can be bought and fixed. A 10 feet height for ducts is usually recommended for Indian kitchens. You may happen to find ducts of 13 feet-15 feet in Indian home, which I wouldn’t suggest home owners to have. But a minimum of 6 feet to 8 feet height of duct is necessary to maintain the productivity of chimney.

Bends in Duct – The duct installed shall have least number of bends from chimney to the duct hole. More the number of bends, the efficiency of the chimney reduces and the noise level increases. The rule of thumb here is to have as much as only 3 bends in duct. (Here we talking about 90 degree bends). A good dealer will never recommend more than 3 bends for ducts. If there are bends at 45 degree than 1 or 2 additional bends. Few companies like SIMENS (a German company) notify home owners for having only 2 bends (that is if required) in ducts. A third bend is prohibited to make sure the performance is reached.

But with advanced technology, few companies have introduced “Flexible ducts” concept. The standard length of duct is 3 meters in with 3”-18” in diameter. This flexible duct pipe comes in 1 meter which is stretched to 3 meter, is highly resistant to corrosion can easily to install. But I suggest you to check other technical features of Kitchen Chimneys with Flexible duct before buying to ensure it suits your kitchen requirements.