I want to install a downdraft (cooking range vent that pulls air down under the range as opposed to the normal overhead hood vent that people have over their stoves).
What I would really like to do is have the vent leave the house heading “down” (instead of a wall vent which would leave the house “sideways” or a roof vent which would leave the house “up”. Right below the cooktop (and hence the downdraft) the house is cantaleavered which means the kitchen extends out over the wall below. If I can pull this off I will have one less unsightly vent sticking out of my house but can’t seem to find a vent that allows the air to push open the vent while opperating and seal shut when the air stops while working in the down direction. Most use gravity to help close the vent - but for this gravity would just pull it open.
Someone must make it and someone must sell it - please help me find it.
At some point in the vent, I’d imagine that it would have to run vertical (Down from the stove, over to the wall, the down against the wall and out???) You could put a check valve (the type made for air vents) in that vertical section. Would that work?
This is a bad idea and not allowed by code (at least not the Uniform Mech Code- NY state uses the IMC which is substantially the same). The fumes vented from over your range are usually warm (i.e. they rise naturally) and laden with moisture and/or grease fumes. When they leave the vent, they will rise up into the structure and deposit the moisture and/or grease. Over time, the grease will build up there, make a mess and present a fire hazard.
A sidewall vent should be acceptable, but a roof vent is preferred.
perhaps that’s why I can’t find these things. A roof vent is though not impossible, pretty much impractable for much the same reason that I have to use a downdraft.
A side vent is possible but will mar the front of the house. I got to think of this some more.
No scobytx was not saying downdrafts are against code just exhausting the fumes in a down direction when they leave the house.
Actaually the DD I got works pretty well compared to the jenair ones. It has a section that pops up behind the cooktop so it it normally higher then the top of pots and (well lets say it) sucks a lot.
Nutmagnet, k2dave is correct in what I was referring to. The downdraft cooktops are legal, though I have no idea how effective they are (I don’t work with residential construction much, but I am designing an exhaust system for a small commercial kitchen at this moment).