When cooking and washing dishes, heat, odors and moisture are released into the kitchen air. If the kitchen ventilation does not work, they spread to the living area. What comfort can we talk about if the aromas of borscht and cutlets are constantly hovering in the house!
And the owners ask themselves the question "how to make ventilation in the kitchen in the apartment?"
The subtleties of the kitchen ventilation
Before making a high-quality ventilation system in the kitchen in an apartment, it is important to understand how it works. Most of the old houses were rented out with ventilation protrusions in the kitchen - an obligatory component of an air exchange system like a highway and satellites. From the "satellite" apartments, air is collected in a common highway and discharged outside. With such a ventilation scheme for kitchens, it is impossible for air to penetrate from the mine into an apartment, it cannot get from one apartment to another, including during a fire on the lower floors. The kitchen ventilation shaft is hidden in the ledge shown in the photo above.
Features of ventilation in apartment buildings:
- Air ducts (air ducts) from kitchens of different apartments are interconnected;
- From 60 to 90 cubic meters of air should be removed from one apartment per hour.
The basic law of air exchange is circulation. In order for the exhaust air to be drawn out into the street, fresh air must replace it. But most of the owners of high-rise buildings have already replaced the old wooden windows with plastic ones, which create an airtight structure, completely blocking the path to the apartment for clean air.
The owners believe that the solution to the problem is more frequent ventilation. But this is a mistake. A healthy microclimate can only be ensured by constant and controlled air exchange.
The vents open in winter lead to sharp jumps in temperature in the apartment, drafts. In this case, the outflow of air through the ventilation ducts (if they are not clogged) is possible only when the vents are open.
The rest of the time, residents suffer from:
- high humidity;
- lack of oxygen;
- increased levels of carbon dioxide;
- mold development;
- the spread of cooking smells throughout the apartment.
This means that in order for ventilation in your kitchen to work perfectly, you need to provide only two conditions:
- inflow of fresh air;
- blowing out the exhaust air.
Now it will not be difficult for you to make ventilation in the kitchen with your own hands. Work on the restoration of kitchen ventilation should begin with diagnostics.
General ventilation check
In some cases, you can restore ventilation in the kitchen yourself. There is a general ventilation system in every home, but often it does not work at all.
How to check the ventilation in the kitchen:
- Take a palm-sized piece of thin paper and attach it to the ventilation grill. If it is held and does not fall, it means that the ventilation in the kitchen is working, and you are unnecessarily worried;
- Light a match and bring it to the wire rack. If the flame pulls into the ventilation duct, then everything is in order with the kitchen ventilation. Checking the ventilation in the kitchen in the photo. When the tongue is held vertically, the kitchen ventilation does not work. And if the flame leans into the kitchen, then there is a reverse draft in the ventilation system.This method is never used by professionals, since flammable gases can accumulate in the 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 grate, rinse it (sometimes it is so clogged with dust and grease that it does not let air through). Then insert a brush with a 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 and to restore it on their own. This is the job of the management company. Specialists with equipment and skills are called. Sometimes it is enough to remove the bird's nest from the ventilation ledge and the draft magically appears in the kitchen.
But it happens that neighbors simply disassemble their part of the ventilation protrusion in the kitchen in order to get additional storage space. Then you will have to build ventilation in the kitchen with your own hands.
A reasonable solution for decorating a ledge for kitchen ventilation in the photo.
Good furniture hides the flaws of the kitchen with a ledge for ventilation in the photo.
How to ensure the flow of air into the apartment
The supply of fresh outside air to the apartment for ventilation of the kitchen can be organized in two ways:
- window air inlets;
- wall air inlets.
The installation of the window valve will have to be entrusted to specialists. And the installation of a wall supply valve is within the power of any home craftsman.
Window inlet ventilation valve
These are simple and inexpensive devices that today are an indispensable element of ventilation schemes for kitchens in modern homes. The damper provides a standard air flow, blocking street noise.
Supply valves are installed on a window sash or frame. The window in the kitchen in the apartment, equipped with a ventilation inlet valve, will never fog up. The neat and small valve is practically invisible, does not allow dust to pass through and does not cause air cooling.
You can not only make ventilation in the kitchen, but also equip it with such technical "bells and whistles" as hydraulic flow control. There are supply valves with this function on sale. They open and start airing just when soup is being cooked or pies are being baked in the kitchen, that is, the air humidity is increased. The sensor reacts to the moisture level and changes the flow area.
An additional acoustic hood can be purchased for the valve, which absorbs street noise.
A wide range of supply valves allows you to choose the one suitable for any window profile: white, black, oak or teak.
But in order for the supply valve to perform its function efficiently, it is necessary to ensure the outflow of air from the kitchen.
Wall inlet ventilation valve
Wall inlet valves are also called "Finnish vents". This is a small device, which is not difficult to install, but without it, proper organization of ventilation in the kitchen is impossible. The wall valve allows air into the room, trapping insects, dust and drafts.
The advantage of wall valves is easy installation. No need to call the master, spoil the plastic profile of the windows.
Other advantages of wall valves:
- does not use electricity;
- absorbs noise;
- 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 hydro-regulation. The intensity of the air supply can also be adjusted manually by closing or opening the curtain.
The filters should be cleaned once every 6 to 12 months by rinsing them with warm water.
Installing a wall inlet valve
Before installing a ventilation valve in an apartment, you need to find a suitable place in the kitchen. It is better that the valve is not too conspicuous. Many people choose a place near heating radiators.The air coming from the valve will be preheated. The main criterion for choosing a place is the presence of an exit to the street for access to fresh air:
- A hole is made in the wall slightly larger in diameter than the valve pipe. A small margin is needed for the correct positioning 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 (it is usually sold in a standard length of 1 m). Outside, the pipe should be flush with the wall surface, and inside it protrude no more than 1 cm;
- In pre-marked places, holes are made for housing fasteners;
- Filters are inserted (if provided by the design), and an external grille is installed;
- From the side of the street, a rain protector is hung to prevent moisture from entering. If you drill a hole with a slope towards the street, a rain protector is not needed.
Correct organization of passive supply ventilation in the kitchen is possible if air outflow is provided.
How to ensure air outflow in the apartment
If the general ventilation system in the kitchen does not work, you can organize the outflow of air on your own using mechanical traction.
Exhaust ventilation fan
A very simple and effective remedy when the exhaust ventilation system in the kitchen is not working. The fan can be used independently or in addition to a cooker hood. Many experts recommend installing an air recirculation hood (a filter that cleans the air and supplies it back into the room) and a do-it-yourself fan at the kitchen duct outlet.
Axial fans are usually used to properly ventilate the kitchen.
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 automatically.
Before properly ventilating the kitchen with an exhaust fan, you need to choose a place for its installation. This could be a window, an air vent in a kitchen load-bearing wall, or a ventilation duct.
An example of installing mechanisms for ventilation of the kitchen in the photo.
Cooker hood for ventilation
Most apartment owners use this method. It is really effective as the hood is located directly above the hob and immediately evacuates vapors and odors. From the hood, the ventilation duct is released directly into the general ventilation of the house. And here one rule must be observed without fail:
When leading the pipe into the shaft, do not block the ventilation hole in the wall.
On sale there are special ventilation grilles with two outlets: for natural air movement and for the exhaust pipe. This is the most correct decision.
Vapors and warm air in the room rise upwards and the grate must be left open to evacuate the vapor cloud. Exhaust air from living quarters is also removed through it.
By closing the grate, you completely disrupt the work of natural ventilation. Gas service employees will point out this error and prescribe to fix it as soon as possible.
It is important to choose the right cooker hood. Its dimensions and power must be adequate for the room. So, the most effective hood, the umbrella of which is equal to the area of the hob.
The weakest kitchen hoods operate with a capacity 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 the air circulation in the general ventilation scheme, calculated on average for 75 cubic meters of air per hour from one apartment.In the kitchen ventilation system, an air pressure is created, pushing "your" odors into neighboring apartments.
Therefore, performance is calculated using the formula:
Multiply the kitchen area by 10.
For efficient and safe operation of the hood as part of the kitchen ventilation scheme, it is important to install it correctly. The closer the umbrella is to the hob, the less heat and kitchen aromas will spread around. But set too low, the hood can interfere with cooking and even melt from the temperature.
The optimum 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 provide maximum comfort. But it is quite cumbersome and expensive, so it is usually not used when equipping kitchens in apartment buildings.
Video about installing a window supply valve:
