Browse Forums Kitchen Corner 1 Apr 13, 2009 10:04 pm Hi! I've become a little addicted to this website, its fantastic! So I'm hoping to get some advice! We'll be having a U shaped kitchen in an open plan area downstairs. The one side of the U will be against a wall and contain the fridge, pantry,wall oven and steam oven and some bench space; the short end will have a double undermounted sink and then the other side will be a 4m long 1200 wide bench with an induction cooktop and breakfast bench. We obvioulsy need an exhaust fan but I'm not too keen on a large rangehood hanging from the ceiling so have been considering a downdraft exhaust/ventilation. The model I've been looking at rises up from behind the cooktop by about 15/20cm. (I've picked a cooktop that has smaller elements at the top as the ability to fit pans etc would be an issue) I'm hoping this will solve a few of my problems, 1)we'd have a nice streamlined bench, 2) it's a safety barrier for young children sitting at the breakfast bench 3) it will catch some of the oil splatters etc. It all sounds great, but do they work???? Re: Downdraft exhaust fan vs Island Rangehood 2Apr 14, 2009 10:45 am Can you still get them in Australia? Smeg used to make one many years ago but the only one now i can think of is the gaggenau that sits between two cooktops. Generally speaking, an overhead rangegood works better than a downdraft because it has a larger catchment area and that the heat rises. Downdraft also usually takes up more space in the cupboard. Re: Downdraft exhaust fan vs Island Rangehood 3Apr 15, 2009 3:46 pm Yeah, i was told about one the other day, here's a link: http://www.downdraft.com.au/models.htm. It's by a company called Parmco. They have showrooms in Sydney and WA but not here in Brisbane. I wanted to find out how loud they are as that's one of the downsides with these types of ventilation systems. Re: Downdraft exhaust fan vs Island Rangehood 4Apr 17, 2009 11:32 pm Here is fairly technical guide on range hood design and efficiency. http://www.culinairesystems.com/files/c ... _guide.pdf The main gist of it is that making exhaust gases bend around corners is very inefficient and requires much higher flow rates to achieve the same effectiveness. The ideal range hood design involves: a) The hood to sit completely over the cooktop and beyond its margins b) Physically trapping and directing volatile gases towards the hood (e.g. cooktop pushed against a back wall with side panels on either side of the hood) c) Providing a continuous stream of slow moving air towards the range hood that matches the exhaust fan flow rate In other words island hoods and downdraft fans have the lowest efficiency. Re: Downdraft exhaust fan vs Island Rangehood 5Apr 18, 2009 12:09 pm We are having a similar setup in our new house and have gone with a downdraft ventilation system, this particular one has only recently been brought into Australia, but is made my an italian company called "Sirius" (www.siriuscappe.com/ing/products_downdr ... _glass.htm) who seem to mainly sell their products in the US. Anyway, we found out about them through the people we're getting all our Miele appliances from...and after doing a fair bit of research (also looking at the Parmco product) decided it was the best way to go! It's basically the same product as the Parmco, but in my opinion looks a lot better and also has touch controls I know, i know - not really a sensible reason - but important for us! We'll have one 90degree bend for the exhaust and after having spoken to a number of people 'in the know', we're confident enough that it will be be sufficiently effective....and look fantastic along side our Miele induction cooktop! Re: Downdraft exhaust fan vs Island Rangehood 7Apr 21, 2009 12:39 pm Thank you everyone for your valuable input! BuildingACT that's very interesting to hear about the "sirius" product, these pop up ones must be newish to the Australian market as our kitchen designer of 15 years got very excited when he saw the Parmco brochure. One of the issues with these types of fans was the noise level so I enquired about the decibel reading. On the highest fan speed for the Parmco one it was 65 - 70db. They say a normal conversation is between 50-60db, but another island rangehood I looked at was 66db on the highest speed so if you have to have either one, the difference isn't anything to worry about. Were they able to tell you the decibel reading for the sirius model? Out of interest, how wide is your induction cooktop? is the ventiliation system the same width as the cooktop and you were also placing your's at the back of the cooktop weren't you? Lastly, (sorry for all the questions, but i too have been researching heaps and can't believe i haven't come across this one!) who are you getting it through and what price should i be looking at, i couldn't see a contact in Australia. Thanks again everyone! Re: Downdraft exhaust fan vs Island Rangehood 8Apr 21, 2009 7:19 pm ladds Thank you everyone for your valuable input! BuildingACT that's very interesting to hear about the "sirius" product, these pop up ones must be newish to the Australian market as our kitchen designer of 15 years got very excited when he saw the Parmco brochure. One of the issues with these types of fans was the noise level so I enquired about the decibel reading. On the highest fan speed for the Parmco one it was 65 - 70db. They say a normal conversation is between 50-60db, but another island rangehood I looked at was 66db on the highest speed so if you have to have either one, the difference isn't anything to worry about. Were they able to tell you the decibel reading for the sirius model? Out of interest, how wide is your induction cooktop? is the ventiliation system the same width as the cooktop and you were also placing your's at the back of the cooktop weren't you? Lastly, (sorry for all the questions, but i too have been researching heaps and can't believe i haven't come across this one!) who are you getting it through and what price should i be looking at, i couldn't see a contact in Australia. Thanks again everyone! No problem at all. My understanding is that the decibel reading on this model was a maximum of 66db, but as low as 46db. It wasn't really something I was too concerned about, but as far as I'm aware, it's reasonably quiet! (plus, i plan on having music playing whenever i cook - so i like noise! ) Our cooktop is a Miele 900mm induction cooktop; the Sirius is (i think!) 860mm and will be positioned at behind the cooktop. Think it will go pretty well, with the glass top and touch controls! We're going through The Appliance Gallery here in Canberra as they are the main Miele dealer and have been pretty good - but I believe the Downdraft systems are actually being brought in by a company in Melbourne. They're not cheap though...think you'd be looking at somewhere between $3.5-$4k... Cheers Adam Re: Downdraft exhaust fan vs Island Rangehood 9Apr 21, 2009 9:03 pm Wow, it sounds great! and will look very smick! I'm sure you're already imagining yourself standing at your cooktop with the music going, stirring a sauce, or something,with a glass of wine in hand! The budget may not go that far for us...I'd priced the 600mm rear riser at around $1900 (including the ducting) and the 900mm rear riser at $2700 so don't think i could hand out that extra amount. (i do agree though it looks fab and as we're having a black cs benchtop it would have looked great) But I think the Parmco will suit as we're going for a 600mm wide 4 ring Ilve Induction cooktop (had picked a Miele but then realised that the 2 large rings were at the back i.e. large pans wouldn't fit at the back of the cooktop as the rear riser would be in the way). Thanks again! Re: Downdraft exhaust fan vs Island Rangehood 10Apr 22, 2009 6:29 am I've been following this thread, and ladds you have definitely changed my mind from island canopy rangehood to one of these. I got pricing of the parmco and a couple of others and I'm thinking I'm going to modify my island bench so that a small splashback-wall-thingy will come up behind the cooktop and I will mount a wall mounted one there. I think. I remember seeing pics on here a while ago of what I'm seeing in my head. I think it'll work nicely as a feature too. Possumchops Now the proud owner of 3.7acres of Serenity. Colour selection completed! Soon to go to council. Re: Downdraft exhaust fan vs Island Rangehood 11Apr 24, 2009 8:27 pm That sounds great Possumchops. we have a young family so as the bench is also acting as a breakfast bench we were concerned about safety so we firstly made the bench 1200wide and were then going to include a fixed glass splashback behind the cooktop, but now that we've found this rear rising exhaust fan it acts as that barrier! Don't know whether this affects you, but one of the sales guy did tell me that you can't have these type of fans with a gas cooktop due to safety issues...even though the picture in the parmco brochure shows one! Re: Downdraft exhaust fan vs Island Rangehood 12Apr 24, 2009 8:46 pm From what I remember reading you need to make sure you have enough air flow for it to work successfully, especially with gas. Ring the number on the Parmco website and talk to Barbara, she was so helpful with all the questions I had. I was going to go the riser version, but its about $1600 more than the in wall, and I'm sure the small changes to accommodate it in my island bench won't cost that much extra. Not to mention it will look pretty groovy as well. Possumchops Now the proud owner of 3.7acres of Serenity. Colour selection completed! Soon to go to council. Re: Downdraft exhaust fan vs Island Rangehood 13Apr 24, 2009 9:15 pm Yes I've alse chatted to Barbara with my million questions! The sales guy i was referring to was one who's been selling the units to their clients and he said about not using it with gas cooktops, something about a new legislation??? I think this may come back to the post dymonite69 made regarding the safety issues?? The gas being sucked through etc etc?? not sure of all the details. Re: Downdraft exhaust fan vs Island Rangehood 14May 12, 2009 4:31 pm Hi Re. gas safety and downdraft I've just been looking at he downdraft website (supplier is based in Sydney) and apparently you use a deflector to avoid gas flame being sucked into the unit - there is a diagram on the tech. specs. on the site. I'm planning to get a gas cooktop, so was relieved to hear this. Re: Downdraft exhaust fan vs Island Rangehood 15Jul 20, 2013 7:48 pm How about some feedback about how the downdraft exhaust fans are working? Can they be used safely with a gas hob? Who to contact in Australia? Very impressed with the brochure! Re: Downdraft exhaust fan vs Island Rangehood 16Jul 22, 2013 10:02 am Just for reference, back in the '80's I used to install kitchens and the top end range used to nearly include Jenn-Air or Gaggenau downdraft extractors. These were a mixture of just one extractor unit being installed at the rear of the cooktop ( usually the Gaggenau units ) or several extractors sitting between cooktop units at 90º to the front of the bench ( Jenn-Air models ). We installed a few other brands too but I don't remember those off hand. Most of them were good but they all used to be pretty loud when set on max which they had to be to extract the fumes/smoke/steam effectively. When set to low they really didn't get rid of much at all. The best solution we found was to duct the fan to the outside with the least amount of bends in the ducting as possible and to have the fan mounted out there as well. That way the only sound you hear inside the kitchen is the sound of the air whooshing down the exhaust and not the sound of the fan as well. Some models have this separate fan - some don't, being an all enclosed unit. The other problem is that some of these units are reasonably bulky and you will lose a large part of your cupboard below due to the unit and the ducting required. The other thing is that even on high if you have one of these units set to the back of the cooktop they will struggle to extract fumes from the front burners. The last time I looked at one of these types of downdraft exhausts was about three years ago at a display kitchen ( Miele pop-up ) and it was loud when cranked up to max flow. Just a few points to consider. Stewie Re: Downdraft exhaust fan vs Island Rangehood 17Jul 22, 2013 2:00 pm Thanks Stewie, I have plenty of space underneath, so that's good. Also the Sirius claimed the noise was only 55 whatever. Hopefully they have improved since the 80s! Re: Downdraft exhaust fan vs Island Rangehood 18Jul 23, 2013 3:30 pm in Germany BORA is getting popular. The slide show shows the prinicple. http://www.boragmbh.com/produkte/bora-p ... al-diashow http://www.boragmbh.com/en/bora_professional Extraction is within the cooktop, extremely quiet. My home office is hot with computer equipment running virtually 18 hours a day. When it gets unbearably warm I simply step out of my door into the living area which is… 0 5124 There may be answers here but can't find anything. I have a closed in veranda, four windows. North facing, just had sunblock blinds installed. A bit cooler (actually… 0 2978 Any electricians here please help. 1) Will the Fan need separate switch to ON/OFF/Speed eventhough it comes with Remote 2) how about… 0 1211 |