Plastic ducts for the kitchen hood: installation rules

High-quality ventilation in the kitchen allows you not to breathe the fumes that inevitably accompany the cooking process, and ensures the safety of furniture. The hood is mounted directly above the stove, and the ventilation shaft may be at some distance. To connect them, special pipes are used - air ducts. Let's find out how to choose, assemble and mask a plastic duct for a kitchen hood.

Plastic pipes have a long service life and ease of installation. In addition, PVC products are safe in terms of environmental friendliness and hygiene.

Varieties

Ducts used for cooking hoods vary in material of manufacture, shape and level of stiffness.

Exhaust pipes are made of several types of plastic:

• PVC
• fluoroplastic;
• polypropylene;
• low pressure polyethylene.

The first 3 types are suitable for connecting to an exhaust device in the kitchen: they are resistant to high temperatures.

Products for the kitchen hood can be corrugated (flexible), as in the following photo, or made of hard smooth plastic.

Rectangular or circular ducts are isolated.

• Rectangular plastic channels are compact, easy to hide under a false ceiling, more convenient in terms of installation.
• Round exhaust pipes have a higher throughput and lower noise level.

Design Features and Dimensions

Remember that when purchasing PVC ducts, you need to stock up on the adapters that you will need to connect the plastic pipe and the hood. Adapters are also used for bending the duct and connecting to common house ventilation. If a corrugated product is used for drawing, on the adapters for bending the pipe, you can save.

Important! The length of the PVC pipe should not exceed 3 meters. Otherwise, the performance of the hood will fall with each additional meter.

Any bending also negatively affects the functionality of the hood. When installing the duct in the kitchen, try to avoid angles of 90 degrees. This will cause overloading of the hood, which will significantly reduce the life of the product.

It is allowed to do no more than 3 knees and bends.

The diameter of the plastic pipe is selected according to the cross section of the ventilation hole. The dimensions of rectangular and square PVC kitchen ducts are standard. Most often, the following values ​​are used: 110 × 55, 120 × 60 and 204 × 60 mm. The sizes of round plastic pipes vary from 110 to 150 mm in diameter.

You can purchase these products in almost every hardware store. It is worth noting that the price of flexible ducts is slightly higher than for flat PVC channels.

Installation

The most practical and easy to install pipes are corrugated. They are cut into pieces of the right size and connected to the hood and ventilation shaft elements in the kitchen. It is recommended to replace the standard ventilation grill with a special one with a built-in connecting pipe. Crimp clamps are used as fasteners. For greater reliability, the joints are treated with a sealant.

Note! Corrugated pipes are installed in the most extended position. This approach provides rated throughput for kitchen ventilation.

Smooth PVC ducts are mounted in the same way. The pipe is cut with a hacksaw for metal into pieces of the right size and is attached to the hood using adapters. The pipe should go into the pipe approximately 50 millimeters. Attachment points are treated with silicone.

Advice! Installation of the hood is carried out taking into account the direction of air movement. Otherwise, the service life of the PVC product will be significantly reduced.

If you have installed a powerful hood, a backdraft effect may appear. In other words, the kitchen will have aromas from a common ventilation shaft. This applies to powerful models, whose productivity is about 600-700 cubic meters of air per hour. To avoid this phenomenon, it is recommended to install a check valve. These devices can be made in two versions:

• film type;
• in the form of a plastic disk on the axis.

The valve must be installed vertically, otherwise it will operate under its own weight.

You can do otherwise: bring the hood directly to the street. For this, a hole of the desired diameter is made in the wall of the house. You should know that before starting such work it is necessary to obtain permission in the housing and communal services and BTI.

To avoid such difficulties, it is recommended to consult with the seller about the extraction power and correlate these parameters with the area of ​​the kitchen. For the needs of an average family living in a typical high-rise building, a low-power hood is enough.

How to hide the duct in the kitchen

Plastic channels more organically fit into the design of the room than metal. But even they can ruin the look of the kitchen, so most owners prefer to hide this element. There are several ways to mask this.

• Duct pipes are hidden under multi-level, suspended or suspended ceilings. For this, a special box is made of drywall, which hides almost the entire system. But this method is only suitable if a major overhaul is started in the kitchen with the replacement of the ceiling. If the hood is installed after finishing, then it is unlikely to be hidden under the ceiling.
• To mask the duct of the pipe, you can purchase or make a special box of PVC or GKL. This decorative element is easily selected or decorated in a tone finish. In addition, additional fixtures can be embedded in the box.

• If custom-made furniture is purchased for the kitchen, you can place the hood in it. To do this, it is enough to communicate your desire to the furniture installation master. The duct can be permanently installed in kitchen cabinets or made in a retractable version.

• Finally, you can simply paint the air pipe. If you show imagination, you can get a completely original decoration for the kitchen.

To ensure that all elements of the kitchen ventilation are the same color, it is recommended to purchase ready-made kits. Some manufacturers sell their products according to the scheme: exhaust hood + duct + additional element = effective ventilation in the kitchen.

Particular attention should be paid to the quality of materials. Remember that hoods made from low-grade raw materials or with a violation of production technology will last no more than 5 years. At the same time, PVC products from trusted manufacturers are designed for at least 30 years of operation.

Step-by-step instructions for installing a plastic duct for drawing - in the video below. Ask questions on the selection and installation in the comments.