Recommendations for residential kitchen hood solutions and airflow rates

The landscape of cooker hood trends is evolving in Europe. There is a notable shift towards interest in recirculating and downdraft solutions as alternatives to traditional extracting cooker hoods. However, there is a lack of comprehensive documentation regarding their capture efficiency and subsequent impact on exposure. Presently, the required airflow rate for cooker hoods in Scandinavia are low, which often is associated with user complaints. On the other hand, products designed with high airflow rates result in under pressure, noise disturbance and regulation issues, especially pronounced in newer airtight and space efficient apartment buildings. To develop scenarios for representative apartments size, layout and load profiles, we have examined new apartment buildings projects, conducted survey in eight different housing cooperatives and collected field measurements. Moreover, protocols for cooking of typical Nordic meals are developed as well as new test method using actual cooking to assess the capture efficiency of different types of cooker hood configurations and at different airflow rates. Filter efficiency was also tested by applying advanced methods. This paper describes the assessment approach and the holistic evaluation of the overall results.