How to Install Under Cabinet Ductless Range Hoods?
- Robert Huisman
You aren’t installing a range hood just because you don’t have a proper duct system in your place. Stay here folks! How about ductless hood completing the decor and cleaning the air around with its filtration system? Plus, you can install one yourself and save hundreds of bucks. Here’s a guide to install one.
Essentials
- Drill and drill bits of 1/8 inches
- Drywall saw
- screws of 2 inches
- Screwdriver set
- Wire stripper
- A workbox
- Circuit tester
- Tape measure
- Tracing paper
What You Will Get Here
How to Install an Under Cabinet Ductless Range Hood? – Step by Step
Defining the Wall’s Center
The hood should be fixed exactly at the wall’s center, perfectly aligned above the stove to the ceiling. Start by measuring the front and sides of the hood with a tape measure. Use these measurements to find the exact center.
If your hood is coming between the two above-cabinets, then the space released between the hood and cabinet on both sides should be the same. After finding the center, use a level to draw a vertical line from the ceiling’s range.
Providing the Right Measurements
The instructional booklet with the range hood will provide the exact measurements for that particular hood. If you have ample space, then follow those instructions.
If you don’t have enough space to fit the hood and chimney as per instructions, then install a hood at 24-28 inches high from the cooktop. This range will suck all the smoke from the stove.
The chimney on the top of the hood should not touch or cross the ceiling, but rather have a definite space to the ceiling.
Setting up the Power Source
Some of the hoods come with exposed wires and need to be hardwired, whereas some of them just come simply with a plug.
Hardwired hoods need a power source of 110 volts to operate. You can load it into an existing circuit: make sure this added load of the hood doesn’t cross the circuit safe capacity limit. If you see it taking 70-80% of an existing circuit’s total capacity, you need a new circuit. Installing a new circuit is an electrician’s job.
Connecting the Wires
Turn off the power supply to the receptacle circuit and check it with the circuit tester. There will be three circuit wires and three hood wires in white, black, and green color.
Use a wire stripper to remove around half inches insulated jacket off the wire from each of the wire. To connect the wires, make a pigtail splice of the wires. White will be connected to white, and so on. Then, fasten the twist-on wire connectors on all three splices and fix the wires inside the box.
Preparing the above cabinet
Range hoods fix right under the cabinet that stands over the stove. Whenever you are working on the cabinets, especially the one over the stove, think about the range hood’s installation. Moreover, the recommended height needs to maintain between stove and hood.
If the cabinet is already there, measure range hood’s thickness, and add minimum recommended height to see if you can install it or not. Otherwise, you might have to raise the cabinet to fulfill the regulations.
Placing Mount Bracket
For better stability, don’t put your faith on sheet-rock alone. Provide the hood with the additional support of the bracket. To trace the mounting bracket holes, you need to hold a tracing paper against the back of the hood, and holes mark will be imprinted on the paper.
Drill the spots with 1/8 inches pit. Insert the drywall screws in a way that the screws remain little out; then, hang the hood on them.
Installation
Start from mounting the appliance to the above cabinet with mounting screws. Use only half-inches long screws to avoid penetrating them in the cabinet.
Punch out the knockout; one of the removed plugs from the back of the hood fits with a wire connector. Next, insert the wires through the connector before fastening mounting screws.
Secure the appliance under the cabinet and check with the level whether it’s tilted or not. Then, connect the range hood wires with the supply wires. Lastly, add a carbon or charcoal filter.
Tips & Warnings
- Cover your stove before installing the appliance because anything dropped on it could prove costly
- Apart from the hood’s recommended height from the stove, you can typically install it to 24-30 inches above the cooktop.
- Pick out those hoods that suggest minimum height from the stove because they can better catch the steam or smoke.
- Its width should cover the width of the cooktop.
- Shut off the power supply when you’re dealing with the electric wiring.
- Carbon filters are used in the ductless hoods, change it as soon as its pores clogged. It’s better to use the hood without filter rather than a clogged filter.
Conclusion
Follow the above instructions for a safer and cleaner kitchen. Make sure you follow the safety precautions to avoid any serious damage to the appliance or yourself.
FAQs
1. Can you install a range hood without a cabinet?
Ans. There are hoods available in the market that can be mounted on the wall without cabinet, but they are expensive. A healthy trick is to install a shelf with mounting brackets and then install the hood underneath.
2. Is a vent hood required by code?
Ans. In some states, the vent hood is required by code, e.g., in Austin, Texas. According to the 2009 International Residential Code (IRC), M1503,1 General;
“Range hoods shall discharge to the outdoors through a single-wall duct.”
“ductless range hoods shall not be required to discharge to the outdoors.”
3. Does a range hood need to be vented outside?
Ans. It’s a matter of choice; you can always use a ductless hood which filters and recirculates the air. However, a vented hood is preferable because it throws out the heat, smoke, steam, and odor.
