Hi CHOICE Community, I would like to know if anyone has installed a rangehood with the motor located externally. Not the ducting but the actual motor. These are often marketed as “silent” or “offboard” rangehoods aimed at making the cooking experience quieter and are sold by brands including Schweigen, Euromaid and Fisher & Paykel. I think the main issue with these is that while the motor is installed outside (on the roof or wall), it takes the noise elsewhere and it can be a problem for neighbours.
I may include some general comments about these in our rangehoods buying guide. We can’t test these in the CHOICE labs, as they require a specific setup.
Thank you!
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In some cases that would be so.
Another problem that limits their use is cost. The ducting needs to be more substantial and the motors are bigger and require more effort to mount. Also they are more commonly commercial equipment than domestic so the market is smaller and less competitive, you will not find white goods shops competing on price.
I am interested in the effect that the mounting of motors has on noise. Any time a motor is mounted in a panel that can vibrate that panel will amplify the noise. The option is there to mount it on something more solid or isolate it, such as with rubber mounts, or both.
I would appreciate it if your comments included some facts about these issues and on typical prices including installation for comparison.
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Bespoke? If one is serious. Certainly one likely for the designer kitchen.
EG ‘https://whispair.com.au/
Or role your own.
Thanks for the great ideas, I will do some investigating.
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Whispair’s models that allow either remote external motor (motor at top of ducting above roof) or remote inline motor (inline in the ducting so motor is in the ceiling-roof space) look interesting. Thank you to mark-m for the link.
As do the Schweigen models of of silent range hoods with Isodrive Motors Rangehood Motors | Schweigen Isodrive® Motors
Elica is another maker of range hoods with remote motors but they don’t supply any of the ducting, telling consumers that "your installer will be able to advise on ducting requirements”
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I have had a Schweigen ducted extraction fan installed for about 5 years now. They are very quiet. I have been outside and I can hear it if the next doors pool filter is not running. I have just tried to measure the noise using a sound meter but the motor noise is below the general background noise. I got the more powerful motor and use it every day and have had no complaints. It also has a timer that turns the system off 20 minutes after you push the button. The extraction fan is so quiet that I have on occasion left the fan run for a few hours.
I have been inside the roof cavity of houses that have the ducting into the roof space that has covered the space with fats over many years. We had to take off most of the roof to get to it and clean the area.
The point that the fan has to be bigger to suck the fumes out because the motor is outside is really no different having the motor at the source and having to push the fumes out the exterior mount. Or am I missing some strange rule that sucking fumes over the same distance is harder than pushing it?
I have a 900mm extraction fan that will hold pages of paper on the filter. The sound inside the house is so much less. I am very happy with the results.
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No you are not. One difference is that the pipe may well be longer with an external fan and the motor may be more powerful but there is nothing intrinsically different between pushing and pulling if the system is sealed. If you have holes in the tube you may not notice when pushing as the leak will be into a cavity or the ceiling whereas when sucking performance may suffer as air is sucked from other than the hood.
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Hi Kim
I have recently installed an outdoor rangehood with external motor and love it. Let me just say that there is no such thing as a ‘silent’ rangehood. Nothing can stop the noise produced from the air passing through the filters.
However by having the motor mounted externally it significantly reduces the sound to the point where I can have a conversation with someone at normal voice level with the rangehood turned on - something I can’t do with my internal rangehood, even on the lowest setting.
In relation to noise for neighbours, my rangehood motor is quieter than an A/C compressor or pool pump. The sound tends to reflect up with the angles of the roof, rather than sideways or down.
Price was around $3600 delivered for a 1200mm wide unit with 3200m2/hour suction . Installation cost was part of a larger scope of work, so I can’t provide cost of installation.
Let me know if you would like any other information.
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