Venting Hoods: do You Need One?

The last thing you want when entertaining guests is to have a bunch of smoke accumulating in your lanai or patio, ruining your outdoor cooking experience.

Depending on the location of the grill, additional venting may not be necessary. If your outdoor kitchen is in an uncovered area  you most likely won’t need a vent hood.

However if your grilling setup is enclosed or even semi-enclosed, such as under a roof overhang, you’re going to want to vent it to avoid smoke build-up. Additionally continuous grilling on a setup that is against an exterior wall will lead to streaking and marks on the wall from the smoke if not vented properly.

There are special hoods on the market made specifically to go above a grill.  These hoods are usually “outdoor rated” so that they can resist humidity and moisture.

The first thing to look for when choosing a hood is the fan power.  Having a powerful fan is very important so we usually recommend nothing lower than 1200 CFM.   Put simply, CFM is how much air a fan moves so obviously  the greater the CFM the more air a fan will move. This is extremely important when dealing with the outside elements.

Also the hood should be larger than the grill so it can “catch” the smoke a little easier.  We  recommend going approximately 6 – 8” larger than your grill head to make sure all of the smoke is being captured thus reducing smoke buildup in the area.

If you follow these guidelines, the hood should perform up to par and help reduce smoke build up in your outdoor kitchen.