question on hood vent above the stove

[J_Harvey]

Hello, I am wondering if someone here can help me out, I just bought a new 2012 passport grand touring 2910bh. I was looking around and noticed that my range hood doesn't seem to vent outside as I couldn't see anything, there is a vent stack that runs by the refrigerator, could it possibly vent into that, I took a look up there but couldn't see anything, anyone have any ideas, Thank you in advance.

best regards,

[geo]

J Harvey -

Some do not vent to the outside. These types filter the "exhaust" and return the filtered air to the kitchen. Did you get an owner's manual? If not, try looking up the hood brand/manufacturer, model number and owner's manual.

If it is the type that filters the "exhaust", you will definitely want to clean this filter very regularly!

Ron

[Festus2]

On the newer RV's, unlike the "older" ones, the range hood doesn't vent directly to the outside. Instead, the fan circulates the air internally but I am not sure if that vent you referred to has anything to do with this circulation or not. Some members have expressed their displeasure with this system in that it doesn't do an adequate job of getting rid of cooking odours, steam, smoke (?), etc. Many feel that it simply "blows smoke back at you" - as one member described it.
Our '08 Cougar has the old fashioned system and it seems to work fine. Perhaps someone who has range hood and fan that does not vent directly to the outside can offer an explanation of how this new system works (or doesn't work).
Welcome to the forum BTW.

[J_Harvey]

Thanks everyone for the information, that is extremely helpful. Since this is the first RV I have owned, I wasn't sure. Thanks again.

best regards,

[JRTJH]

J Harvey,

Welcome to the forum. Some of the "newer" RV's don't vent the cooking exhaust to the outside, but rather filter it and then "blow the smoke in your face" as some have explained it. You "MAY" be able to cut a hole in the side of your trailer and vent it out that way (probably would need to buy a different range hood). If you do that, examine very VERY closely before you start doing any cutting. There are lots of things "stored" within those laminated walls and you'd probably not want to cut a stud or any of the wiring that may run through some unusual places.

As for venting it into the refrigerator air stack, I'd strongly advise against that. There is only a small (somewhat ineffective) aluminum filter on the stove vent. You wouldn't want the cooking grease, the moisture nor even the heat to be flowing over the rear inner workings of your refrigerator. I'd be especially concerned with the grease and moisture. There are a lot of "sensitive" electronics back there as well as a small flame. Grease in aerosol form floating around a fire (while boondocking next to nowhere) would not be my idea of "safe camping" , not to mention the "goop" that would accumulate on the walls of your refrigerator vent stack.

Maybe others who have the recirculating vent hood can give you ideas of how "bad" or "good" it really is. Fortunately, we have the vented hood and don't face the potential issues of that style hood.

[Bob Landry]

My Outback 277RL also does not vent to the outside. Vents are cheap and one would be simple to install except that the window behind the counter comes over behind the stove and to work around that to get to an outside vent would require some creative sheetmetal work. I may do that after the warranty runs out. I'm thinking that Keystone's buying agents must have gotten a super deal on a quantity of long windows and they had to use them somewhere. I personally see no need to have hot air from the stove blown back in my face while I'm cooking, so I don't use mine for anything but a night light. It was very poor design on Keystone's part. Had I thought to look for that initially, it would probably have been a deal breaker and I would have started looking at different models because it's really an annoyance. I havn't pulled the microwave to see if by chance there is a plenum going up to a vent, but I'm doubting that Keystone would have bothered to do that either. All in all, I'm happy with my trailer and so is DW. I'm just hard put to understand why Keystone would build such a nice trailer and then overlook such a small detail. I'm sure that is an irritation for anyone who cooks a lot in their trailer, as we do.
At one time, I did have a PDF that was done by a guy who did the mod for an outside vent, but it looked rather intricate and I''m just not a sheet metal guy.

[86GT2r]

Our Passport just recirculates the air. Turn the fan on & listen & feel for the air movement. You will discover where the outlet is. IIRC, ours is on the left side of the hood.

[mhs4771]

In some models with the Convection/Microwave they do the same thing. Not bad if using the convection in cold weather, but if it's 95 in the shade, you don't need the hot air from the convection inside the rig. We're lucky, ours vents outside so we can cook with the convection and not generate additional heat inside.

[therink]

Mine vents into my face. Needless to say, we don't cook indoors because of this. I was highly disappointed when I realized this while on our first trip. This is our 5th rv and the first that didn't vent outdoors. I guess we will live with it.

Steve

[haffcke]

me also, hood vents inside on 2011 bullet TT and i cook a lot inside, sooo i happen to have a roof vent in the kit area close to a light, installed a vortex 6 blade vent fan into vent wired into light. walla sends the smell of bacon or onions cooking right out side to the neighbors, got the fan from CW for 65.00 a bit noisy but really moves a lot of air, great for hot nights in rest areas also.

[chuck&gail]

My Outback is like that. Fortunately there was a skylight right over the stove. We had the dealer put a fan in there, so that we can vent cooking fumes.

[smiller]

I wasn't even aware that some hoods just recirculated air. It seems to me that one of the main points of a vented hood is to help remove some of the huge amounts of moisture than can be created during stovetop cooking. Something that just recirculates the air would be worthless.

[SteveC7010]

Originally Posted by smiller

I wasn't even aware that some hoods just recirculated air. It seems to me that one of the main points of a vented hood is to help remove some of the huge amounts of moisture than can be created during stovetop cooking. Something that just recirculates the air would be worthless.

No disagreement, but has anyone noticed how many residential vent hoods don't vent to the outside any more? They work pretty much the same as the RV hoods, just filtering and recirculating the air.

Luckily, most of us have some control when building or remodeling our kitchens at home so we can specify that the range hood vent to the outside. But the RV manufacturers take us out of the loop on things like this more and more.

FWIW, as long as the stove and hood are on an exterior wall, it should be possible someway, somehow to add a vent to the outside.

[smiller]

Originally Posted by SteveC7010

No disagreement, but has anyone noticed how many residential vent hoods don't vent to the outside any more? They work pretty much the same as the RV hoods, just filtering and recirculating the air.

Yes, but in terms of dealing with moisture there's a big difference between a house with a few thousand square feet and an RV with maybe a few hundred.

[Johnnyfry]

My 2011 318SAB vents outside so it is not a "new" thing, but rather model specific.

With me, a blow in your face hood would have been a show stopper --- even if the trailer had been gold plated.

You need to check before falling in love with the trailer (sort of like life in general, I guess!)

John

[Hunter757]

Originally Posted by Johnnyfry

My 2011 318SAB vents outside so it is not a "new" thing, but rather model specific.

With me, a blow in your face hood would have been a show stopper --- even if the trailer had been gold plated.

You need to check before falling in love with the trailer (sort of like life in general, I guess!)

John

I agree with you John and maybe it might be a time for checklist similar to the PDI list everyone uses that has things like this on it.
I can really see how easy it could be and has been overlooked because we do fall in love first and then try to go off memory to look for small little things we all tend to miss. I know when we found our 5er we had a list a mile long and compared many before we dropped the hammer.

Bottom line is make a list check it twice and enjoy life, Happy Camping.

[fivergeezer]

I haven't seen one with no exterior vent but I think it's a good idea. Residential hoods have an activated charcoal filter that removes smoke, grease and odors. I'm not sure what kind of filter the RV units have. Not exhausting air from a hood prevents a negative pressure from causing heat and cooling losses. The exterior vent is notorious for inviting mud-wasps and other insects into your unit and it's usually a pain to secure the flap so it's not accessible to invaders. If I had the choice, I'd go with no vent.

[smiller]

Every exterior vent I've ever seen has a flap that opens when there is exhaust pressure and closes when there is not, so operation is essentially automatic and no way for insects to get in. As has been discussed, cooking can create an enormous amount of moisture and I can't imagine not having an exterior vent to get rid of it.

[blackty]

Strange, my '12 327 vents outside. Thought they all did. Who knew?...Jim

[webslave]

Originally Posted by Johnnyfry

My 2011 318SAB vents outside so it is not a "new" thing, but rather model specific.

With me, a blow in your face hood would have been a show stopper --- even if the trailer had been gold plated.

You need to check before falling in love with the trailer (sort of like life in general, I guess!)

John

X2

It was almost a deal stopper for me when I found the vent in the kitchen's ceiling didn't have a fan, didn't even have 12v stubbed out to it for a fan, and it would definitely have been a stopper for me if the range hood didn't vent outside as well... In the summer time, I don't need to recirculate heat, whether filtered or not, inside the trailer...I want it gone, outside is my preference Once I get a few other things done, the kitchen ceiling vent gets a fan, too!