Our Territory Includes:
All Of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin

General Information

Why Vent-A-Hood? Most people believe that range hoods are all the same and, for the most part, that's an accurate assessment...EXCEPT FOR VENT-A-HOOD!

The following topics may raise some issues you hadn't considered about kitchen ventilation. You will learn what you should expect from a good ventilation system and it provides a brief comparison of the alternative types of kitchen ventilation systems.

Product Information

Vent-A-Hood has two series of range hoods, the "K" series, introduced in 2004, and, what we at Shady Oak call, the "Classic" series, which has been manufactured since 1937. While both series involve the exclusive, highly efficient "Magic Lung" principles of centrifugal ventilation, they differ distinctly in their CFM ratings and, therefore, ventilation capacity.

A quick review of the major differences, outlined below, should help to narrow your search for the Vent-A-Hood model that will best suit the type of appliance you have as well as your unique cooking habits. Also, SPECIFICATION SHEETS can be accessed for each model in Adobe Acrobat Format.

"K-Series""Classic" Series

240CFM only (360CFM equivalent).

The blower system can't be changed and is recommended only for light cooking on standard gas and electric appliances.

Hood/liner styles and dimensions are fixed and are not customizable.

Available in st. steel plus limited standard color choices.

300CFM minimum (450CFM equivalent).

The Blower system is upgradeable in 300CFM increments and can be scaled to handle heavy cooking on even the largest professional-style appliances.

Hood/liner styles and dimensions are customizable.

Available in st. steel and standard colors plus scores of custom colors.

As you explore the "Classic" series standard models and sizes below, keep in mind that the blower configurations in these hoods/liners can be customized. Widths, depths and heights are also customizable to 1/8" tolerances, if the application calls for it.

Indoor Air Quality and Kitchen Ventilation

What do we mean when we say "Vent-A-Hood is the range hood that really works?" The purpose of a kitchen ventilation system is to completely remove the cooking contaminants of heat, steam, grease, smoke, odors and hazardous gases, before they have a chance to mix with the air in the rest of the home. While you cook, do you smell cooking odors in your home? How about the next day - can you still smell dinner from last night? If so, your ventilation system is not working as well as it should.

With the tighter construction techniques being employed in homes today, good kitchen ventilation is more important than ever. Without it, cooking contaminants float freely about the home and sticky grease will settle on surfaces, making them difficult to clean. Grease will also settle into draperies, furniture and carpeting, creating a permanent odor in your home and exacerbating any breathing problems your family may have. Hazardous gases from gas appliances will accumulate in the home, if not properly vented to the outside. Can you have good indoor air quality without proper kitchen ventilation? It is clearly not possible, and Vent-A-Hood is the range hood that REALLY works because...

Ventahood means NO cooking odors - PERIOD!

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What Are Cooking Contaminants?

Let's briefly examine each of the cooking contaminants:

  1. Heat is energy. During cooking, this energy causes water molecules to expand dramatically and rise rapidly. An overhead hood is the best means to capture this rising and expanding air, before it has had a chance to mix with the air in the rest of the home. In the winter, cooking heat is not satisfactory for heating the home because it creates steam, grease and odors. In the summer, the cost of cooling a home rises when a suitable cooking ventilator is not installed. A standard four burner cooktop manufactures as much heat as one ton of air conditioning can remove in the same amount of time.
  2. Steam is water vapor. Steam is the vehicle by which cooking odors and grease are carried throughout the home. Steam deposits its cargo of grease on surfaces such as cabinets, furniture, draperies and carpeting. These grease deposits develop molds and fungi which are responsible for the permanent odor that some homes have, and which is most pronounced in apartment buildings. These molds and fungi also accentuate any breathing problems the occupants may have. High humidity also reduces comfort levels in the home.
  3. Grease is a major problem. It hardly leaves the cooking surface before it begins to return to sticky nodules. Thin aluminum mesh "filters" are, at best, only about 25% efficient in removing cooking grease from the air. As the filters become dirty and clogged, it becomes very difficult or impossible for the fan to draw any air at all through the system, and the efficiency can drop to zero. Grease clogged filters and grease laden ductwork are also a fire hazard. On the other hand, the unique Vent-A-Hood "Magic Lung" blower system is 99+% efficient, 100% of the time, in removing ALL cooking contaminants from the air. As an added bonus, Vent-A-Hood also offers the fire-safety feature explained later.
  4. Smoke & Odors are nuisances. Tests have shown that charcoal filters, commonly used by range hood manufacturers to reduce odors, are effective for only a matter of hours - not days, weeks or months as is usually assumed. The only practical way to keep cooking smoke and odors out of the home is to capture them, as they are being created, and to vent them to the outside.
  5. Hazardous gases are produced by gas appliances and include nitrogen dioxide, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Neither a ductless hood system nor a ducted hood with clogged filters can "filter" these gases from the air. Again, the only practical way to keep hazardous gases out of the home is to capture them, as they are being created, and vent them to the outside.

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What Are The Alternative Types Of Kitchen Ventilation Systems?

  1. Ductless hoods. The Vent-A-Hood Company produced the first ductless designs in 1941 and has held the patents on almost all types of this product. Ductless hoods have virtually no effect on steam, heat or smoke and they are extremely limited in their effect on odors and grease. The University of Minnesota has concluded that ductless hoods should not be used with gas appliances because they do not remove hazardous combustion gases. A ductless hood is a poor filtration unit and is not a ventilation system at all.
  2. Micro-Ventilators. Space-saving? - Yes! Ventilator? - No! These units are extremely poor ventilators for a number of reasons: 1). They have no canopy to capture the cooking contaminants as they rise from the cooking surface. Even with the blower on high speed, a large percentage of the cooking by-products rise up the face of the microwave and escape into the home. 2). The blowers used in these units are small and very noisy. 3). Micro ventilators are very shallow and don't adequately cover the front burners.
  3. Downdraft Ventilation. Talk about defying Mother Nature! It is not practical to expect a downdraft ventilator to effectively draw heated air horizontally and down, because this air naturally wants to rise and expand. To be truly effective, the blower would need to be so big that it would be extremely noisy and it would be very expensive. Downdraft units cannot possibly ventilate as well as a good overhead range hood. Mother Nature won't allow it!
  4. External blowers. Usually purchased assuming it will keep noise levels down. However, they are no quieter than the Vent-A-Hood "Magic Lung" system because to ventilate, you must move air. The only sound that the Vent-A-Hood "Magic Lung" system makes is the rush of the air being blown outside and external blowers make the same rushing sound. In addition, external blowers are more expensive, hard to service, and use ineffective filter systems that are hard to clean and are not fire-safe as is the Vent-A-Hood "Magic Lung".
  5. Ducted hoods. Hot air naturally rises and expands. The best way to ventilate an appliance is to capture this rising and expanding hot air with a properly sized hood canopy over the appliance. The canopy should have enough capacity to hold the contaminant-laden hot air until the blower (properly sized), can exhaust it to the outside

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What Makes Ventahood So Special?



  1. Vent-A-Hood range hoods REALLY work! The purpose of a kitchen ventilation system is to completely remove the cooking contaminants of heat, steam, grease, smoke, odors and hazardous gases, before they have had a chance to mix with the air in the rest of the home. The exclusive "Magic Lung" ventilation system utilizes the centrifugal action of the blower wheel, under pressure, to extract over 99% of cooking contaminants, while hoods with conventional mesh filters are less than 25% effective. The "Magic Lung" was developed in the 1940's, has remained unchanged for decades and is still, without exception, the most quiet, efficient and powerful ventilation system available.
  2. The "Magic Lung" blower provides fire-safety. Vent-A-Hood is uniquely fire-safe for two reasons: 1). The ductwork above a Vent-A-Hood is virtually free of grease. In contrast, hoods that use mesh filters throw much of the 75% of the grease that they don't collect, into the ductwork, creating a bad fire hazard! 2). The "Magic Lung" centrifugal blower creates a pressure barrier designed to liquefy grease and lower the risk of an attic or wall fire. Since 1933, Vent-A-Hood has never received a report of an attic or wall fire when the "Magic Lung" has been in use.
  3. Quiet. How quiet is a Vent-A-Hood? The test results shown below were generated in accordance with the Standard Test Code by the Energy Systems Laboratory of the Texas Engineering Station. All tests were measured at full speed to demonstrate the most accurate sound rating. Other manufacturers may use lower speeds for testing, which don't accurately reflect operating sound levels.
    • 300 CFM "Classic" Magic Lung® Blower 5.4 Sones (at high speed)
    • 600 CFM "Classic" Magic Lung® Blower 6.5 Sones (at high speed)
    • 900 CFM "Classic" Magic Lung® Blower 6.3 Sones (at high speed)
    • 1200 CFM "Classic" Magic Lung® Blower 6.6 Sones (at high speed)

    Vent-A-Hood's Magic Lung® "Multi-Blower" technology allows CFM to double, triple or quadruple with very little effect on sound levels AND this already quiet ventilator becomes whisper-quiet with the SensaSource feature, included on all halogen lighted hoods. SensaSource will reduce one of the 300 CFM blowers to a low setting of approximately 150 CFM for extra-quiet operation during light cooking.

    • 250 CFM "K-Series" Blower 7.4 Sones (at high speed)
    The "K-Series" ventilator also becomes even quieter with the standard SensaSource feature. SensaSource will reduce the 240 CFM blower to a low setting of approximately 120 CFM for extra-quiet operation during light cooking.
  4. Versatility. The "Magic Lung" blower is capable of venting any appliance, from the simplest 4 burner electric cooktop to the largest commercial-style range with grill & griddle.
  5. Easy to Clean. Grease is never fun to clean, but with the Vent-A-Hood "Magic Lung" system, clean up is easy. The blower housing snaps out of the hood so the grease can simply be wiped out of a smooth trough. All the wiring and the motor are totally enclosed in a metal box so grease can't coat them. Keeping grease off the motor and wiring extends its life and makes cleaning easier.
  6. Custom Capabilities. Vent-A-Hood will fabricate odd widths, heights or shapes.

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For Whisper-Quiet Operation . . . all Ventahood

range hood/liners with halogen lights include . . .

Overview:
A two-speed motor, on a HI-OFF-LO switch, allows the user to operate the hood at a low setting of approx. 150 CFM, for extra-quiet operation during light cooking. While the blower is on LO, a unique heat sensor maintains the exclusive Vent-A-Hood fire-safety feature.

Details:

  • SensaSource is included on all hoods/liners with halogen lighting, except if the hood/liner is wired for remote switching of lights, blowers, heat lamps or any combination of the three.
  • SensaSource is not available on hoods/liners with fluorescent lighting.
  • Every white motor, in halogen lighted hoods/liners, is a two-speed motor that operates with a HI-OFF-LO switch, connected to a heat sensor.
  • The heat sensor monitors cooking activity when the blower is on the LO setting and if the heat reaches an unacceptable level inside the hood, it switches the white motor to full power.
  • Once the heat subsides, the sensor returns the white motor to the LO setting.
  • The heat sensor is only activated if the two-speed motor is on the LO setting.
  • Every black motor is a one-speed motor operated by an ON-OFF switch, not connected to the heat sensor.
  • The hood may be turned off manually if the sensor increases it to high speed.

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Checklist: Facts to gather prior to visiting your Ventahood dealer.

With these facts in hand, you will make the visit to your Vent-A-Hood dealer more productive.

  • What type of hood do you need?
    • Check Box Under cabinet
    • Check Box Wall Mount
    • Check Box Island
    • Check Box Metal liner/blower for wood hood (wall mount or island?)
  • What type of cooking equipment will you have?
    • Check Box Standard gas
    • Check Box Standard electric
    • Check Box Professional-style gas
  • Will your appliance include: (check any that apply)
    • Check Box Griddle
    • Check Box Grill
    • Check Box Wok
  • Range or cooktop width ________________________
  • How wide will the hood be?________________________
    • Recommendations for hood width:
      • Wall mount hoods/liners:
        • Venting standard residential range/cooktop - hood should be at least as wide as the appliance. 6" wider is recommended if possible.
        • Venting professional-style range/cooktop - hood must be 6" wider than the appliance.
      • Island hoods/liners:
        • Hood must be 6" wider than the appliance.
  • Will there be cabinets or a soffit above the hood or liner?
    • Check Box Yes:
      • Check Box Distance from countertop to bottom of upper cabinet or soffit.________________________
    • Check Box No:
      • Check Box Distance from countertop to ceiling.________________________
      • Check Box Is the ceiling flat or sloped?________________________
  • Use the pictures on this web site to decide on a style or two to explore at your Vent-A-Hood dealer.

    Note: Vent-A-Hood also has a custom manufacturing capability, so don't feel limited by the styles or sizes you see on these web pages.

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