Is it a problem for a kitchen exhaust to be venting into the fascia?

Question

I've lived in my house about a year and my stove exhaust fan doesn't seem to work too well. The wall that the stove is on goes to a back porch, so I wondered where the heck it vented out at. I looked above the ceiling tiles, and the vent is running to the adjacent wall. However I went outside and don't see a vent on the exterior. Based on where it's at inside, it seems like it would be running into the fascia area (I'm not sure if that's the correct terminology, but hopefully you get the idea). There aren't any vents on the fascia. I was chatting with some co-workers about it - one said that's no big deal because the fascia isn't air tight so it gets out. Another said it's incorrect to be set up that way and doesn't have proper venting. I'm planning on living in my house awhile, so I want to get it corrected. My questions are: can this be fixed without re-routing all the venting (such as through the roof)? What type of business would I call for this? And lastly, I know prices will vary by location, so about how long could I expect it to take? I'm pretty sure labor in my area is around $60/hour, so I'm wondering how many hours this would likely take. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Kitchen exhaust should either be vented to the outside or use a non-venting hood that recirculates the air after filtering through a charcoal activated or mesh filter. It would be a project you could call a skilled handyman, or a small general contractor to fix. Depending on where in the eaves the pipe terminates it might be a matter of hooking some fittings in and directing it outside the building or through the roof. Generally speaking a vent would not be directed down through the soffit, but that may be acceptable in your city. The problem with dumping that air into the eaves is that it is loaded with moisture, grease, and burned foods. These will accumulate on the wood which can damage the roof sheathing as well as attract ants and other vermin to the accumulated grease. The same applies to bathroom fans that dump air into an attic or soffit area, they MUST be directed outside the building or risk rotten wood or saturated insulation. Cost is almost impossible to estimate because I am not there looking at what needs to be done. A skilled handyman should be under $100, licensed contractor probably double that.

Answer 2

Run it thru the roof. Get a roof jack, a 24" piece of the right sized pipe and a weather cap. It must handiest take a couple of hours to do, and itll cost less than $20. The exhaust fan will have to have a small baffle constructed in to prevent a again draft of bloodless air. It would be a excellent idea to insulate the vent flex/pipe as it goes thru the attic so the water that condenses throughout the flex/pipe does not drip backtrack into the fan. I dont advocate the inexpensive plastic enthusiasts that lowes and home depot sell. Go to a real hvac place and have them order you an actual fan. It'll be so much quieter and clearly work for greater than a yr. Possum, hvac man

Answer 3

It needs to be vented to the outside. If it's vented into the eaves, or into the attic, you'll have a condensation problem and possibly premature roof failure.



A decent handyman should be able to do the job for not too much money.