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Can Range Hoods Prevent a Grease Fire?

Having a chance to see the cooking process in a cafe with chef himself

Safety should always be your top priority. Poor ventilation can lead to safety hazards in your kitchen. And it can easily become a breeding ground for contaminants, such as grease, smoke, or other substances. But air quality should not be your only concern. Grease fires are also possible. These can prove to be very dangerous for your family if they are not addressed promptly. 

But can a range hood reduce the likelihood of a grease fire? In this post, we will discuss what a range hood is, how it works and how it can be used to prevent a grease fire in your kitchen.  

What is a Range Hood?

Range hoods are an essential part of every kitchen. They remove odors, smoke, and other harmful particles from the air that you inhale while you cook. The powerful fans pull the air around the stovetop through filters and into a duct for exhaust. To prevent food contamination, smoke, heat, moisture, microscopic food particles, and other impurities are removed from the kitchen.

The range hood prevents grease, smoke, and other unwanted contaminants from building up inside your kitchen. The range hood vents these contaminants to the outside of your house so that you can have clean, fresh kitchen air. 

No matter what cooking style you prefer, we recommend that every kitchen have a range hood. For those who love to cook or do a lot of frying and grilling, it is even more essential. Everyone can benefit from improved air quality and fewer cooking smells. 

A range hood can greatly reduce the chance of a grease fire in your kitchen because range hoods clean the air of oil smoke and grease while you cook. This greatly reduces the chances of fire.

It is important to note while a range hood can help reduce the likelihood of grease fires, a fire can still happen. And grease fires can burn down your kitchen and your home so please be careful and pay attention in the kitchen. 

What Causes a Grease Fire?

Grease fires are caused by cooking oil that has become too hot and starts to smoke, then ignites. Vegetable oils catch fire at around 450 Fahrenheit. Animal fats catch fire at around 375 Fahrenheit. It doesn’t take long for them both to reach these temperatures. Grease fires are very easy to start and can spread quickly. These are the most common reasons that a fire might start in your kitchen.

  • A stovetop heats up too fast and the oil gets too hot.
  • Frozen food can be thrown onto hot grease and caused to smoke.
  • You are cooking a greasy meal that drips into the oven and ignites flames.

Your stove or oven has been left unattended for an extended period of time, or even just a few seconds. While careful cooking is the best way to prevent a grease fire, sometimes it’s impossible to avoid an accident.

Can Range Hoods Prevent Grease Fires?

Meat searing, pan-frying, heavily spiced foods—if these are common occurrences in your kitchen, then a range hood will do you a lot of good. If you use a lot of oil, or you cook with intense heat, then you’re creating smoke. This kind of smoke will eventually go away, but it can take a while, and while it moseys on out, your kitchen is gaining a nice layer of grease. Think about steam: when it cools off, it reverts back into the water. It’s essentially the same thing happening. Do you know that thick smell that covers your clothes after frying bacon? Yeah, that’s the grease smoke re-solidifying onto you. Sure, that smell is delicious, but it’s dirty. Range hoods not only help decrease the spread of grease, but it also helps keep the air you’re breathing clean—not to mention that it’ll deter your smoke and fire alarms from getting all worked up.

A range hood helps reduce the risk of a grease fire. It moves hot air and grease particles outside your home so you can enjoy clean air. It also keeps your smoke alarm from going off so you’ll have some peace and quiet in the kitchen. Be sure to watch your burners closely and clean your stove consistently to further reduce the risk of a grease fire.

To keep heavy grease and smoke out of your kitchen, your best bet is a ducted range hood. It moves all the dirty air and grease out of your home, while a ductless hood just recirculates the air.