What's a recirculation range hood?

A recirculation hood extracts the air, filters it, and blows it back into the kitchen. The air is circulating. That's why it's called a 'recirculation range hood'. There are carbon filters in the range hood. Carbon has the natural ability to absorb dirt. When the range hood extracts the cooking fumes, the carbon filter absorbs dirt and odors from the air. The air is clean and the range hood blows it back into the room.

With a recirculation range hood, you don't have a ventilation system that leads outside. This is especially an advantage with newly built homes, because you don't have to make a hole in the outer wall. That way, the energy label of your home stays high. There's also no draft coming from the range hood. With a ventilation system, cold air sometimes comes in if the wind blows right into the exhaust pipe.

Carbon filters don't last forever. When they're full, you have to replace them. A filters lasts 6 months on average. In addition, a recirculation range hood filters about 85 to 90% of the odors from the cooking fumes. That's less than a ventilation system. The extraction rate is also lower if you use your range hood as a recirculating range hood. The extraction rate reduces with 20 to 30% when you don't use the range hood with a ventilation system.

You often buy a recirculation range hood as an ventilation system range hood. You must then make it suitable for recirculation by placing a filter. In some cases, you have to convert it with a recirculation set. The product page shows which of these 2 ways you can use to make the product suitable for recirculation.

You can convert your range hood once with a recirculation set. These differ per brand and they are product specific. Buy a set that's suitable for your product. The recirculation set is almost never included with the range hood, so you order it separately. After you've installed the set, all you have to do is replace the filters regularly.