Kitchen Chimney : A Beginners's Guide

As the lifestyle of modern India shifts towards contemporary global lifestyle, Indian homes experiences lot of changes. The most vibrant part of a home is turning out to be the kitchen, which now beckons utility as well as style. Kitchen Chimney is one such utility which has caught the imagination of Indian Kitchens faster than any other appliances. Primarily these chimneys sucks out stale air, removes fumes and air-borne grease particles, it takes out what’s bad and leaves you with what’s good. 

Broadly Chimney can be sub divided in 2 types

Ducting or vented Chimney: 

Ducting Chimneys which ducts out smoke and fumes outside the house through PVC pipes and leaves the kitchen fresh. Most of the homes uses this kind of chimney

Ductless Chimney (Split) :   

Ductless chimney recycles the air in the kitchen and provides fresh air. It doesn’t pull out the air but releases it back into the kitchen. 

How Electric Chimney Work

Before buying an electric chimney it is advisable to understand how the electrical kitchen chimney works. An electrical chimney is placed just above the cooking stove, normally 3-4 ft of height from cooking pane. Chimney sucks in all the oil, grease, smoke, vapor, odor and other small particles that are popped out during cooking. The smoke which is sucked in by chimneys are normally thrown out while some appliances can also recycle and circulate it back in the kitchen. This is how a chimney works to keep the kitchen in good shape and free of stain and odor. 

Major Brands of Kitchen Chimneys : Faber, Glen, Kaff , IFB, Prestige, Bajaj, Sunflame, Pigeon, Hindware, Whirlpool 

Advantages

1) Your granite/marble/tiles/wooden furnishings will be protected from sticky fumes which comes out from pressure cooker and frying pans.

2) Your kitchen wall and roof is protected from the stains of cooking

3) Protection from steam/smoke when you are preparing

4) It will help prevent sneezing when chillies are fried

5) The kitchen is easy to maintain and clean.

6) It will improve the aesthetics of your already beautiful kitchen.

Points to be Checked

Size of the Chimney : It particularly depends on the size of the kitchen and size of the family. Normally, product is offered in size of 60 Cms and 90 Cms. Size of 60 Cms is good for a family cooking of 5-6 persons

Air Suction Capacity : Practically, for a small family air suction capacity of 400 m3 per hour is good enough, however traditionally most users go for air suction capacity upto 1000 m3 per hour. Higher suction capacity is particularly required in Indian kitchen due to varied cooking methods involving spices and tadka.

Number of Blower :  Blowers in the kitchen chimneys works for the effective exhaust of unwanted smells and oil vapours at different speeds, it gives better outputs and lower noises. Higher the numbers of blowers better it performs in ensuring more effective removal of unwanted smells, oil and grease.

Control : Chimney control can be slider, push or even touch sensors in high end chimneys.

Types of Filters
Chimney Filters can be classified into two types depending upon structure and materials i.e. Mesh and Baffle.

Mesh Filter

Normally Mesh Filter is made of Stainless steel or Aluminium, Stainless Steel is relatively costlier than Aluminum but Aluminum is light weight. Filter which has multiple layers of mesh retains grease and oil particles from smoke and throw out remaining smoke. On consistent use Mesh holes get blocked by grease and oil particles thus reduces suction capacity of the chimney and needs cleaning. Cleaning is easy in Steel mesh as compared to Aluminum . For Indian households, this type of filter is least recommended as it needs cleaning every week.

Baffle Filter

Baffle filter panel is made of multiple curves though which air sucked by chimney passes through , during this process panel retains oil, grease particles in it. As grease and oil particles are not obstacle to flow of air, so less chances of getting it blocked and it has higher duration of cleaning. Normally a baffle filter needs to  be cleaned once a 4 to 5 weeks. Most baffle filters are made from stainless steel panel. 

Conclusion : For a well done modern house Chimneys are integral part of the kitchen to have a hygienic and well look. The features and type depends on the budget as Chimneys are available in price range of Rs 5000 to Rs 100,000. It solely depends on the budget of the household to decide which kind of chimneys to go with. 

Recommendation is to use Air Suction capacity of 700 or more , made of baffle filter and should have 60 cms of size. Other features are related to outlook and operational ease which an individual can decide self.