We need ventilation in our open plan kitchen/diner/living room. The position of the cooker in relation to the joists means we cannot directly duct outside using an extractor hood. We have had a recirculation hood before but not been impressed and I don’t think you can get recirculation hoods that remove moisture?

We don’t have a big problem with mould, just a bit round the kitchen window, but the morning after cooking there can be quite a bit of condensation on the windows which are otherwise fine.

I have had a look at single room mechanical heat recovery instead of cooker hoods. Enviro vent have quoted around £600 to install a heatsava which seems pricy but is also supposed to save on energy bills.

Anyone got any experience of these heatsava or something similar? Or do I just save my money and keep opening the windows?

You could drop the ceiling and use flat duct instead?

Or maybe use flat duct along the top of the cupboards?

The heat recovery will do the same as a small extract fan (Ie a lot less than a proper hood) but should deal with any moisture issues. Make sure you get a humidity sensor on it so it doesn’t run when not required. It will not pay for itself when compared to opening windows foe a couple of mins during or after cooking though, so I would probably just do that

Thanks T1000 but don’t have any wall cupboard, duct would have to run across the ceiling, can’t really lower ceiling as it would look odd with it wall being open plan.

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We’ve got a VentAxia Tempra, a bit like the HeatSava but cheaper, in our utility room for drying clothing. It certainly does the job we got it for; we used to get condensation on all the downstairs windows when we hung washing up, but we don’t any more and the washing dries faster. It’s a lot more effective than opening the window, which we used to do, and keeps the place much warmer.

This one just has two speeds; on high it sounds like a jet engine, on low it’s okay for a utility room but it’s a fair way from silent. The Heatsava changes speed continuously so I would have thought would be quieter, but I’ve not experienced one myself.

Could you not just box in some flat ducting along an edge of the ceiling, though?

I’d be vary wary of the noise db that they are listing.
Ask them how far away and at what fan speed the claimed noise levels were tested.

I have an extractor dual fan directly above the cooker venting outside, the amount of grease that it collects over a short time is an eye opener, can’t imagine having a kitchen without one now, not excluding the smells and smoke, (I like my steaks flash seared) condensation would be the least of my worries.

Phil thanks but can’t duct along wall due to stair box outs etc. To duct out would have to go right across the middle of the ceiling clashing with lights etc and also would clash with window lintel.