Thread: proposing a cooling solution for a kitchen

in india the average temperature during summer is more than 35 c and here in haryana where i live,it avearges more than 40 c during summer,not to mention the high humidity,and lets not forget the additional heat source from the heaters or LPG burners,the steam from the food and the cooking oil vapours as well.

now most of the users here in IBF are male so i wouldn't be surprised if you said you don't cook (not every one ofcourse),but still the job gets done,whatever the condition may be.so have you ever given a thought to how "inhuman" it is to get the job done and that too on time? well i am not starting a debate so i will go straight to the point and share some ideas i have which will hopefully trigger more and better ideas with your help ofcourse.

first off,fitting an exhaust fan doesn't help too much,sure it pushes some heat out but it does not brings down the temperature,humidity and oil fumes any lower than before.to add to that,the fan blades get coated in oil after some time.
next,fitting a conventional air conditioning system will not help.because it will suck in oil vapours and end up chocking the air filter or worse,the whole evaporator will get a thick layer of oil which will be hard to get rid off.

so what now?the only thing that comes to mind is getting a pre fabricated kitchen which has an exhaust which works with an air compressor and dampers fitted just above the cooking area,but these things were never cheap and are way over priced,like paying for gold but getting peanuts.its way out of reach of the avearge indian any ways.

so i have a design in mind.get a regular room AC.make an aluminum duct which is thermally isolated(readily available with vendors supplying cooling solutions for central AC systems).connect one end of this duct to the cold air out of the AC and the other end to the top of the kitchen.make a platform for the cooking heat source (electric heater or LPG burner),just above it make an exhaust duct with its outlet out of the kitchen.the exhaust duct works by creating vaccum using a regular vaccum cleaner,with some damper arrangement so that the exhaust fumes don't reach the compressor.

this arrangement will work like this-the AC will get its intake air from any room,other than the kitchen.effeciency will increase if the intake air is from another air conditioned room.this cooled air will be dry as well and will be supplied to the kitchen from the top.as cold air is heavier,it will create a natural draft in the kitchen which will bring all the hot air to the top of kitchen and cool air to lower level just enough for human occupants.gradually by heat exchange temperature will drop.with the temperature dropping below a certain point,most of the moisture will condense and make the air dry.so humidity problem is solved.now the kitchen exhaust will collect all the oil fumes and heat since they are hotter than the ambient air and will naturally rise and will get collected by the exhaust vaccum placed right above.a phenomenon called "aspiration" has to be used which will make sure that more air gets sucked into the exhaust than the compressor is actually built for and leave almost no oil vapour or moisture from the food being cooked.since the kitchen air is not being recycled,there will be no issue of bad odour which has already been taken care of by the exhaust duct.

it's not a "new" idea,just an application of existing technology being used correctly for a specific purpose.please find faults and suggest better techniques which will make the system more effecient.i am yet to study the aerodynamics of cooking oil vapours which will ultimately help me design the exhaust duct.

cheers.

Instead buy a chimney for about 8k
(Faber,sunflame are reputed brands)

It drastically reduces fumes and heat

with those kind of kitchen exhaust,sure it takes care of smoke and oil vapour but it doesn't lower the temperature below ambient temperature a bit .and one is paying 8-9 K just for a blower which consists of a motor plus some duct work, nothing else, its just ridiculously over priced.no wonder,only the rich (who like to wear their shirts inside out to show off the tags) get these stuff.

8-9 K is enough for a new .75 ton AC unit, the duct work will cost a couple thousand ,forget a complex vaccum unit,just get a couple of powerful exhaust fans which won't cost over 1K and we are good to go.and i gurantee the kitchen occupant will beg to turn off the cooling unit because of fear of getting hyperthermia.

You can not connect a hi-wall split to the insulated duct.You have to go for Concealed split with side boxing works.

Dont think about much complication

Just put a 1.5 TR concealed split.If you want ,you can also add some fresh air to this unit and will more comfort.but if u add fresh air,dont comprimise the A/C Tonnage

Also put a chimmney arrangement with exhaust and duct to pump out fumes and smell

You have to regularly clean the A/C filters also which will give you maximum performance

Hope this will help you

Originally Posted by iorhld

with those kind of kitchen exhaust,sure it takes care of smoke and oil vapour but it doesn't lower the temperature below ambient temperature a bit ...

It does if the air it is sucking in is cooler!

Me, born in cold, lived in cold most of my life: within reason, love the heat.
Wife, born in hot, lived in hot most of her life: loves the cool.

What we find works for the kitchen, is to have the AC on in the adjoining room, and the chimney sucking out air over the stove. Not only is it sucking out heat and fumes, it is pulling in relatively cool air through the door. Of course, all windows are closed: it is even hotter outside!

If we were serious about this, we'd put an extractor fan at opposite end of kitchen, so the cooler air would occupy more of the room. If we were really serious, we'd put a split AC, as just suggested.

You can get an idea about how much air that chimney or extractor fan is sucking out (and therefore pulling in) by closing the door. You should feel a resistance to pulling the door shut.

Also... for work other than cooking at the stove, we have a ceiling fan in the kitchen. Unusual, but useful!