The kitchen is the only place in any home where the gas pollution and the content of impurities are always higher than in other rooms, because a stove is installed here and cooking is done daily. To ensure that the air is fresh, standard ventilation is not enough - you need to install a modern device such as an exhaust hood or air cleaner.
The first product is familiar to any housewife, it is installed above the stove and displays all products of combustion or fumes, as well as smells from the prepared food to the outside. But the second device, with a more complex design, is still little known to users. To fill in the gaps in information, as well as to find out how these devices differ, we strongly recommend reading this article.
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Differences in purpose
Hoods are placed above the cooking surface of the stove, they are connected to the standard ventilation system of the building or are discharged through the wall to the outside to effectively and without interference remove contaminated air from the room. There are two main types of their work:
- Removal of exhaust air masses.
- Recirculation mode - air is cleaned with special filters, and then it comes back.
The second option is much more expensive than a simple hood, since expensive carbon filters or grease traps are installed.
The air cleaner for the kitchen works only in recirculation mode, passing air through fine filters: coal, HEPA or photocatalytic, but does not take it outside the apartment. Many users incorrectly call the second type of filter - High Efficiency Particulate Arresting, literally translated as a high-performance dispersed cleaner.
This product can be used to clean the air of any room, it does not require complicated installation, when compared with a hood for the kitchen, in addition, humidifiers, ionizers and ozonizers can be installed in its design for better cleaning of air masses.
The main differences
The hood is used as an air purifier and is installed in the kitchen above the stove in order to effectively remove the smells of cooked food and combustion products from the room (only for gas stoves). This is its purpose and the main difference from any household air purifier.
All types of hoods have approximately the same design, only umbrellas for capturing air masses are made of different types, some models are equipped with LED lights, they differ in fan power, which is directly related to the layout and volume of the kitchen. Powerful exhaust systems are soundproofed to reduce the negative impact on others.
In contrast to the hood, the air purifier is a multifunctional product designed to clean the air of any room and does not require separate installation, they are highly mobile.
Their power depends on the volume of the room where users decided to install it, the placement can be desktop - small-sized models or floor-mounted version for large-sized devices. Some types of cleaners work on the principle of hydrofiltration.
Principle of operation
The tasks facing the products are the same, but in order to finally know all the differences between them, you need to study the principle of operation of each unit. We already know that all kitchen air cleaners, such as hoods, operate in two modes: exhaust and recirculation. In the first case, the exhaust air masses are removed from the kitchen through ventilation ducts, and in the second case, they pass through the filters and, after being cleaned, are returned.
Today, manufacturers produce a kitchen air purifier in the form of a thin screen of an original design, located behind the hob. He draws in all the smells, steam and the smallest drops of fat from the prepared food, filters them and returns them back through the special blinds. He moves out of the countertop only during the cooking process.
Air cleaners can work in any living room, but the principle of their functioning is the same - air recirculation. Such products have many varieties:
- Photocatalytic.
- Based on carbon filter.
- Using HEPA filtering.
- Ionizers and ozonizers.
- Humidifiers.
- Washing the air masses.
They are installed where their presence is necessary, without any restrictions, and high mobility allows, if necessary, to freely move them around the apartment.
The functional capabilities of the products are multifaceted: they clean the air that we breathe from the presence of extraneous inclusions of not only organic but also chemical composition, as well as allergic agents, turn dry air into a comfortable microclimate by actively moisturizing and ionizing, and are suitable for people suffering from asthma and allergies.
Advantages and disadvantages
Exhaust systems are quite simple in design and do not require complex installation, as well as secondary material costs, but there are also disadvantages:
- low efficiency;
- noise impact;
- apply only in the kitchen;
- filters require periodic cleaning or replacement.
Air purifiers for use in the kitchen have the following advantages:
- Quite a large lineup.
- The installation option is unlimited.
- Purify the air of toxic substances.
- Filtration has a fairly high efficiency.
- Simple operation.
- No installation of additional structures is required to remove air outside the premises.
- Silent work.
- Affordable price.
Minuses:
- high-quality hydration requires continuous operation;
- particles less than 10 microns are not captured;
- fine filters must be changed periodically;
- powerful products have large dimensions.
These devices are able to humidify the air, after their use they breathe easily, the smell of ozone appears, as after a past thunderstorm. Products will be useful to people who often have acute respiratory infections, but in order not to harm their health, it is important to choose the right capacity, follow all the manufacturer's recommendations and carry out maintenance on time.
What's better
These varieties of household appliances purify the air, but their methods are quite different, so no one can tell exactly which option is better. To achieve maximum cleaning of the entire apartment or your own house, you need to combine both options: use an exhaust air purifier for installation in the kitchen, and an air purifier in living rooms.
The combined action will allow for effective cleaning: the hood will remove all unpleasant odors, smallest droplets of fat and tobacco smoke from the kitchen, if there are lovers of smoke, and the air purifier will clean the living quarters from dust, harmful trace elements and create a microclimate with the humidity necessary for a healthy lifestyle.
