Hey peeps, I moved to a new appartment and my kitchen hood is connected to the same pipe (chimney) as hood from appartment below. The issue is smell coming from our hood when neighbour is cooking.
I was thinking about some kind of sensor (air flow or humidity or smell?) that can detect when neighbour is cooking and then HA would turn on our hood at the lowest speed.
I have no clue what kind of sensor would be suitable. I also need to figure out how to start our hood with HA (hacking with relay or buying some kind of smart kitchen hood is acceptable). Our kitchen hood is just regular Faber with 4 position switch for selecting fan speed.
Anyone have idea how to solve that issue? What sensor would be best for that?
Note that I have already installed 1-way valve (not sure whats the correct english word) and 3 different filters, but still sucks
Edit: I got some things going on, cant replay to all comments today and probbly tomorrow. Thank you all for input, Ill come back asap
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Habe you thought about a mechanical solution, e.g. back pressure flap?
Yeah, I have filter box and back preassure flap, but there might be something better that Im not aware off.
From let to right: filter box, flap, flexible tube
I also fitted carbon and heppa filter in the box
Then I would consider this flap defective, because you are actually experiencing the bad smell.
When your own device isn’t on, the flap should close and it should be (nearly) airtight.
It is nearly airtight IMO and its night and day difference with/without flap. It is easy to inspect how it moves when I remove filters from filter box. Im not excluding anything here tbh
It is insane and hard to believe, but its easy to guess what meal my neighbour is preparing while it looks like there is no flow at all. After long cooking it becomes annoying especially with onnion or fish…
The other appartment installed 2 flaps with no difference… In our building I think all 3rd floor kitchens are connected to 1st floor, also 2nd to 4th floor are connected. 10 appartments on each floor means up to 40 appartments with the same issue. They have installed flaps to anyone who complained and no one is happy with results afaik.
I replaced mine with (probably) better build quality one, but there might exist even better flaps. Do you know any source in Europe for the best quality flaps. We wouldnt mind spending much more money if that can help
Is it common for apartments to have shared extractor ducts? I’ve never heard of a setup like this before, and it sounds like both a pain in the arse and a potential safety issue.
Controlling the kitchen fan is probably the easier bit. Depending on the design of the hood, you might be able to control it with a smart outlet or relay. Turn the hood’s switch to always on and control it with the relay. The difficult bit would be sensing when to turn it on.
Cooking will often produce VOCs, and VOC sensors are easy to obtain, but they are also have other sources that are likely in your own apartment. Maybe try using temperature and humidity sensors int the duct to activate the fan when there is elevated temperature and humidity inside the duct?
Is it common for apartments to have shared extractor ducts?
No, but happens in crap countries like Croatia. Its sad, but I have to deal with it.
Turning on hood with relay like that would make it difficult to use when we are cooking (cant set the speed and need some kind of switch available). I was thinking I should solder relay on lowest speed, but that might cause additional issues.
Temp and humidity might work, but im not completely sure since its quite small amount of air coming trought. I should probably get some sensor and see output
my apartment in the US doesn’t even have a vent to the outside. It just blows the exhaust through a filter and back into the room
The simplest thing would be a pressure or airflow sensor hard-wired to the switch for the hood itself.
Also consider instead of a 1 way valve installing a damper that only opens when your range good is turned on.
Please explain more, both answers sound usefull, but not sure exactly what you mean. What kind of damper? Do you have example pic or link?
Wow links are super usefull, thank you a lot!Damper seems like it could seal way better than a flap, I think Ill contact Fantech
They’re pretty standard parts so don’t feel like you need to go with Fantech in particular, feel a little like I accidentally shilled for them a bit, just happened to be on their website (AFAIK they do make good stuff though). Glad that it helped and best of luck :)
Shove a thermocouple up the duct. When neighbor is cooking it will likely affect the temperature in the duct noticably. Use that as your fan trigger.
I should test if air temperature is high enough after 5-6 m of vertical travel. If you know any device that can do that please link. Unless you are talking about full DIY?
I’m talking full diy. It’s simple enough.
I’d say the probe would just need to be higher than the merge point of the ducts. I can’t imagine that’d be 5m.
You can get k type thermocouples with 2+m cables fairly cheaply. And esphome has a handy guide on how to setup a thermocouple input. https://esphome.io/components/sensor/max6675.html
Thank you
I wouldn’t bother with that, I’d instead look at it from the other point of view and think about fitting something like a simple vent gravity flap to your hood outlet, that is closed when your hood is off, and opens when your hood is on. I.e seals the vent to prevent smells.
Yeah I did that, but didnt help. Got the best one I could find (with rubber seal), but smell is going trought… Is there anything better available?
And it’s fitted properly? Is it completely closed when your neighbour has their extractor on?
Its closed unless my extractor is on! Its also intalled properly (axle in vertical pisition), but there are some tiny gaps around the hinge which obviously cant be sealed. Its fitted properly, with seals and silicon, and then I even duckt taped eveything just to be sure. It was not that bad with flap only, but then I installed filters (carbon + hepa + dust) and it improved even more. But still sucks hard sometimes
I would go around that hinge with a silicone cartridge, trying to close these tiny gaps - but use it sparingly, in order not to block the motion.
I would also look around it’s outside, where it’s mounted, if there are any possible gaps. There you can use the silicone generously.
I would go around that hinge with a silicone cartridge, trying to close these tiny gaps - but use it sparingly, in order not to block the motion.
I dont understand how can I do this without blocking the motion?
look around it’s outside
Rubber seal (on filter side), silicone and duckt tape is what I used to exclude that. There is also no smell in the cabinet so Im quite sure its coming from the hood
My first thought would be an air quality sensor but I’m not sure how sensitive they would be to food smells. I’ve never used one but there are plenty of examples online.
A fallback would be a timer, if you know when your neighbor usually cooks, you could turn your fan on during those times with some buffer.
They are plenty sensitive enough usually. Mine Ikea one definitely knows when we are cooking, even when the hood is on.
Which one do you have? Sounds promissing
This one: https://blakadder.com/vindriktning-tasmota/
But the new one that is ZigBee OOTB is probably better
Can confirm these are very sensitive. Mine is the other side of the house and picks up when we’re cooking
