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How To Keep Your Home Cool By Utilizing Your Kitchen's Vent Hood
By MORGAN MCCRORY
Vent or range hoods keep the air fresh and free of smoke or grease while cooking, but they can also be helpful on hot summer days when it feels like the kitchen won't cool.
Using a vent hood as a cooling aid will only work with a ducted version, which collects fumes and then vents them outside the home via a wall or ceiling duct.
A range hood's power can only extend to the cooking area, but every bit helps when the temperature outside is high enough to serve as an outdoor cooktop.
The hood's ability to cool a room depends on its CFM capacity, or how many cubic feet of air can be exhausted in one minute when turned to its highest speed.
The higher the CFM, the more hot air it can expel, but most models aren't designed for prolonged usage and shouldn't be left on for more than an hour or two at a low speed.