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Kitchen Ceiling Fan To outside -Neighbour complaining of cooking smell

Posted by Russ Morris, on Thu 01 Aug 2013 07:39pm

Hi. I have a ceiling fan in the kitchen ceiling that extracts to the outside. My neighbour is complaining that she can smell my cooking, and that the fan must be broken. I have checked the fan, and the pipe to the outside is fan, and the fan is operating normally. My neighbour is claiming I need to get an 'experts opinion' on the fan, as she seems to think it's a more complex piece of kit than it really is. If I get an electrician, they can only really check the power consumption and that the fan is spinning at the correct speed (which it is). Other than that, it's just a pipe. I don't want to spend money getting someone to check what I've done, and we've checked everything we can (holes, gaps etc) and there is nothing. Any suggestions on what else can be done? Because I really don't think there is anything.

Chris Plastow

Thu 01 Aug 2013 08:00pm

If one can temporally block off the outside vent and simultaneously place a tissue paper to the fan inlet in the kitchen, two things can happen, 1) the possum falls to one floor indicating there are no leaks in the ducting pipe or the fan will hold the tissue , indicating that the ducting is leaking. This is a very unscientific test but it can give you am indication of what's going on. Alternatively, one day you cooked something that brought your fan to the neighbour's attention and from then on they were sensortised to it ! Good luck.

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