Cooker hood vent banging in the wind – sleepless nights :-(

[jonnykerm]

There is an alley between mine and my neighbours house which is a bit of a wind trap, and my cooked hood vents into that alley, and bangs constantly in the night when it's windy. I put a cowl over it but the wind still passes the cowl and bangs the hinged flap. Does anyone have any smart ideas on how to stop it?

Sleepless nights because of this so any quick help much appreciated.

Thank you.

[Simpo Two]

Remove the hinged flap?

[VX Foxy]

Turn the flap through 180 degrees.

[jonnykerm]

I can't remove it as the wind just blows down the vent straight to the hood and makes the flap in the hood bang.

I can't flip the flap 180 because it's hinged at the top? I'd have to turn the whole cowl upsidedown.

[VX Foxy]

What kind of vent is it?
If it's like this http://www.screwfix.com/p/manrose-cowl-vent-brown-... the cowl clips off so you can turn the flap around.

Edited by VX Foxy on Thursday 22 October 11:26

[jonnykerm]

Similar, it's this one http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Electrical/d190/Ve...

[hornetrider]

Glue something soft and flexible inside to absorb the banging? Something like a shoe brush or a sponge scourer?

Disclaimer: I don't understand how that flap moves and the mechanism of the banging

[jonnykerm]

I think the wind passes the bottom of the cowl and creates a bit of a vacuum and the flap gets sucked outwards? Or wind is getting under the edges of the flap and forcing it out, very irritating. Wind is still getting in and banging the flap in the back of the cooker hood too.

The joys of living up high in Scotland!

[Simpo Two]

Does the wind come from a regular direction? That cowl looks to have a square base - maybe turn it sideways? There must be some way you can physically screen it.

[jonnykerm]

I'd way 90% of the time the wind comes from the same direction yes. I'm not really sure what I could attached to the bottom of it to block the wind from that direction. Good point though.

[PAULJ5555]

I got the same vent on my cooker hood and yes it flaps open and bangs but its not too bad, one night when there was a storm I went outside and shoved a tea towel in there to stop it.

Don't want to hold it open as bees, wasps, flies, spiders, birds ect. will get in, not sure if a louvered open vent will work I had one on a tumble dryer vent, it had a fine bug mesh but it kept getting blocked by lint from the dryer, I assume the same will happen with greace attaching to it and then other cr@p sticking to it.

I share you pain OP.

[LeadFarmer]

I once had a similar problem and solved it by sticking a small blob of blu-tack on the vent, so that the flap would close onto this instead.

[Basil Brush]

Can you put one of these in line somewhere and take the flap out of the cowl.

http://www.ductstore.co.uk/acatalog/Non-return_Dam...

[VX Foxy]

Well all I can say is that my flap stopped banging when I turned it around...

[Jockman]

hornetrider said:

Glue something soft and flexible inside to absorb the banging? Something like a shoe brush or a sponge scourer?

Disclaimer: I don't understand how that flap moves and the mechanism of the banging

Exactly what I did with draught excluder foam tape. Absorbs all sound when attached to the inside of the flap and the outer edge of the vent itself.

[jonnykerm]

That's OK to stop the external flap making noise, but what about the wind getting down there in the first place and making the cooker hoods own flap bang?

[Simpo Two]

Stick some foam on that too!

[jonnykerm]

Foam all round it is!

[chimp427]

Try sticking a weight to it such as a washer or coin, just test it to see if the cooker hood can open it before final fixing.

[LeoZwalf]

I was going to suggest getting a lightly spring loaded flap. Enough to keep it closed during windy times but weak enough that the extractor can push it open when in use. (Had given it some thought as ours can make a bit of noise when windy, which is often here). Then this clever chap piped up and it seems a much easier solution - thanks Chimp427 I might just give this a try

chimp427 said:

Try sticking a weight to it such as a washer or coin, just test it to see if the cooker hood can open it before final fixing.