An extractor hood does one job — pull steam, smoke and greasy air up and away from the pans — and when it stops doing it properly the kitchen tells you within a day. Most call-outs come down to one of four things. Airflow has collapsed because the metal grease filters are loaded solid and, on a recirculating hood, the carbon cartridge behind them stopped absorbing anything a long time ago. The motor has turned loud, droning on the low setting and howling on boost, which is normally worn bearings or an impeller that has worked loose on its shaft and is clipping the blower housing. The lamps have failed, taking the only decent light over the hob with them. Or the touch controls have gone unresponsive, because steam and grease have crept in behind the glass and the panel now reads a permanent press. We work on canopy hoods, chimney hoods, integrated telescopic pull-outs and visor hoods built into a wall unit, ducted and recirculating alike. On the visit the engineer who attends isolates the hood, drops the filters, checks what pull you are actually getting at each speed, and then follows the fault to the motor, the control panel, the lighting or the duct run instead of guessing. Plenty of hoods people had written off turn out to need clean filters and a stuck outlet flap freed. The £80 call-out covers that diagnosis and the labour on most repairs, any part needed is quoted before it is fitted, and the part we fit carries a 3-month guarantee covering that part rather than the whole hood.
£80
call-out charge per visit
Labour is included for most repairs. More extensive or complex jobs may require additional labour, which we always quote and agree with you before starting. Parts are charged separately and always quoted before we fit them.
We are not registered for VAT. The price we quote is the price you pay.
Usually: Airflow has collapsed rather than the motor failing. The metal grease filters are saturated and, on a recirculating hood, the carbon cartridge behind them stopped absorbing anything long ago.
On the visit: We compare the pull at each speed with the filters in place and removed, degrease or renew the mesh, and tell you plainly whether a carbon cartridge is fitted and long overdue.
Usually: Usually dry motor bearings, or an impeller that has loosened on the shaft and is catching the blower housing. Baked-on grease deposited unevenly across the fan throws it out of balance and does the same.
On the visit: We take the blower cover off, feel for play in the shaft, spin the impeller by hand for rub and imbalance, and clean or refit it before anyone starts talking about a new motor.
Usually: Most often the supply. The switched fused spur is usually hidden inside the wall unit above the hood, and the connection there cooks over time with heat and vibration. Sometimes the control board has lost its low-voltage output.
On the visit: We check what voltage is arriving at the hood's connection point, inspect the terminals for scorching and arcing, and test the board's output rails before any part is condemned.
Usually: On older hoods it is a burnt lampholder or a failed halogen capsule. On newer ones it is the LED module or its driver, and those tend to fail as an assembly rather than one lamp at a time.
On the visit: We test for voltage at the holder, check the driver output, and take the full rating-plate number, because hood LED strips and drivers are model-specific and rarely interchangeable.
Usually: Greasy steam has worked in behind the control glass, so the touch panel reads a permanent press. On rocker and slider hoods it is more often pitted, gummed switch contacts.
On the visit: We test every key or switch for response, lift the panel to inspect the ribbon connector and tracks for corrosion, and replace the switch or the panel where the contact has genuinely gone.
Usually: Either it is a recirculating install with a dead carbon cartridge, so nothing is being scrubbed on the way through, or it is ducted and the backdraught flap at the outlet has stuck shut, leaving the air nowhere to go.
On the visit: We establish which install you actually have, check the flap opens and falls back cleanly, and inspect the duct run for crushed flexible hose, excess bends and long horizontal sections.
Usually: The microswitch that senses the pull-out visor is going open circuit, or the runners are so gummed with old grease that the visor never travels far enough to operate it properly.
On the visit: We strip and clean the slides so the visor runs its full travel, test the microswitch for continuity through that travel, and fit a new one where it is no longer making reliably.
3-month guarantee on the part we replace. Any part we replace is guaranteed for 3 months from the date it is fitted. This covers the replaced part only — it is not a warranty on the whole appliance.
Nearly always airflow rather than the motor. Metal grease filters clog until air simply cannot pass through them, and on a recirculating hood the carbon cartridge behind them has usually stopped absorbing anything long before anyone thinks to change it. A crushed length of flexible duct, too many bends, or a backdraught flap stuck shut at the outlet will produce exactly the same complaint. We check the filters, the duct run and the flap before the motor is touched.
It changes it considerably. A ducted hood pushes the air outside through a hose to a wall or roof outlet, so its faults tend to be crushed ducting or a jammed outlet flap. A recirculating hood scrubs the air through a carbon cartridge and returns it to the kitchen, so it lives or dies on that cartridge being fresh. We trace the outlet on the visit and tell you which you have — a surprising number of hoods sold as ducted were never connected to anything at all.
Usually yes, because hood lighting is the part people miss most and its failure rarely means the appliance is finished. Older hoods use halogen capsules in holders that burn at the contacts, and those can often be reterminated on the spot. Newer hoods use an LED module and driver that fail as an assembly, so we take the full rating-plate number and quote the part to you before anything is ordered.
We will give you a straight answer on the visit. If the noise comes from an impeller loose on its shaft, catching the housing, or thrown out of balance by baked-on grease, cleaning and refitting it normally restores the hood to how it sounded when it was new. If the motor bearings themselves have gone dry, the motor is one of the more expensive hood parts, and on a basic canopy hood the sensible answer is often a replacement appliance — we will say so rather than sell you a part you would regret.
The call-out is £80 per visit and covers the diagnosis plus the labour on most hood repairs — freeing a stuck backdraught flap, refitting an impeller, changing a lampholder, fitting a microswitch or swapping a touch panel. Longer jobs, such as dropping a chimney hood off the wall to reach the motor, can need additional labour, which is quoted and agreed with you before it starts. Parts are charged on top and always quoted before fitting, and the part we replace carries a 3-month guarantee covering that part rather than the whole hood. We cover the sixteen districts within four miles of Northolt.