Appliance repair
Range Hood and Vent Hood Repair in Portland, Oregon
A range hood that will not start, roars, or runs without pulling the smoke away leaves the kitchen full of grease and cooking smells. Mend My Appliance repairs range hoods and vent hoods at home across the Portland metro area: under-cabinet, wall and island hoods, hood inserts and downdraft vents.
Our service is residential: we repair kitchen hoods in homes. The hoods over restaurant cooking lines are commercial equipment with fire-suppression systems of their own, and we do not service them.
Range hood problems we fix
Fan does not run
A switch or a touch control, the control board, the fan motor, its capacitor, or a thermal cutout that has opened. A hood is often wired to its own circuit: check the breaker first.
Fan runs on one speed only
The speed switch or the control board, or on some motors a winding that has failed.
Fan runs but does not pull the smoke away
Grease filters packed solid, a backdraft damper stuck shut, a duct that is crushed or blocked, or an outside cap closed by a nest or by grease. On a recirculating hood, a charcoal filter long past its life.
Loud, rattling or vibrating
A fan wheel caked with grease and out of balance, a loose wheel or blade, motor bearings that are wearing out, or a damper that flaps.
Lights do not work
The bulb or the LED module, its driver, the light switch, or the control board.
Fan comes on by itself
Many hoods start the fan when they sense heat from the cooktop below, and will not let you switch it off until it cools. That is a safety feature. A fan that starts with the cooktop cold points to the heat sensor or the control.
Downdraft vent does not rise or lower
The lift motor, its gears, the switch that stops it at the top, or the control.
Grease dripping from the hood
Filters that are saturated, a grease tray that is full or missing, or grease that has built up inside the hood and its duct.
Repairs we do
- Fan motors, fan wheels and capacitors
- Switches, touch controls and control boards
- Light sockets, LED modules and their drivers
- Backdraft dampers
- Heat sensors and thermal cutouts
- Lift motors and gears of downdraft vents
- Remote and inline blower motors
Types of range hoods we work on
- Under-cabinet range hoods
- Wall-mount chimney hoods
- Island hoods
- Hood inserts and liners inside custom cabinetry
- Downdraft vents behind or between the burners
- Hoods with a remote or inline blower in the attic or on the roof
A range hood that does not pull the smoke away
Most weak hoods are not broken. The grease filters are the first suspect: hold one up to a light, and if you cannot see through it, wash it in hot soapy water or the dishwasher, or replace it. Then go outside while the fan runs on high: the flap of the outside cap should open and you should feel air.
If the filters are clean and no air comes out outside, the damper, the duct or the cap is closed somewhere between them. If air comes out and the kitchen still fills with smoke, the hood may be too small or set too high for the cooktop under it, and a repair will not change that. We tell you which case yours is.
A range hood that has become loud
A hood that was always loud on high is working. A new rattle, grinding or hum usually means grease on the fan wheel, a loose part, or a motor bearing that is wearing out. A grinding motor rarely recovers by itself, and a fan wheel heavy with grease wears the motor faster.
Downdraft vents
A downdraft vent rises out of the counter behind the cooktop, or sits between the burners, and pulls the smoke down and out under the floor or through the cabinet. Its blower, its filters and, on a pop-up vent, the lift motor and gears are repaired like those of any hood.
An over-the-range microwave
A microwave that hangs over the range is the hood of that range too. Its fan and light are repaired as part of the microwave.
How a range hood repair visit works
- Book online: choose the appliance, describe the problem and pick up to three times that suit you.
- We confirm one of your times by phone or text. You are not booked until we do.
- We come to your home, test the range hood and find the cause.
- You get the price before any repair begins. We repair it with your approval; if a part has to be ordered, we come back to fit it.
The diagnostic visit costs $89. If you go ahead with the repair, the $89 is applied toward it; if you decide not to repair, the $89 covers the diagnosis.
Our work and the parts we install carry a 90-day warranty. The terms are printed on your invoice.
Range hood brands we repair
Samsung, LG, Whirlpool, GE, Frigidaire, Maytag, KitchenAid, Bosch, Electrolux, Wolf, Viking, Miele, Monogram, Thermador, JennAir, GE Profile, Café, Fisher & Paykel, Dacor, Asko, Bertazzoni, Smeg, Gaggenau and BlueStar. If your brand is not in the list, ask: most range hoods share their parts and their faults.
Before the visit
- Wash or replace the grease filters: a clogged filter is the most common cause of a hood that does not pull.
- Check the breaker: many hoods are wired to a circuit of their own.
- Look at the outside cap while the fan runs: the flap should open.
- Have the model number ready: on most hoods it is on a label behind the grease filters.
Where we work
We come to homes across the Portland metro area in Oregon, among them Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Tigard, Tualatin and Lake Oswego. Enter your ZIP code when you book and the form checks it right away.
Repair the range hood or replace it?
It depends on the age of the range hood, the cost of the part and what a comparable new one costs. After the diagnosis you have the numbers for your machine, and the decision is yours.
Book a range hood repair
Tell us what is wrong and pick the times that suit you. We confirm your visit by phone or text.