A range hood is not required in the kitchen of a site-built house unless an open-top broiler is installed, according to both the Residential Edition of the Florida Building Code (FBC)  and International Residential Code (IRC). However, if you do install a range hood in a kitchen, it must exhaust to the exterior (not allowed to terminate in attic or crawl space).

    One exception is allowed when a range hood is specifically designed to be ductless (listed and labeled), which many are today. It is not required to discharge to the outdoors as long as the kitchen has some other form of mechanical or natural ventilation. (M1505.1 and M1503).

    Any kitchen exhaust fan must meet the minimum requirement of the table at 1507.4 of 50 com for a switched fan or 20 cfm for a continuous one. 

    Mobile/manufactured homes, however, are required by HUD to have a kitchen exhaust fan that provides a minimum of 100 cfm. It can be either a through-the-wall exhaust type or range hood that discharges to the exterior. See our blog post What are the exhaust fan requirements for a mobile home kitchen? for more on this.

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  To learn more about heating and air conditioning systems, see these other blog posts:

• How can I find out the SEER of my air conditioner? 

• My air conditioner won't turn on. What's wrong? 

• How can I find out the size of my air conditioner? 

• How can I find out the age of my air conditioner or furnace?

• How can I tell whether the condenser (outdoor unit) is an air conditioner or heat pump? 

• Where is the air filter for my central air conditioner and furnace? I can’t find it? 

• Does an old air conditioner use more electricity as it ages? 

• How did homes stay cool in Florida before air conditioning?

• What is wrong with an air conditioner when the air flow out of the vents is low?

• Why has the thermostat screen gone blank? 

• Why does it take so long to cool a house when an air conditioner has been off for a while? 

• Why is my air conditioner not cooling enough? 

• What are the most common problems with wall/window air conditioners?  

• Will closing doors reduce my heating and cooling costs? 

    Visit our HEATING AND AIR CONDITIONING page for other related blog posts on this subject, or go to the INDEX for a complete listing of all our articles.