My Prizer Pro-Line does that occasionally, basically means I need to clean it better. You have to get way into the corners when the baffles are out to get all the grease out. I'm amazed at how much gets in there. Going from a coil e-range w/a OTR hood to a Blue Star w/a 1200 cfm hood is an eye opener especially w/the amount of effluent created and captured. I rarely ever cleaned my old mesh screen, now I have to do the whole hood about every 6 weeks or it'll start dripping oil onto the counter. I put wadded up pieces of paper towel in all the corners of the hood and replace them when I clean it. Nice part is I just put the baffles in the DW but there are a lot of channels and hidden areas in the hood that oil will accumulate in and it takes about an hour to get it all wiped out. Getting all the grease out of the channels takes a little effort and some folded up paper towels to get into them good. A lot of people on here, including me, hadn't really thought about a hood as a major appliance until they start to look into it a bit. When your spending a third of the cost of the range on a hood it starts feeling like a major appliance and like your other major appliances it requires care and maintenance. Once I started seeing it like that spending an hour every few weeks on it doesn't seem like an issue (especially considering it is probably the dirtiest appliance in the kitchen)

Ideally, the filter (baffles) would filter out all of the grease particles that would condense in the path above them, and all of the others would be expelled. This cannot be done by a single filter design that also flows well. Having ducting that is smooth, hood interior that is smooth, and hood to ducting transitions that are smooth will minimize the condensation of particles not removed by the baffles. There is also the question of what is the best air velocity in any circumstance, which depends on the temperature of the ducting.

Given an existing configuration, Mistman's suggestions are about all one can do so long as the flow rate of the air through the ducting is high enough when the effluent being moved is greasy. In other words, using just just enough air flow (fan power) to capture and contain the visible steam may not be high enough to keep grease particles from condensing on surfaces within the hood.

kas

All you need to do is to turn your cooktop on full for ten minutes or so with no pans on the top, this will liquify the grease in all the crevices, then as stated above do the best you can to soak up as much as possible with absorbent paper towels.

Liquified grease will always find the lowest point of the hood so focus your attention where the drip is.

After this make sure you put your baffles in the dishwasher more often. if you clean your baffles more often this will prevent further drip issues, at some point in time the drip will cease appear in the corner

Marti8a
I am so glad you posted this. After reading your problem, (and knowing the baffles needed a good wash), I took them out and then sat on the range under the hood and looked around. All of the surfaces were oily and there was liquid oil in a trough at the very bottom and back of the hood. I cleaned it out, but it was really hard to get to it.

If your configuration is like mine, with the baffles out, you need to put your finger on the very back of the hood, then run it down into the small slot that lets you get down to the bottom of the hood. I managed to get paper towels in there and mop up the grease.

I have no idea how long it would have taken me to realize it was there. I have had and used the hood for perhaps 3 years.

I will be darn sure, as Trevor said, to wash the baffles more often. And when there is greasy effluent, I will run the fan on high (usually do anyway) to blow as much out of the house as possible.

On my Wolf Hood, it seems the grease trays don't catch the majority of the grease, rather the baffles do. I've studied their insertion on video multiple times to make sure I have them installed correctly too. Slightly disappointed with the trays function.

Most residential hoods, like the Wolf, use fairly shallow baffle angles, whereas commercial hoods are required to use steep angles to assure grease collection in the drain cup. On the other hand, given the need to wash the baffles anyway, and the ability to do so in a dishwasher, having all the grease drain to the edge sheet metal (on the Wolf) and possibly off of the ends where it could drip is even less appealing to me, so I have no complaint about that "feature." I think many residential users would object to having a dangling grease cup in their field of view.

kas

trevorlawson, I'll do that. When I took out the baffles, 7-10 days ago I guess, neither they nor the trough seemed to have more than just a light film of grease. I cleaned everything I could reach, but the next time I used the vent, it dripped again. I bet there was some grease out of my reach that made it's way down to the corner.

Mistman, I'll also put the paper towel in the corners between cleanings. That is a great idea.

I actually wondered if a piece was missing, or something had gotten out of alignment to make grease run to a corner where it should be able to get to from the baffles or trough. But it could run down from a higher place.

Thanks for all your responses.

Mistman,

Thanks for the post. I had the same drip problem, but, when my hood was installed it was not level but slightly tipped forward so the grease was dripping from the front left of the hood. It makes sense to put the baffles in the DW weekly. I clean out the rangetop weekly, so I can just add some additional time for the hood.

My ModernAire drips from the back corners sometimes too. I put the baffles in the dishwasher every two weeks. I have found that I can avoid the drips on the counter if every few days or so I run a paper towel along the edge of the hood bottom from back to front. I usually end up with a bunch of grease on the paper towel. I'm glad to see it because I have proof of what is not escaping into my kitchen!

I'm resurrecting this thread as I'm new to "real" ventilation and it's close to the question I have. We just replaced a lightly used Zephyr insert (too loud to tolerate) with a Wolf liner and roof-mounted blower. The Zephyr had a removable grease tray all along the back where the baffles rest, but the Wolf has . . . nothing. The baffles just sit on a flat ledge. The manual mentions grease cups but says they're not included on liners. So, where does the grease go? Will it start dripping off of the little ledge? And does gunk end up coating the entire inside of the hood, or if I run the fan high enough will things stay clean? I was thrilled with how quiet this new setup is, but on first impression it looks like Zephyr had an easier-to-clean grease entrapment plan.

"So where does the grease go?" The short answer is wherever gravity lets it flow.

I'm surprised at Wolf for not including the ledge trays that collect grease that migrates from the baffles unless your liner design has the baffle assemblies level instead of tilted. In that case, the grease will fill up in the lower baffle part. This should be a slow process.

Some grease will attach to the hood interior and to the ducting to the roof. The rest is expelled.

The grease particles are of various sizes, described as a spectrum. The larger particles are easiest to remove with the baffles, and the smaller particles tend to be expelled. Intermediate particles are partly captured by the baffles, partly by the ducting, and partly expelled.

Capture of grease particles by the baffles is by centrifugal impingement as the air and entrained plume are moved along an "S" shaped path past the baffles. This process expects some minimum air velocity to achieve the effectiveness intended by the designer. This is likely close to the nominal 90 ft/min at the hood entrance aperture needed to assure containment of the rising effluent. Hence, greasy effluent is best treated by operating nearer to full blower speed than minimal for containment blower speed. Noise and MUA heating needs may cause one to tend toward lower speeds and thus require more frequent cleaning of the inner reaches of the hood.

kas

Thanks! I didn't have a problem and I didn't know about using the dishwasher to clean the baffles. None the less, they are getting cleaned right now.

I should add that my Wolf Pro Island hood (actually manufactured by Independent ca. 2007) has catch trays on the ledges, but these are quite shallow, capacity wise, so one wouldn't want to let grease build up very much without cleaning them.

Kaseki hits the nail right on the head. Clean the baffles more often and it wont happen.

I am guilty of not listening to my own advise in our cooking school. But then nobody ever said I was very bright ..........lol

AvatarWalt Which Zephyr insert did you have? Was it the Monsoon? I'm considering that one, so any insight would be useful, including whether you thought the grease trays were helpful. Thanks.