Extractor Fan Replacement: When to Fix, Replace, or Upgrade Your Kitchen Ventilation

When your extractor fan, a device designed to remove steam, smoke, and odors from your kitchen by venting air outside. Also known as range hood, it's not just about keeping your kitchen smelling clean—it’s about protecting your home from hidden damage. A failing extractor fan doesn’t just make cooking unpleasant. It lets moisture linger, which leads to mold on walls, peeling paint, and even rot in your ceiling or cabinetry. If you’ve noticed damp patches near your stove or a constant fog on your windows after cooking, your fan isn’t just broken—it’s costing you more than you think.

Many people try to fix a noisy or slow extractor fan by cleaning the filter or unblocking the duct, and that’s smart—duct cleaning, the process of removing grease, dust, and debris from the ventilation pipe that leads from your fan to the outside can restore airflow and cut noise. But if the motor’s grinding, the fan won’t spin up, or it turns off randomly, replacement is usually cheaper than repeated repairs. The average kitchen extractor fan, a wall- or ceiling-mounted unit designed to extract air from cooking areas lasts 8 to 12 years. If yours is older than that and showing signs of wear, buying a new one with better energy efficiency and quieter operation makes more sense than patching it up.

It’s not just about the fan itself. Poor ventilation affects indoor air quality, increases your heating bills (because damp air holds heat poorly), and can even trigger allergies. A good replacement fan doesn’t just suck air out—it pulls it efficiently, uses less electricity, and often comes with built-in lighting and timers. You don’t need the most expensive model, but you do need one sized right for your kitchen and vented properly to the outside—not just into your loft or attic. Many DIYers skip this step, thinking any fan will do, and end up with a unit that just recirculates grease and smells.

Below, you’ll find real repair stories from Taunton homeowners who faced the same choice: fix it again, or replace it for good. Some saved money by cleaning their ducts. Others avoided bigger problems by replacing their fan before mold took over their kitchen. Whether you’re dealing with a rattling unit, a fan that won’t turn on, or just tired of the smell sticking to your clothes, the posts here give you the facts—no fluff, no upsells, just what actually works.