Automatic follows the operating system setting. Light and dark override it and are remembered in this browser.
Symptom guide / range hood
The range hood runs but does not clear the air
A range hood has fewer moving parts than anything else in the kitchen, which is why most complaints about one are not a failed part: the filter, the damper and the question of whether it is ducted at all come first. A grease filter that has stopped passing air is where 1 of the 6 causes on this page gets settled without buying anything — about 20 minutes, no part needed [S1]. On a range hood the complaint is the range hood runs but does not clear the air, and it arrives in these words: the hood runs but the steam stays in the kitchen, it rattles or vibrates when the fan is on, the fan is dead but the light works, the flap outside never opens or it has always been weak, since the kitchen was done. Parts only come into it once those are ruled out: the completed repairs behind this symptom run $99–$850 [S1], against a replacement from $300.
What the fault looks like
Fig. RANGE HOOD - NOT PULLING
What each fix costs
Cause
Cost
Time
DIY?
a grease filter that has stopped passing air
no part needed
20 min
easy
a failed backdraft damper
not priced
60 min
moderate
filter type fighting the installation: charcoal in a recirculating hood
not priced
15 min
easy
failed blower motor or blower wheel
$300–$850 installed
150 min
advanced
the hood is recirculating when it should be ducted
$650–$2,500 installed
240 min
moderate
undersized duct, or a run that breaks the code it was installed under
$650–$2,500 installed
300 min
pro
A technician visit starts with a diagnostic fee of $99 [S1]. Completed repairs run $99–$850 [S1].
the flap outside never opensthe hood runs but the steam stays in the kitchen
The most common answer to a hood that sounds like it is working and moves nothing: the damper at the wall or roof termination is stuck shut or has lost its flap, so the blower is pressurising a closed pipe. The source's honest note about its own data matters here - across 65,924 completed jobs its records contain range hoods six times, and it says outright that a median built on six jobs would read as authoritative and mean nothing. It prices the visit and the diagnosis instead, and describes the damper as a small part whose cost is access.
the source prices this as diagnostic-first and describes the part as small with most of the cost in reaching it: it publishes no figure because its own sample of range hood work is six jobs out of 65,924 and it refuses to build a median on that
the hood is recirculating when it should be ducted [S1]
medium likelihoodmoderate$650–$2,500 installedabout 240 min
it has always been weak, since the kitchen was donethe hood runs but the steam stays in the kitchen
The question the source says decides everything about a hood, and the one that explains a complaint that has existed since the kitchen was built. A recirculating hood pulls air through a charcoal filter and blows it back into the room; no amount of repair makes it behave like a ducted one, and a ducted hood that was never connected to a duct behaves the same way. The tell is where the air goes when the fan runs, and the cost of changing the answer is installation work, not a part - which is why the source prints the national installation range beside the replacement range.
no figure is published for this because it is an installation decision rather than a part: the source quotes national 2026 figures for a new installation including ductwork at $650-2,500 against $300-850 for replacing a hood like for like with the existing duct reused
medium likelihoodadvanced$300–$850 installedabout 150 min
it rattles or vibrates when the fan is onthe fan is dead but the light works
The expensive end, and the reason the source calls the blower the largest part in the appliance: a wheel that has collected grease goes out of balance and shakes the whole hood, and a motor that has been running against a blocked filter or a closed damper eventually stops. The distinction worth having is in the two variants - a hood that rattles is usually still working, and a hood whose fan is dead while the light works has a fault isolated to the blower circuit rather than the supply.
the source describes the blower as the largest part in the appliance with labour overhead, and prices it as diagnostic-first; its published national comparison is a like-for-like hood replacement at $300-850 with the existing duct reused
undersized duct, or a run that breaks the code it was installed under [S1]
medium likelihoodpro$650–$2,500 installedabout 300 min
it has always been weak, since the kitchen was donethe flap outside never opens
The cause that explains a hood which has never worked and cannot be repaired into working: ducts that are too small, runs that are too long, too many elbows or a termination that is not a termination at all. The source anchors this in the code rather than in opinion - IRC M1503 and ASHRAE 62.2 set what the run has to do - and its own framing is that most hood complaints are not a failed part at all. This is the one entry on the page where the honest advice is that the appliance is fine and the installation is not.
no part price applies: the source covers the requirement rather than the repair, citing IRC M1503 and ASHRAE 62.2, and prices the work as installation ($650-2,500 including running ductwork)
Repair or replace?
The verdict
Work the free checks before anything is priced, because the source's own framing is that most hood complaints are not a failed part: clean the grease filter, look at whether the damper opens, and confirm whether the hood is ducted or recirculating. If those are all right, the fault is in the blower or the control, and the honest comparison becomes $300-850 to replace the hood like for like against a repair whose price the publisher will not even estimate from its own data. Where the run itself is undersized or was never connected, the appliance is not the problem and replacing it will not help. [S1]
The page behind this record publishes no median and no count for the appliance at all, in its own words: across 65,924 completed jobs in its records range hoods appear six times, and it will not publish a median built on six jobs because a figure like that would read as authoritative and mean nothing. That refusal is the reason there is no count on this page, and the record quotes it rather than treating it as a gap to fill. What the publisher does print is its own $99 diagnostic visit applied to the repair, a part table in which every row is marked diagnostic first rather than priced by part, and the national replacement and installation figures it quotes from another publisher - $300 to $850 for a like-for-like replacement with the existing duct reused and $650 to $2,500 for a new installation including running duct - which are named as that publisher's and are never presented as counts or as this publisher's median. The six jobs are a published count for the whole appliance, but they are not a denominator for any cause on this page, because the source attaches no per-cause count and publishes no median from them. 2026-11-01-en eloi meressel (S1: https://bozmanfix.com/range-hood-repair/, HTTP 200, 81290 B) megeroesult: a forras tovabbra sem publikál mediánt range hood-okhoz — hat befejezett munka szerepel a teljes adatbázisban (65 924-ből), okonként nincs darabszám, és a forras kifejezetten elutasítja bármelyik medián számolást erre a mintára; a $99 diagnosztikai díj és a diagnostic-first sorok a forras saját árlistája, a HomeGuide 2026 nacional tartományok ($300–850, $650–2 500) nem per-ok mediánok.
The comparison is unusual on this appliance: a repair and a like-for-like replacement are close enough that the replacement prices are the only reliable figures published, and the difference between $300-850 and $650-2,500 is whether the existing duct can be reused. That is why the first question is not what failed but what the hood is connected to.
no lifespan is published by the source for this appliance, and none is claimed here; the 15-year figure used across this site's kitchen appliance pages is the nearest published comparison, and the decision on a range hood turns on installation rather than on age - a hood that is ducted and sized correctly outlasts several kitchens
Have a quote?
Put your quote and the age of the unit into the calculator — the same half-of-new-price rule, with your own numbers.
the hood runs but the steam stays in the kitchenit has always been weak, since the kitchen was done
The first thing to check and the one the source treats as maintenance rather than repair: the grease filter sits directly in the air path, and a filter that has been left in a dishwasher cycle too many times, or never cleaned, stops passing what the blower is trying to move. The source lists grease filters as a washable maintenance item with no service call attached, which is its way of saying that a weak hood with a clean filter is the point at which the diagnosis starts.
filter type fighting the installation: charcoal in a recirculating hood [S1]
medium likelihoodeasynot pricedabout 15 min
it has always been weak, since the kitchen was done
The cheap half of the previous cause, and the one that gets bought by mistake: a charcoal filter is for recirculating hoods and does nothing useful in a ducted one, where it simply adds resistance to the air path. In a recirculating hood it is the part that stops odours and it is not washable - the source lists it as a replacement item for exactly that reason. A hood that smells of last night's cooking but moves air is usually this; a hood that moves no air is usually not.
a replacement item rather than a repair: the source lists the charcoal filter as a maintenance part that is not washable and attaches no service price to it
Sources
[S1]Bozmanfix (field guide with a national price comparison; page published September 2026) (2026-09). the refusal to publish a median on six jobs out of 65,924 and the reasoning behind it, the $99 applied diagnostic, the diagnostic-first part table (grease filters as washable maintenance, the charcoal filter as a non-washable replacement item for recirculating hoods, the backdraft damper as a small part whose cost is access, the control switch or keypad with brand-dependent part cost, the blower motor or wheel as the largest part with overhead labour), the ducted-versus-recirculating question as the one that decides everything, the IRC M1503 and ASHRAE 62.2 requirements, and the national 2026 figures it quotes - $300-850 for a like-for-like replacement with the existing duct reused and $650-2,500 for a new installation including ductwork
Last verified: 2026-11-01. Prices are US market figures from the sources above; your quote may differ.
Built from a fact record, not from a template: every number above is tied to one of the sources and the record is re-checked against them. Editorial choices (which symptom leads, which cause is the single tell) are kept in a separate block so the facts stay auditable.
Quick answers
How much does it cost to fix a range hood with this problem?
Completed repairs run $99–$850 according to the sources cited on this page, after a diagnostic fee of $99.
How long does a range hood last?
The decision rule used on this page works from a planning life of 15 years.
Repair or replace?
Work the free checks before anything is priced, because the source's own framing is that most hood complaints are not a failed part: clean the grease filter, look at whether the damper opens, and confirm whether the hood is ducted or recirculating. If those are all right, the fault is in the blower or the control, and the honest comparison becomes $300-850 to replace the hood like for like against a repair whose price the publisher will not even estimate from its own data. Where the run itself is undersized or was never connected, the appliance is not the problem and replacing it will not help.
