Any regulation regarding the minimum clearance of a range hood vent to the neighbor?

[Philip Chu]

Hi,

I live in attached house in Queens, NY and my neighbor has installed a 500 cfm range hood with a vent pointing at my back door. The distant between my door and vent is about 15 feet. If I left my door open when they are cooking, the cooking exhaust will fill up my house. We all know cooking fume is harmful to human health.

Is there regulation regarding the minimum clearance between a range hood vent and closet dwelling unit? Any help is appreciated.

Happy Holidays!

Philip

[Scott Patterson]

Hi,

I live in attached house in Queens, NY and my neighbor has installed a 500 cfm range hood with a vent pointing at my back door. The distant between my door and vent is about 15 feet. If I left my door open when they are cooking, the cooking exhaust will fill up my house. We all know cooking fume is harmful to human health.

Is there regulation regarding the minimum clearance between a range hood vent and closet dwelling unit? Any help is appreciated.

Happy Holidays!

Philip

You would have to check with your local codes department. Most likely they will not have anything that will cover it.

I never knew cooking fumes were hazardous, except when my wife is in the kitchen! :)

Have you tried talking to your neighbor? If that did not go over very well then you always have the legal system! :)

[Billy Stephens]

Welcome Philip,

I agree the best way is to talk with your Neighbor and try to come to an amiable agreement .

Here anything a Judge deems that denies you the use and enjoyment of your property can be deemed a Public Nuisance .The Judge will write a decree both sides have to follow under Penalty of his Court.

Working it out between yourselves is preferable.
.

[Dan Harris]

I never knew cooking fumes were hazardous, except when my wife is in the kitchen! :)

:)

I showed this to my wife, her comment, if you said that about my cooking , I just won't cook any more, and it will dinner out every day :D

[Raymond Wand]

The only problem is someones idea of objectionable cooking odours may not be to someone else.

Also factor is the distance from discharge to the other house, there may be enough dilution of the odours that are not necessarily objectionable.

Its a subjective subject, not sure how one would quantify the odour.

[Jerry Peck]

From the 2007 NY mechanical code:
- 501.2 Outdoor discharge. The air removed by every mechanical exhaust system shall be discharged outdoors at a point where it will not cause a nuisance and from which it cannot again be readily drawn in by a ventilating system. Air shall not be exhausted into an attic or crawlspace.
- - Exceptions:
- - - 1. Whole-house ventilation-type attic fans that discharge into the attic space of dwelling units having private attics.
- - - 2. Commercial cooking recirculating systems.

I am not sure if that is the current code for you or not, but that is a place to start.

When did your neighbor install that vent? That establishes a specific time, then contact your local AHJ (local building department) and find out what code was in effect at that time and what it allowed/prohibited.

[Markus Keller]

As others have mentioned, it would obviously be best if you could work this out with the neighbor. If not, consider contacting the building dept. Around here this would come either under building codes or zoning code depending on property line conditions.
If the neighbor just installed this unit, did they also remodel the kitchen. If so, did they have a permit? Helping the neighbor realize that moving the exhaust would be far cheaper than dealing with the city on an non-permit kitchen remodel might get you some relief.

[Philip Chu]

Hi,

Thank you all for your response especially ones from Jerry and Markus. I did talk my neighbor about it but he just said he will try to find a vent that will change the direction of the discharge and that was 3 months ago. So I guess diplomacy didn't work and I will my case to the building department. Thanks Jerry for pointing out that NY mechanical code from 2007.

I got the feeling that some readers think I'm fussing over nothing, but a 500 cfm range hood is very powerful so it's capable of blowing cooking exhaust unabated right into my door which is only 15 ft away.

My neighbor didn't have a permit when they did the renovation and I know they definitely violated some building codes because the size of only window in the kitchen has been reduced to 1/5 of the original size.

Again I would like to thank all the guys who read and responded to my thread.

Happy Holidays

Philip

[Garry Sorrells]

Phill,
It is not a priority to your neighbor. You should look for a way to modify his system and then present it to him (you do the leg work).

Then offer to pay for the alterations.