12/15/2016
Incredibly, I have fixed the hood fan issue in the kitchen.
I had a few quotes from people to fix it, ranging from $400 to $600. No one had any clue what was wrong.
I finally found the terribly designed, but very, very well informed http://ventahoodparts.weebly.com/ ventahood parts web site.
After a series of emails, with the kitchen hood wizard, Eric, he shipped a new motor and new "sensasource" switch. This, as it turns out, proved to be a massive waste of $90. After installing these parts, the problem persisted!
I figured it was the thermal switch, as it was the only piece of logic in the device. The way the switch works is to increase the speed of the high-speed blower when the surface near the hood is too hot. This switch is a DPST switch, trigged by very high temperature.
The real problem that was that the original switch was incorrectly wired at the factory. Someone had flipped the common and normally-closed pins.
High temperatures would cause the temperature switch to completely disconnect the motor from the circuit, shutting down the 600CFM fan and filling the house with smoke. This has been corrected, and now the hood is fully functional.
So, the next time I serve you steaks on the six-top grill, maybe, just maybe, we're not going to get any fire alarms.
