Range Hoods

Many people enjoy the brilliance and clarity of LED lighting. It is tempting to want to replace the incandescent or halogen bulbs in your range hood with LEDs. At Broan, we recommend that you use only the type of bulb recommended for your range hood. Please note that using replacement LED bulbs in Broan does not void the warranty of the range hood. However we cannot guarantee the operation of the LED bulbs. There are several reasons for this. The following points relate to replacement situations. LED replacement bulbs found at retail or on-line typically have an ambient air temperature limit of 45 degrees C or less. During cooking, the air under a range hood can be elevated to 70-80 degrees C. This higher temperature will compromise the life of the LED. Eventually it will fail, and this may happen in as little as two weeks. The elevated temperature experienced during cooking will result in a degradation of replacement LED light level. Testing has shown the light will become dimmer and some LED bulbs lose up to 50% of stated output. In some cases, the bulb will not recover even after it cools off and is permanently degraded.

Current LED replacement bulbs were not necessarily designed to work properly with the type of controls in many range hoods. Off-the-shelf LED bulbs do not work properly when combined with hoods that have “mechanical” controls (rockers, rotary, pushbutton) with multiple light levels. The result can range from lower light levels to flickering lights or even no light at all. Sometimes the LED replacement may not go off, staying on at a very low level even when the switch is off. For situations when a range hood is listed for use with a halogen or incandescent bulb “up to” or a “Max” wattage, it is okay to use or replace the bulb with the appropriate type at any wattage below the stated maximum. For example, “up to 75 watts” does not mean you need to use 75 watts, but that the replacement should be a bulb up to that rating….it will be okay to use a 60 watt. Keep in mind that Broan range hoods designed with LED lighting do not experience any of these issues. In fact, the cook will enjoy all the benefits of clean, crisp LED lighting and may never have to replace a bulb again! If you desire LED lighting over the cooktop, purchase a Broan range hood that is designed with LEDs. You can find this information on-line, on the carton label, or on signage at retail.