Cooker Hood Not Working in Aldershot - Common Faults and What to Do

Published September 2026 | Appliance Repair

A homeowner in Aldershot noticed their kitchen was filling with cooking smells and steam every time they used the hob, even with the cooker hood switched on and humming away. Grease had started settling on the cabinet doors above the cooking area, and a film of condensation was creeping up the tiles each time anything was fried. The lights on the unit worked fine, there was definitely some kind of motor noise coming from it, but the actual airflow had dropped to almost nothing. After a few months of putting up with it, they booked one of our engineers through Voltrade - and what we found was a combination of two separate faults that together had brought the hood to its knees.

What Was Actually Going On

When our engineer arrived at the property, the first step was running through the Voltrade GoFIX diagnostic process - a structured check that moves through power supply, filter condition, motor response, and ductwork flow in sequence rather than jumping straight to the most expensive component. In this case, it flagged problems at two separate points.

Fault One - Completely Blocked Grease Filters

The grease filters are the metal mesh panels that sit at the base of the hood. Their job is to trap grease particles before they reach the fan and the ductwork behind it. In a kitchen where the hob gets used regularly, these filters need cleaning every four to six weeks - and in this Aldershot property, they hadn't been touched in well over two years.

When our engineer removed them, the mesh was so saturated with solidified grease that you could barely see daylight through the panels. Air simply couldn't pass through efficiently. What made this worse was that a blocked filter forces the motor to work harder to pull air through the restriction, generating more heat, and accelerating wear on the motor components. It's a cascade: poor maintenance leads to overheating, and overheating leads to electrical faults.

Fault Two - A Failing Motor Capacitor

Even with the blocked filters removed, the fan wasn't spinning at the speed it should. This ruled out a purely mechanical restriction and pointed to something electrical. Our engineer tested the motor capacitor - a small component that delivers the initial surge of power the motor needs to reach operating speed. Using a multimeter, the capacitance reading came back well below the rated value, confirming the capacitor was degrading.

This is a fault we see regularly in Aldershot homes, particularly in hoods that have been running hot due to blocked filters. The unit in question was a Hotpoint model, around five years old - well within its expected service life of ten to fifteen years. The fault wasn't age. It was a maintenance problem that had turned into an electrical one.

Other Common Faults We See Regularly

While this case came down to filters and a capacitor, there's a wider range of faults that come up across the properties we visit:

Saturated carbon filters: Hoods that recirculate air rather than vent outside use carbon filters to absorb cooking smells. These need replacing every three to six months. When they're spent, the hood will run normally but odours pass straight back into the kitchen. Models from Bosch, LG, and Beko all have specific carbon filter cartridges - generic replacements often don't fit or perform correctly.
Failed motor: A humming sound with no fan movement usually means the motor has seized or the windings have shorted internally. This can be caused by a foreign object getting into the fan housing, by overheating, or simply by age on older units.
Blocked ductwork: On ducted installations, the pipe carrying extracted air outside can develop grease build-up over time, or the damper flap at the wall outlet can fail in the closed position. This creates back pressure that dramatically reduces airflow even when the motor is working fine.
Faulty speed selector switch or control board: If the hood only works on one speed, or doesn't respond to speed changes at all, the issue is often the switch or PCB. This crops up more often in touch-control hoods from brands like Samsung and Bosch.
Tripped circuit or blown internal fuse: Before assuming a mechanical fault, it's always worth checking the consumer unit and the fuse in the plug. Cooker hoods typically run on a standard 13-amp fused circuit and an overloaded motor can trip a breaker.

How the Problem Was Resolved

The repair was completed in a single visit. Here's what the process looked like:

Removed and assessed the grease filters. In this case they were too heavily soiled to recover - the grease had hardened to the point where even a long dishwasher cycle wouldn't have fully cleared them. Compatible replacement aluminium mesh filters were fitted from stock.
Tested the motor independently - with the filters removed to isolate the electrical fault from any remaining mechanical restriction.
Tested the motor capacitor using a multimeter. The reading confirmed it was operating at roughly 40 percent of its rated capacitance - enough to make the motor sluggish and underpowered, but not so far gone that it had stopped entirely.
Replaced the capacitor. This required partially disassembling the hood and dropping the unit from its wall mounting to safely access the motor housing. The capacitor itself is a small and inexpensive component, but the labour involved in reaching it accounts for most of the cost.
Refitted the new grease filters and tested the hood across all three speed settings. Airflow was back to normal, and the motor noise was smooth and consistent at every speed.
Checked the ductwork connection at the external wall outlet to rule out any back pressure that might have been contributing to the problem.

Total time on site: approximately one hour and forty-five minutes. The homeowner was also shown how to remove and clean the grease filters and advised to set a recurring reminder to do this every four to six weeks going forward.

What This Cost and How Long It Took

Pricing is usually the first question people ask, and it varies significantly depending on the fault. For this particular job in Aldershot, the total came to approximately 165 pounds, broken down as follows:

Call-out and first hour of labour: 85 pounds
Replacement aluminium mesh grease filters (pair): 28 pounds
Motor capacitor: 14 pounds
Additional labour (second part-hour): 22 pounds
Ductwork inspection: included within the call-out

That sits comfortably within the typical range for cooker hood repairs across Hampshire. Here's a broader guide to what you can expect to pay for common faults:

Grease filter replacement including labour: typically 40 to 80 pounds
Carbon filter replacement: typically 20 to 60 pounds, more for certain Bosch or Samsung models
Motor capacitor replacement: typically 80 to 140 pounds all in
Motor replacement: typically 120 to 220 pounds depending on the model and accessibility
PCB or control board replacement: typically 150 to 300 pounds - at this level it's worth comparing against the cost of a new unit
Ductwork clearance: typically 60 to 120 pounds depending on how accessible the pipework is

As a rule of thumb: if the repair quote is more than 60 to 70 percent of the cost of a comparable new hood, replacement is usually the better call - particularly if the unit is more than eight to ten years old. A mid-range replacement from Bosch, AEG, or Elica will typically cost between 150 and 350 pounds for the unit, plus 80 to 150 pounds for installation on a like-for-like swap.

The job was booked through Voltrade and completed within 48 hours of the initial call, which is the standard turnaround for our engineers covering the Aldershot area.

How to Spot the Same Issue in Your Home

Most cooker hood problems show warning signs before they become a complete failure. Here's what to look and listen for:

Reduced airflow or cooking smells not clearing

If steam and cooking smells are no longer shifting quickly, this is the most common early warning. A simple test: hold a piece of tissue paper near the intake grille while the hood is running at full speed. On a healthy hood it should be pulled firmly against the mesh. If it flutters weakly or drops away, you've got a flow problem - and the most likely culprit is blocked grease filters.

Unusual noises from the unit

A functioning hood should produce a smooth, consistent hum that increases with speed. Rattling usually indicates a loose fan blade or a foreign object in the housing. A high-pitched whine points to worn motor bearings. Buzzing with no fan movement is the classic sign of a failed capacitor. Any of these sounds is worth investigating promptly - catching these faults early is almost always cheaper than waiting for a full breakdown.

Hood running but no odour reduction

If the fan is clearly moving air but cooking smells are hanging around, the most likely cause is a spent carbon filter. This applies specifically to recirculating hoods - the type that don't vent outside. The carbon in these filters absorbs odours over time, and once it's saturated, air passes through the filter without being cleaned. The hood will seem to work fine because the motor is fine - but the filtration element is doing nothing.

Lights working but fan not moving

This combination - lights on, fan dead - is a strong indicator of an electrical fault downstream of the power supply. The main candidates are the motor, the capacitor, or the speed selector switch. It rules out a complete power supply failure and narrows the diagnosis considerably.

Grease settling on surfaces away from the hob

In Aldershot homes with open-plan kitchen and dining layouts, an underperforming hood can allow grease particles to travel well beyond the immediate cooking area. If you're finding a greasy film on surfaces that seem too far from the hob to be affected, the extraction isn't working as it should.

Lessons - What Every Aldershot Homeowner Should Know

After years of attending cooker hood call-outs across Aldershot and the wider Hampshire area, our engineers keep seeing the same root causes come up time after time. These are the things worth knowing before you have a problem, not after.

Filter cleaning is not optional maintenance. Metal grease filters need cleaning every four to six weeks if you cook regularly, or every two to three months if the hob only gets used occasionally. Most aluminium mesh filters are dishwasher-safe - run them on a standard programme and let them dry fully before refitting. This single habit prevents most of the electrical faults we get called out for.

Know whether your hood is ducted or recirculating. Ducted hoods pull air out of the kitchen and vent it outside through pipework in the wall or ceiling. Recirculating hoods filter the air and return it to the kitchen. The maintenance requirements are different: ducted hoods need their ductwork and external damper flap checked occasionally, while recirculating hoods need their carbon filters replaced on a regular schedule. If you're not sure which type you have, look at the back of the unit - a pipe connection means it's ducted.

Recirculating hoods are very common in Hampshire properties. Many houses and flats in Aldershot - particularly conversions and period properties - don't have the wall or ceiling penetrations needed for a ducted installation. Recirculating hoods are a practical solution, but they don't remove moisture from the air. If your kitchen has condensation problems, that needs to be addressed separately through ventilation improvements rather than assuming a better hood will fix it.

Parts are model-specific, not just brand-specific. If you're sourcing replacement filters or carbon cartridges online, you need the exact model number from the sticker inside the hood - not just the brand name. A Beko filter from one range won't necessarily fit a different Beko model, and an ill-fitting filter can reduce airflow or fall out during use.

Know when replacement makes more sense than repair. A well-maintained cooker hood from a quality brand - Bosch, Siemens, Elica - can realistically last fifteen years. Budget models and own-brand units are generally only worth repairing if they're under five years old and the fault is minor. If your hood is old, has already had one repair, and is now developing a second significant fault, a replacement is almost certainly the better investment.