A range hood that does nothing at all — no fan, no light, no panel — has a power problem, and the good news is that the diagnosis is short. There are only four things between the breaker and the motor: the circuit, the connection in the hood's junction box, the switch, and the control board on electronic models. Testing them in that order takes under an hour and usually lands on the switch, which fills with grease and fails.
Read this first
- Most range hoods are hardwired, so the switch on the hood does not isolate it. Switch off the breaker and verify the circuit is dead with a meter before opening the housing.
- Working on a ladder over a cooktop is awkward. Make sure the burners are off and cool, and have someone foot the ladder.
- Grease-contaminated wiring is a fire risk. If you find scorched insulation or a browned connector, stop and get an electrician.
- Never test a motor by running it with the blower housing open.
Step by step
Check the breaker and any wall switch
Look at the panel for a tripped breaker and push it fully off then firmly back on, since a partially tripped breaker looks closed and passes nothing. Then check whether the hood is fed through a wall switch — some installations put one on a nearby wall, and it gets switched off during decorating and never switched back. Also check for a GFCI in the circuit; kitchen circuits are often protected from a device somewhere else entirely.
Note whether the light works
This one observation splits the diagnosis. If the light works and only the fan is dead, power is arriving at the hood and the fault is in the speed switch, the motor, or its capacitor. If both the light and the fan are dead, the problem is upstream — the circuit or the connection in the junction box. On hoods with separate light and fan circuits internally, check the light on each of its settings too.
Confirm power at the hood's junction box
With the breaker off and verified dead, open the hood's wiring box — usually a small cover plate on the top or side of the housing. Look for a wire nut that has worked loose, a connection browned by heat, or a wire that has pulled out. Loose connections here are common on hoods that have been vibrating for a decade. If you are not confident testing a live circuit safely, this is the point to hand it to an electrician.
Test the speed switch
Range hood switches sit directly in the grease stream and they fail more than anything else on the appliance. With the breaker off, get behind the switch, disconnect it, and test for continuity between the line terminal and each speed terminal as you work through the positions. Clean the spade connectors with contact cleaner while you are there — heat cycling loosens them and a connector half off gives an intermittent fan that works when you press the panel.
Check the motor and its capacitor
With the power off, reach in and turn the blower wheel by hand. It should spin freely; stiff, gritty or seized means the motor bearings have gone. Many hood motors also use a small run capacitor, and a failed capacitor gives you a motor that hums but will not start turning, or that only runs if you nudge the wheel by hand. Capacitors are $10 to $35 and are a common and cheap fix that gets misdiagnosed as a dead motor.
Check the control board on electronic hoods
Touch-control and remote-control hoods run everything through a small board, and grease and heat kill them. Look for a board with browned components, a burnt smell, or a blown fuse on the board itself — some carry a small glass or blade fuse that is replaceable. Try any reset procedure in the manual, and unplug or breaker-off for five minutes to clear a hung state before assuming the board has failed.
Inspect the wiring for heat damage
Follow the wiring inside the housing looking for insulation that has hardened, cracked or discoloured, and for terminals that are brown rather than bright. A hood sits in heat and grease for years, and the wiring ages accordingly. Any evidence of overheating means more than a failed part — it needs an electrician to assess, because a grease-soaked, heat-damaged connection above a cooktop is a genuine fire risk.
What this repair costs
Doing it yourself
$10–$95
Hiring a technician
$150–$400
Prices are general estimates for typical US jobs, not quotes. What you actually pay depends on your appliance's brand and age, the part required, your region, and each shop's labour rate. The DIY figure assumes you supply the labour and buy the part yourself.
Parts you may end up buying
| Part | Install | Typical price | Typical lifespan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grease Filter | easy | $15–$65 | Wash monthly; replace every 2–5 years |
| Charcoal Filter | easy | $15–$55 | 6–12 months |
| Blower Wheel | moderate | $20–$80 | 10–15 years |
| Blower Motor | moderate | $60–$260 | 10–15 years |
| Speed Switch | easy | $12–$90 | 8–15 years |
| Light Socket and Lamp | easy | $8–$40 | 3–10 years |
| Damper Flap | easy | $10–$40 | 8–15 years |
Still not fixed
When to call a pro
Call an electrician if the hood is hardwired and you are not equipped to verify the circuit dead, or if you find scorched wiring, browned terminals or a burnt smell inside the housing. Call an appliance technician if the switch and capacitor test good and the motor is seized — motor replacement runs $60 to $260 for the part and is a moderate job on most hoods but genuinely awkward on chimney and island installations mounted high over a cooktop. On electronic hoods where the board is discontinued, be aware the manufacturer's only remedy may be a new hood.
More range hood guides
- Range Hood Fan Weak or Not Venting — Restore Airflow45–120 minutes
- Range Hood Light Not Working — Bulbs, Sockets and Switches15–45 minutes
- Range Hood Loud or Rattling — Quiet It Down45–120 minutes
- Range Hood Dripping Grease — Fix the Cause, Not the Drip60–150 minutes
- Range Hood Fan Won't Turn Off or Starts On Its Own30–75 minutes
- Downdraft Vent Won't Rise or Lower — Free the Lift45–120 minutes