Water Damage To Cookerhood?

Hi. I would like to receive specialists opinion, please...

When I have recently tried to switch on my cooker hood it made 'blown fuse' sound and stopped working completely. Now after 2 weeks my landlord is telling me that the main board has blown and black box behind the cooker hood or something like that  as well. He is telling me that the reson of that is water that got through the switches (on/off, speed, light etc.) he suggested that I might have used a trigger cleaner, wet hands at some point when switching on or off and some water could have gone inside. He said that electrician told him that is probably the only way the main board could break. My questions are:

- Is really water damage the only or main cause of main board / black box (sorry for vocabulary if I am wrong) fault?

- Is it possible for electrician to determine water  as 100% reason of the fault after isnpecting the hood after 2 weeks? Are there any specific signs suggestion water damage?

He now wants me to pay for a new cooker hood or parts which seem to cost quite the same...

Would appreciate your help. Thanks a lot!

Can you post a picture of what is damaged? or a link to a picture on photobucket etc?

you description is not making sense as to what part has blown.

Is the damaged part an internal bit of the cooker hood, or is it the switch on the wall, often high up alongside the hood?

Thanks for your reply and sorry for not being clear.

I have not seen the hood inside. I was told that the main board has blown and a black box behind or in the back of the cooker hood (I dont know how this part is called and I don't know where is it exactly, I am guessing that somwhere inside the hood ).  I was told that cause of that is water that got inside the cooker hood through on/off switch...

Is it one of these stainless steel hoods?

I've repaired one that sounds like that. the light, and the fan is controllder by a row of pushbutton switches that stick out of the front edge of the hood.

the one I repaired, when you take it apart (remove the grease filters to see inside) the switch unit is indeed enclosed in a plastic box.

Inside that plastic box is a little circuit board with the switches on, and the one I had to fix the circuit board had burned up.

all I had to do was fit the replacement board that the owner had already bought from the manufacturer.

If it is like that (hard to tell without photos) then I would say it's not water damage. What with the main outer casing, then the inner plastic box, you would have to be cleaning it down with a karcher to get any water inside to the switches.

So I think it very unlikely that it's your fault, more likely just something that has broken, and the landlord being too tight to pay for a repair.

Cooker hoods are designed to work in steamy and high condensation areas so it's doubtful water got inside unless there was a very good reason you're not telling us about. Even if the cooker hood suffered damage or had a fault the worst damage that should have occurred at the consumer unit would be a blown fused or tripped circuit breaker.

If you didn't cause the damage to the hood then say as much in writing to the landlord and decline to foot the bill for the repairs.

Thanks for your replies.

Yes, it was stainless teka chimney cooker hood, circa 7 years old

I suspected that normal use could not cause that damage, especially that I have used it and cleaned in the same way for over 3 years...

Just one more question, do you often meet blown main boards in cooker hoods? I am asking as I was told that electrician had advised that that it could blown out only due to water damage...

Thanks again

Control boards suffer damage for numerous reason including deterioration due to age.

With a 7 year old appliance its is quite probable that natural component failure has cause something to blow... 

(maybe some voltage regulator circuit for controlling fan speeds?)

gut feeling is that the water story is a bit unlikely..

Guinness

I agree with most of the above,

sounds like a tight fisted landlord wanting you to pay for the end of the natural lifespan of his appliances.

Ive had 2 or 3 control boards with burnt out tracks in the last 5 years or so..

Easy repair,,, solder in a piece of 1.0mm solid bare copper instead

Could it not also be possible that the fan motor and bearings have got stiff due to the build up of cooking fumes fat and grease over the years. Then on this occasion when you turned it on, the binding caused an overload on some part of the control circuit, resulting in the blow fuse sound you refer to? Without seeing the actual unit it is hard to understand how this other electrician has come to his water damage conclusion.

Doc H.

As above I've had a couple of faults just as you describe, simple repair both times. One a board swap the other a new switch.

Neither due to moisture ingress by cleaning, as already said odds on landlord is after somebody else covering the cost.