I have never had a hood fan crap out what is the cause do you think the one I have now is 9 yrs old and my last one was 15 so have no idea what could possibly go wrong.

Zephyr uses an high quality squirrel-cage fan motor. Maybe you have an electrical problem that's not providing proper power to motor. I would've bought Zephyr but I'm tall & couldn't mount their hood high enough, per their tech support engr. I spent lots of time checking them out.

Houzz Appliance Forum

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/appl

I put in a 42" 600 cfm Vent-A-Hood. I can hardly hear it, and neighbours who have heard it are amazed at how quiet it is. I have a short run with a couple of 90 degrees, but I compensated by increasing the duct size to 10".

Hello kitui4u

There are a lot of range hood manufacturers on the market, but when you are looking for reliable, powerful and quiet range hood there are a few things you might want to check before making a final decision. First and most important part is your duct, if you want more CFM your duct needs to be bigger. Nowadays, standard duct is considered to be 6``. If you want a range hood that will work better than the average range hood you need 8`` duct or 10`` duct. The ceiling height of the place where you will be installing is also very important, as if you have a lower ceiling your range hood may need to be customized to fit it. Last but not least is the need of make up air unit. Most of the times people do not really pay attention to this matter, but that is a very wrong approach, as when you have a powerful range hood you most likely will need the system installed.

Best Regards!

Victory Range Hoods

www.KitchenHoods.ca

FWIW, the Vent-a-Hood I have has an exhaust port of eight inches, but I put in a reducer to expand that to ten inches.