Is this a good vintage exhaust fan?

[leolady]

I just bought it to install above my 1940s Chambers gas range. Do you think it will do the job?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290393788609&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

 

[danemodsandy]

Good Fan, But...

...Watch your fingers when cleaning the grille. These fans' grilles have a tendency to cut fingers if you're not careful.

By the way, don't run the grille through the dishwasher to clean it - it will rust eventually if you do. Hand-wash carefully, dry thoroughly and immediately. Never use anything abrasive on it, of course. Hot soapy water should normally do the trick, and you can add some ammonia to that if greasy buildup is involved. The oftener you wash the grille, the easier the task is; letting it go too long between cleanings will result in hard-to-remove buildup.

 

[peterh770]

That is a low volume airflow fan for a powder room. It probably would not be effective over a range, and there are a lot of nooks and crevasses to catch grease.

 

[douglasdc6]

Oil it & keep it oiled.

Might not be a bad idea to oil the front & back end bells of the motor before youre installation .

The bearings on these puppy`s have a bad tendency to run dry over time.

 

[danemodsandy]

Peter:

These were used in apartment kitchens back in the '60s, and worked very decently well. You did have to keep the grille clean.

 

[gansky1]

Here's what Peter means, his favorite ;-)

 

[danemodsandy]

That's the Fan...

...We had in the bath of the house I grew up in, Greg. Worked well, too. Ceiling-mount, of course.

In the kitchen, we had this Nutone wall-mount fan:

 

[gansky1]

A cool fan we saw in Maryland last summer - love those lines.

 

[danemodsandy]

It's Too Bad:

That Nutone has gone to plastic grilles with more finely-spaced grilles that are very hard to clean. Something tells me the lawyers got into that one.

What happened to teaching kids to keep away from dangerous things?

 

[a440]

Greg,

That Ventrola looks awesome! The blades look like it would whip up a wind.

Sandy, you can still get the Nutones with the "metal" everything. It is a special order and of course cost more.

Brent

 

[danemodsandy]

Brent:

Thanks - I did not know that. I thought the only source for the old grille was NOS and used. They sure make it hard to find.

Do you know of a source? I often get asked about stuff like this.

 

[a440]

I actually found them on Lowes website. They were a special order.
Here is link to Nutone. I can't see where you get the option for "silver" or "chrome" finish. I was just looking last month and found them on line. Could have been Home Depot? I will look further later.
They are still great powerful exhaust fans.
Brent

http://www.nutone.com/product-detail.asp?ProductID=10177

 

[a440]

Home Depot link.

I know I saw "Chrome" as an option. I thought I bookmarked the site. I am sure Nutone could get it for you. One thing that I like is that they now provide a mesh screen vent that sits under the face plate. I did not know if they had that option for the vintage fans.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...y+fan&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

 

[danemodsandy]

Brent:

What you linked me to was the ceiling fan. What I was meaning was the wall-mount kitchen fan.

Am I misunderstanding something here?

 

[a440]

Oh....Sandy....

I thought from the picture you posted that you were talking about the Ceiling / Utility fans. My bad. The Nutone "Utility" fan or as some called it "Duct Fan" can be used in a kitchen as far as a hood type or in a Bath Room.

What you are talking about is the wall vent with the big Nutone Exhaust thing on the outside of the wall that opened and closed.... I don't know where to find those new.

I do see them new in the box on Ebay from time to time. Almost bought one for the heck of it because it went for hardly anything and was new in the box.

Sorry. Hey at least you know where to find the "other" types now.

Are you wanting to buy a Wall type? I see them on Craigslist all the time also.

Brent

 

[peterh770]

Twitch... twitch... twitch...

You guys really know how to get me out of a thread.

 

[petek]

There's a cream for that twitch Peter LOL

 

[a440]

Peter,

Tell us what the deal is with you and fans? Support group here.
Did something scare you in your childhood?

I have to be honest I used to be terribly afraid of Attic fans. Many years ago there was a woman that I worked for when I was a kid. She had this whole house attic fan. It was different in that it did not lay flat, but was vertical. You could see it standing up and spinning while it was running through the louvers. Well what scared me was how it would always "scream" when it was running because of a slipping belt. She had the "yard guy" go up in the attic while I was there to see if he could either tighten the belt or replace it. I am watching the whole time and the fan is running. The guy walked right into the fan and it knocked him out. It could have been much worse but he just needed a few stitches. I guess I was 9 years old or so at the time. I would however always have a fear every time I walked under a "Attic Fan". I am over it I guess...but every time during the early fall or early spring when I turn on the attic fan in our house that thought always goes through my mind. The attic fan is no where as huge as the one I am talking about from my childhood. That thing was taller than a man! It was huge. Felt great when running.
So what is your fear Peter?
Brent

 

[peterh770]

There is something about those Nutone fans that scare me. It's a real phobia, an irrational fear. Don't know how I came about it or why. I try to think there is a repressed memory there somewhere, but I have no idea. Greg's pic is bad, but Sandy's pic is even worse. That black hole in the ceiling surrounded by that stainless steel grid... On the wall isn't so bad, but in the ceiling... My heart rate is going up...

 

[a440]

Bless your heart.
Do you have vents in your bathroom at home?
Do range hoods scare you?
You are around huge blowers all of the time. Your dryers at your mats. Your Central air-conditioning unit. Sounds like it is more a visual thing.
You need to do some hypnosis and see what this is all about. I find it fascinating.
Sorry we scared you. At least you are taking a chance and looking at the thread.
Oh...Does the Nutone scare you more than the Ventrola that Greg posted? Greg's fan looks much more vicious than then Nutone.
Brent

 

[danemodsandy]

Peter:

My pic is the wall-mount kitchen fan. Greg's is the ceiling fan for bath and laundry room use.

 

[tolivac]

The blowers in our transmitter blower rooms out here are VERY scary and DANGEROUS-honestly these things can suck you in like an airplane engine.The fans run with 15Hp motors and turn at about the motor speed-the blades are about 5Ft wide-and other blowers they about 2Ft wide-and generate tremdous suction-fortunately there is a grill over the intake-if you walk by it while its running-it sucks you against the grill.And on the freezing nights--have to make sure the blowwers are off when the transmitter the blower is used with isn't in use.Otherwise the coolant can freeze.And there are other big vintage blowers out here in the HVAC room.One that is easily 10ft high-and exhausts the air from the transmitter cabinets and blows the heat outside or feeds it into the building heating system.I have to check these each of my shifts to make sure they are running properly.And to make sure the boilers are running properly-or it gets kinda cold in here!

 

[leolady]

I'm confused....

Is this fan too lightweight for wall installation over a range? I mean not powerful enough?

Should I look for another one? Thanks for all of your help.

 

[danemodsandy]

Leolady:

Those fans were used in '60s apartment kitchens, mounted in the ceiling over the range (new apartments used to be a lot more basic than they are today). They worked okay as long as you kept them clean. A wall-mounted Nutone fan like the ones shown in this thread's pictures would be much more powerful and work better.

 

[austinado16]

If youdecide not to keep it...

Let me know. I'd love it for in our vintage bathroom!

I have a vintage Vent-A-Hood range hood for sale if you're interested. It's 36" wide and silver. Happy to box and ship it. Dual blower model with fluorescent light built in. Works great and I just removed it from a home that was getting remodeled.

 

[austinado16]

Includes ductwork, and a section of the house wiring so you can see how it's supposed to be wired up, along with the wood mounting strip that mounts to the wall first, and then the hood locks into that before you put in the final mounting screws into the wall and upper cabinets.

 

[leolady]

how do I contact you? help mixfinder!

I kinda like that Vent a Hood. How much do you think it'd cost to get it chromed?

I want a shiny chrome like look to go with the handles of the stove, and Silver Surfer.

I can use the exhaust fan in my bathroom. The whole house is 1930s/40s era and is undergoing a total renovation.

I must confess..........I Leolady am a vintage freak. My whole tiny bungalow house will be vintage cottage with pizazz.

 

[danemodsandy]

Contacting Other AW Members:

Leolady:

When you want to contact another member, you do that via regular email, off this list. To get their email address, you look at the top of one of their posts, where their user name appears. Click on their user name, and their user profile will open as a new page. Their email address will be in their profile. There may be other info available there, too, such as name, age, city, etc., but not everyone makes this info available.

If you don't mind my saying so, a completely chromed range hood doesn't sound like a practical idea. It would look very spiffy, true. But keeping it sparkling and streak-free after cleaning would be a nightmare. There's a reason chrome is used mainly as a design accent. If you'll think about it, stainless steel, which can be polished, is given a brushed finish when it's used on appliances. This is to help hide minor amounts of dust or tiny streaks from cleaning.

 

[austinado16]

My email addy is in my profile...

You wouldn't want one of these chromed, for the above mentioned reasons. And being sheetmetal, the chrome would never be straight, so it would look very wavy and flawed.

If your Chambers is a color....say white....this would excellent powerder coated white, and then have just the name badge, switches, and the round trim "buttons" as chrome and leave it as that. I can have that done for you hear, as there's a powdercoater locally that I use all the time.

If your Chambers is another color, this would look excellent in that color too...sort of a mono-chromatic theme, with just the chrome accents.

Email me if you're interested and we can exchange phone numbers if you want to talk in person. I also have a beautiful chrome front Amana Radarange Touchmatic II for sale.