Wanted: 1930's kitchen exhaust fan

[travis]

I am renovating my kitchen to better match the age of the house, 1932. I have stripped the paint off the ceramic tile, learned a whole lot about linoleum, and harassed numerous cabinet dealers.

I have a 12" diameter sleeve through the wall that would have had an exhaust fan. The have the louvered grille outside and an electric outlet above.

Someone please point me in the right direction to a fan.

Thanks Travis

 

[danemodsandy]

Nutone!

Travis:

The diameter of your wall sleeve suggests a Nutone fan. These were wired-in fans; there were models controlled by a wall switch, and the more common chain-control models. The chain control models had a pull chain on the front grille of the fan; when you pulled on it, it opened the damper door of the fan and turned it on. Pulling again turned the unit off and closed the damper.

While Nutone still makes these fans, current models have a cheap-ass (there, I said it!) plastic grille that is not only wrong for your house's period, it's difficult to keep really clean-looking, since plastic discolors when exposed to grease and fumes, which are, after all, what a kitchen fan is designed to deal with.

You're going to have to go vintage, which means eBay or CL or lucky finds elsewhere. Below is a photo of the Nutone fan I grew up with, the Model 8170. It was a pull-chain model. There have been many Nutone models over the years, and you may find others with grilles you like better for the style of your house, but this is the unit I'm familiar with and can recommend highly.

Just so's you'll know, these fans have to be wired into the wall. Inside the sleeve part of the fan, there is an outlet which is connected to the wall wiring; you can unplug the motor from the outlet so the motor/blade assembly can be removed from the sleeve for cleaning. Nutone thought of everything in those days; how I wish whoever decided plastic would be perfect for a kitchen fan grille thought that way today.

Hope this helps!

 

[travis]

Sandy,

If I have to, I'll go with a Nutone.

Ideally, I am looking for something like this.

 

[danemodsandy]

Travis:

If you're able to find and restore something like that, more power to you - go for it!

I think Nutone was making wall fans in that time frame, and as I've mentioned previously, there are a number of different grille styles I'm aware of, so some searching might turn up something you'd be very happy with.

Whatever you find, I think you'll be happy - a wall fan can keep a kitchen much freer of grease and schmutz than a vent hood. The biggest bonus about kitchen exhaust fans is that they're usually located on an outside wall, where smoke, grease and odors pass through eight inches of wall and then they're gone - deadly efficient.

But, just to make this discussion more complicated ;-), there are also ceiling models. Here in Iowa, midcentury houses often have one mounted in the kitchen ceiling above the range. A filter is usually used in this application; it's a metal-mesh filter similar to the ones in vent hoods, only round instead of square or rectangular. Ceiling exhausts are less efficient than wall ones; you have to have a duct run to pass through the attic space.

 

[danemodsandy]

From 1939:

Here's an Armstrong linoleum ad from 1939 showing both their Straight Line Inlaid flooring and Linowall wall covering; there is a very nice chrome wall fan above the range.

I do not have any info about this fan, but it appears in a fair number of '30s ad shots I have saved to my computer.

 

[d-jones]

Travis

This is a fascinating project you're undertaking here. I would love to be able to do something like this myself at some point and I can completely relate to your desire to go a period correct look. With that in mind, you may want to get in touch with a few places that specialize in vintage architectural details and building salvage. I've used such places here in Los Angeles on several occasion and had excellent luck finding what I needed. One outfit I visited here had a staggering amount inventory. I hope you'll be posting photos of your progress. Best of luck to you.

 

Sandy - Notice the dark borders on the linoleum floor with the stainless steel decorative corner reinforcements. My parents neighbors house has the same type of edge treatment on the kitchen floor and looked very nice for many years. Unfortunately it's a bit of a disaster now.

 

Here's a link to some photos of an apartment I "retrovated" here in Eagle Rock.

1923 Apartment Overhaul

I grew up in Eagle Rock, a little community on the northernmost edge of L.A. nestled between Glendale and Pasadena,and right at the bottom of my street was a neat old building that caught my attention every time I passed it. Known as the Jenny C Brayton BLDG, it was built in 1923 with three...

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[travis]

David:

Your restoration work on that apartment is great.

It's a struggle to retro-renovate and still maintain a functional space. I am using a two door monitor top, the magic chef 1000 and an early 1950's Maytag chest freezer (thanks Kenny. I plan to leave the KDC 21 dishwasher. I have a KD10 (thanks Barry), in the garage, but am reluctant to push my luck with the friend I am sharing the house with.

I am also looking for a vintage Radarange.

 

[moparwash]

You can have my NuTone fan....

It's centered in the wall for a 40" range...(I have a 30" and it's now off-center)...you have to have the range away from the wall or the pull chain will scrape the control panel..and it works nowhere near as good as a outside vented hood...and in the winter the door freezes shut, so you have to poke it with a broomstick...every house in my neighborhood came with them...some have been changed to overhead outside vented hoods..I should of done that!

 

[goatfarmer]

Radarange

Radarange ya say?

Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[danemodsandy]

Jerry:

If you ever get rid of your Nutone, please feel free to PM me! That is the exact unit we had over the '48 Loewy-designed TOL Frigidaire 40-incher.

I know the drawbacks, but I am much fonder of exhaust fans than I am of range hoods. Cleaning an exhaust fan is no damn day at the beach, but it beats cleaning the underside of a range hood to hell and gone.

 

[travis]

Kenny:

I see that big beautiful Amana, but it's in MI. I have located an RR2 or 3 closer to me. I just have to get a friend to pick it up and get it to me.

 

[travis]

The exterior grill

 

[travis]

I opened up the exhaust fan hole today and cleaned out a huge bird nest.

 

[travis]

Found one!

This is what I was after. It's still installed in it's old home. It will be a bit of work to remove and restore. It probably works, but I didn't want to upset the nest.

 

[danemodsandy]

Congratulations!

I can't believe you found a restorable unit so fast. Isn't it great to find exactly what you want?

Best wishes on the restoration, and I hope you'll share photos when the time comes.

 

[travis]

Sandy,

 

There's a neighborhood email list.  I figured there had to be one left close by.  I will try and create a thread about the whole kitchen.

 

 

 

[dane]

Hello moparwash:
Do you still have your Nutone fan available?
My house is from the 50's and the motor went and all the wiring is rusted out. I'd rather have the metal unit.
Please let me know if you do and are able to ship it.
I'll send you my address and any needed handling charges.

Thank you,