I had a new stove delivered today. My old stove was from 1978 (I kid you not it was harvest gold) and it was an all-in-one unit with a microwave (analog dial LOL) mounted over the stove. The new stove is just a stove (range/oven) so we're seeing the wall behind the stove for the first time and lo and behold, there's a giant hole it in that goes to an exterior entrance (there's a dog-house entrance to the basement behind that wall). It is fitted with a a metal ring and the outside has a hinged flap that opens and closes, with a chain attached to it so that you can pull it shut from inside.
I recall seeing covered holes in the wall in older homes but haven't actually seen one of these in use. I would imagine that there used to be some kind of fan that fit in hole, or at least a decorative grate of some sort that fit over it from the inside? The interior edge of this is definitely not finished.
Did you ever live in a house with a similar fan/exhaust? What did it look like from the inside and did it function well? I'd love to make this work as the kitchen has had no ventilation at all the entire time we've lived here. We were going to install a hood but with this nifty hole already right there in the wall, perhaps we won't need to?
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Small world Veruca Salt! I actually live in a town right next to Brockton, and have lived most of my life in three other Brockton-border towns (Holbrook, Abington and Whitman).
Thanks everyone - I can't get a hood and vent it out this hole because the hole is huge (12 inches in diameter) and well below where the hood would be. Installing a new hood would include cutting a different hole in the wall or into my cabinets, then there is the puzzle of how to match tile that's 60 years old to close up the existing hole. Unfortunately, there are no leftover tiles or place in the kitchen that I could discreetly take tile from, and I need 10 tiles. Decisions, decisions...
I'd install the hood and vent it out of the existing hole. An exhaust fan is such a nice thing to have in a kitchen.
My grandma had one in her kitchen, the same fan that was there when the house was built in the 1930s. My mom and dad's house have a similar fan in their bathrooms. Same fan from when the house was built in 1950s. The ones that came with the home apparently last forever.
Since you already have a hole in your wall just vent a range hood through that.
While it would be nifty to find and install the old fashioned fan, I would opt for the hood. The fan might prove a specialty item (meaning more costly for install and service down the line than a contemporary fixture).
Best,
F. B.
I have a kitchen fan ducted to outside and located above the sink. On the inside is a fan installed in the wall. Outside is a metal vent curved downward. The fan was activated with a pull chain. It doesn'T work anymore.
I've lived in the house 35 years. It was built in the 30's but looked like it had been updated in the 50's.
Yes, I just moved from a 1950's house that had one. In fact my landlord replaced the old one with a new modern version. It took awhile to figure out how to get the chain in the right position to turn it off & make sure the outside flap was closed (so bugs wouldn't get in), but it worked... I would check with home depot, lowes or even amazon for a replacement.
My house was built in 1974 and it has one of these. The fan is original and is a Mercury made by Nutone, Inc. It looks like the company still exists but I don't know if they make this kind of thing anymore.
I do use mine every now and then. However, I noticed in winter it lets in a draft so I block it off when it gets cold. They weren't so concerned about energy efficiency back then
Hey! I grew up in Acushnet! (next to New Bedford, closer to Rochester!) Our house was this immense old creaky thing with lots of rooms, and our kitchen had a couple of those holes. They were covered with thin metal decorative plates, kind of like flattened pie pans, after the older stove had been removed. The holes just stayed there.
I would think that someone could line that hole, similar to a dryer exhaust vent, and fix up something so it could be used as a vent. A creative plumber or electrician might have some ideas. Good luck, and enjoy your new stove!
My inlaws just moved from Brockton and their kitchen had that same thing (I see you're in the boston area). I never encountered it anywhere else. They had it covered with a plastic cover. In all the years I visited them there, though, I don't really remember them ever cooking!
Good luck.
ETA: Small world! Yes, I'm kind of bummed they moved. No family left now in the Boston area, so I don't expect we'd be back really ever! Unless there is another high school reunion, but after 25th two years ago, I doubt we'll be going to those either.
My aunt built a house in the mid 50s and it had one in the kitchen in New Jersey. That fan would pull all kinds of heat out of the kitchen.
See if you can find someone who can update the fan. I have modern exhaust fans in the bathrooms and laundry room that suck out the heat and moisture.
Good luck in using your kitchen. I would get a hood and use that with the opening.
the other S.
My in-laws had a fan like this in their house in the Bronx! Nifty little fan. It was right at eye level above the stove and my MIL would pull the string and it would suck the air out of the kitchen. Do I need to tell you that the house was built around 1905 and her kitchen was from the 60s? It tended to be greasy and dusty. But I think it's because my MIL was getting old and couldn't see as well to clean it as she used to. I bet if you checked Amazon you'd find one.
There is a store in the area here that might be able to direct you if you so wish to try to make use of this ....(hmm, more than just here!)
Just know that my son took a knob of my mom's old stove to try to get a replacement - the guy at the counter could tell him what it came off of and the age of the stove w/o any other input from the kid! This was maybe 8-10 years ago, but that is still pretty amazing to me!
