One of my customers would like me to remove a kitchen exhaust fan. It’s one of those old-style fans that vents directly through the wall. You know, the kind of fan that’s about 10 feet away from the stove and never worked well even when they weren’t broken.
I’m sure I can “manhandle” the thing out of there, but if I knew more about how these things were originally installed maybe I could do this job with a little more finesse. For example, does the metal case go all the way through the wall in one piece? Is it attached to framing or is there a flange on the outside where it attaches to the sheathing?
This much I do know… on the outside, I’ll have some sheathing and shingle repair to do. On the inside I’ll need to run the old wires into a box (which will either get a cover plate or receptacles), add insulation and repair the drywall.
Replies
Don. the ones that I have run across are pretty stright forward. Remove the inside cover - usually a central threaded rod/cap and look inside. They have screws through the sides into some kind of stud/brace, and the screws are usually covered with about 35 years of grease and muck. Nothing a good hammer and flat bar can't handle.There's also a box of some kind that gets tied to the fan motor itself. The wiring, whether romex or bx or whatever, comes into the box from the back, with wire nuts etc. make sure when you rip it out you don't tear up the wires. The fans are often just plugged in to the wired "box." Nothing more complicated than a standard outlet. No sweat.
Remember that if you turn it into an outlet, it might be necessary to use a GFI depending on location. the last one I did was easy - it was the last outlet on the run. But it was only 2 wired and had to be marked as such.
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals
Like Don said.
Most will have a nailing flange on the outside wall. to gut the unit attack it from inside.
Simple Green will come in handy as well as lots of rags usually..