How do you turn on a kitchen exhaust fan?

EEC said:

I plugged fan into 110V temporary and it works, so its a matter of how is it switched by releasing chain that opens outside hinged door?

Click to expand...

If you want a closeup photo of how the inner workings are supposed to look let me know and I can take one later. I have one of those in my old kitchen -- when I redid the kitchen last year, I refurbed the fan rather than replace it with a hood. Looked great after I got 50+ years of grime off of it.

The switch is a little push-button job that mounts under that hinged lever arm. The chain goes through the chain-lock hole, over the lever and through the other hole to the spring door -- when the chain is pulled tight and locked, the lever depresses the switch and the fan stays off. When you release the chain, the lever lets off the switch and energizes the fan plug (which yours might be missing...), the door opens, and hopefully the fan works.

Nutone/Broan still makes those things, believe it or not. if you contact them they can probably find you a switch, but from the looks of that one you might just want to replace it.

http://nutone.com/product-detail.asp?ProductID=10173

Re: Kitchen wall exhaust fanIf you want a closeup photo of how the inner workings are supposed to look let me know and I can take one later. I have one of those in my old kitchen -- when I redid the kitchen last year, I refurbed the fan rather than replace it with a hood. Looked great after I got 50+ years of grime off of it.The switch is a little push-button job that mounts under that hinged lever arm. The chain goes through the chain-lock hole, over the lever and through the other hole to the spring door -- when the chain is pulled tight and locked, the lever depresses the switch and the fan stays off. When you release the chain, the lever lets off the switch and energizes the fan plug (which yours might be missing...), the door opens, and hopefully the fan works.Nutone/Broan still makes those things, believe it or not. if you contact them they can probably find you a switch, but from the looks of that one you might just want to replace it.

Find this article at:
go.ncsu.edu/readext?928407

en Español

El inglés es el idioma de control de esta página. En la medida en que haya algún conflicto entre la traducción al inglés y la traducción, el inglés prevalece.

Al hacer clic en el enlace de traducción se activa un servicio de traducción gratuito para convertir la página al español. Al igual que con cualquier traducción por Internet, la conversión no es sensible al contexto y puede que no traduzca el texto en su significado original. NC State Extension no garantiza la exactitud del texto traducido. Por favor, tenga en cuenta que algunas aplicaciones y/o servicios pueden no funcionar como se espera cuando se traducen.

English is the controlling language of this page. To the extent there is any conflict between the English text and the translation, English controls.

Clicking on the translation link activates a free translation service to convert the page to Spanish. As with any Internet translation, the conversion is not context-sensitive and may not translate the text to its original meaning. NC State Extension does not guarantee the accuracy of the translated text. Please note that some applications and/or services may not function as expected when translated.

Estoy de Acuerdo / I agree

Related articles:
How Do Whole House Fans Work? The Pros and Cons
Pros and cons of whole-house fan
What is the Most Efficient Form of Electric Heating?
How Does Central Heating and Cooling Work?
How does kitchen fan work?
Heating with Electricity, Advantages & Disadvantages of Electric Heat

Collapse ▲

Many of us never think to turn on our kitchen exhaust fans until something starts
smelling too strongly or burning. However, the exhaust fan is one of our most useful tools for improving indoor air quality and can have a larger impact on your health than you may think.

I’m sure most of us heard of the controversy surrounding gas stoves recently. If you have a good kitchen exhaust system, then using it will certainly help reduce indoor air pollution associated with gas stoves. But even if you don’t own a gas stove, just the act of cooking produces many unwanted air pollutants that can be quite dangerous to your health over time. Fine particulate matter and gasses like nitrogen dioxide and formaldehyde can contaminate your air as a result of cooking. That is why restaurants are required to purchase large and expensive exhaust systems meant to protect their employees from cooking related air pollutants (and accidental cooking fires). For better or worse, there is no such requirement in the building codes of private homes. That means some of us may not even have a kitchen exhaust system. If you don’t have an exhaust system, opening doors and windows during cooking can help. And if you are lucky enough to have a good exhaust system, here are some tips for how to use it.

1) Exhaust fans connected to a duct which leads to the exterior of your building are the best option for keeping your indoor air clean. However, many apartments and other small buildings simply rely on a fan (often in the microwave or oven hood) which lightly filters and then recirculates the air without pumping it outside. These fans are better than nothing, so long as you remember to clean the filter frequently and consider opening a door or window to add in some extra ventilation.

2) Turn on the exhaust fan every time you cook, and use its highest setting. The noise of the fan can be annoying, but it is better than inhaling dangerous gasses and particles.

3) Cook on the back burners to increase the distance between you and any air pollutants coming off of your cooking, and to increase the chances that they get pulled into the exhaust fan.

4) Keep your exhaust vent on for about 15 minutes after you are done cooking. This helps to ensure that any remaining cooking related pollutants have a chance to be pulled out of your indoor air.

At the end of the day, air pollutants from cooking and gas stovetops are certainly not the most pressing threat to our health. However, if you can reduce them with a simple flick of a switch then why not?