1940's Original Home Build Kitchen Exhaust Fan - Restored

[Isaiah Sampson]

A family friend owns a rowhouse built in the 1940's with a pull chain exhaust fan in the exterior wall next to the stove. The grill was caked in multiple layers of house paint on the outside, and the inside plus the fan were caked in what would later turn out to be about up to 1/8" of grease and dust slime. I accidentally talked myself into restoring this after the friend began discussing remodeling the kitchen and wanted to replace the fan, and I quickly objected.

The grease was so bad that I went through 2 gallons of acetone after having to let the exterior parts and grill sit in two separate acetone baths for a few hours before scrubbing would actually remove anything.

No manufacturer tag, regrettably. Simple two-pole shaded pole motor, 9" blades, bearings in perfect condition, self-aligning bronze balls surrounded by a felt pad. I know this fan is never actually going to be oiled by the friend, so I heavily oiled the felt pad reservoirs, which were fortunately dry and not caked with goo at all. I'm not sure if the nuts/knobs were originally exposed brass or painted, as they were entirely covered in verdigris under house paint and I like the color contrast, and so didn't paint them. 

The fan originally had a power cord ending in a non-polarized plug, inserted into a receptacle inside the cutout in the wall. I did screw up and attached 3-4 feet of cord out of habit, forgetting until I showed up to reinstall it that the distance from receptacle to motor is about 6 inches. I didn't have the time or patience by then to go back home and trim/resolder, so.....there's a loop of cord in the wall. Also, it really needed a right-angle shallow depth plug because the receptacle is only 1" from the face of the wall plaster. The friend is happy though.

[Michael Rathberger]

Reminds me of an artic aire. The original finish is white. 

[Patrick Ray]

Great save on that fan! 

[Daniel Herczeg]

How well does it run?

[James Lawson]

It turned out good. Waaaaay too many homeowners are itching to tear something like that out and replace it with the latest piece of Chinese scrap metal. Good on you for saving it!

[Isaiah Sampson]

In initial greasy condition in the wall, it sounded wobbly, and indeed one blade was bent about 1/4" out of alignment from the others. I balanced the blades to the best of my ability to about 1/16" between each other, and it runs nice and quiet. It draws 0.55 amps steady.