LAST YEAR Nutone discontinued the satin chrome grille its classic ceiling / wall exhaust fan, replacing it with an unexciting plastic housing. It’s taken me a while – but here are two other options to dash ahead of Nutone on our selection list.
First: The Marley 1080 (first, leading image). No chrome. But that’s a powder-coated steel grille…much better…and I like that brassy knob in the center.There is also a wall-mount model with pull switch. Marley sells their fans nationally through electrical distributors such as GrayBar, Cresent Electric, AllPhase, for example. You can find the fans via online retailers, as well, and there may be some price competition… but I’ll tell you, I like dealing with folks I can talk to. Marley’s website does not have unique url’s for each page. Get to this (and other fans) via: Ventilation/Bathroom/Residential/General Home and Kitchen.
Second: The Trade-Wind AF7 from Universal Metal Industries. It also has a steel grille with a powder coated paint finish – nice. This fan is a legacy of the Trade-Wind brand, which has been around for decades. I see lots of Trade-Wind ads in my vintage marketing materials. I did not ask the company for its distributors, but I am assuming that as with Marley fans, you can get them from local electrical distributors. Link to the Trade-Wind site here.
Be careful when specifying these exhaust fans for your kitchens. There are usually building codes with air flow requirements; check with your Building Department or another professional, or you may not pass inspection. Marley’s spec sheet for the model I show says it handles 280 cfm. The Trade-Wind AF7 says 290 cfm. One Nutone model is 210 cfm, other models are less. Note: If you use one of these, property specified, you do not need a range hood. Some folks continue to prefer the range hood, though, to catch grease as well.
Drum roll, please. These two options hereforeto move ahead of Nutone on the retro recommendation list.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Speaking of Nutone, does anyone know of a site featuring photos of vintage exhaust fans? Our kitchen has a Nutone that on the exterior of the house has this cool adjustable flap to open when you need to use the fan in the kitchen. I had never seen anything like it before. The flap is getting rusted and I want to restore it so I am searching for ideas. Also, how to remove layers of heavy paint from the interior part of the fan and not damage the metal?
(Pam, if there is a more appropriate forum for these queries, please let me know, but it looked like the forum was mostly steel cabinets or for sale items–thanks!)
Kristin, sorry, I cut the DIY advice that came from one reader. This is not a DIY site, so I don’t really want to go there. I will make this recommendation: Try R&I — they seem to be able to handle vintage Nutone requests, and maybe they can help. To anyone else considering fussing with their vintage fans: Educate yourself and take appropriate precautions relative to environmental and safety issues. For example, lead can be in paint, asbestos can be in insulation, EPA links on my Fast & Easy Pages and New?Start Here.
Thanks Pam! Sorry about that, I just know there are many of us that get into the same fixes with our little homes and it is hard not to go off in tangents! In fact, I spent a good hour+ bouncing from one reno/design topic to the next last Friday night with D’Lana Arthur of Moonshine Shades!
Great intel, Pam. I like the Air-O 808 by Tradewind — they say they’ve been making it for almost 50 years!
Thank you, Gretchen, for noticing. I was pretty proud of myself for tracking these down.
I found some really cool, custom order exhaust fans here customhttp://www.laurelhurstfancompany.com/ Alas, (sigh) I cannot afford one on my very small renovation budget.