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How to Install a Through-the-Wall Exhaust Fan | Ask This Old House

Bathroom
By Quentin Peters
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Scott Caron, master electrician for Ask This Old House, helps a homeowner put in an exhaust fan to rid her kitchen of smelly cooking odors.
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Scott installed a Broad 507 Chain Operated Utility Fan, which is manufactured by Broan. Scott used cellular PVC to shape the frame housing for the fan. That can be found at most home centers. Expert assistance with this project was provided by Caron Electric

Shopping List for How to Install a Through-the-Wall Exhaust Fan::
– Exhaust fan
– Nonmetallic 14-2 sheathed electrical wire
– Wire connectors

Tools for How to Install a Through-the-Wall Exhaust Fan:
– Stud finder
– Utility knife
– Reciprocating saw
– Drill/driver
– Pliers
– Wire cutters

Steps for How to Install a Through-the-Wall Exhaust Fan:
1. Use a stud finder to locate studs and find an empty bay to install the fan. Or drill a hole and use fish tape to find structure.
2. Using a pencil, trace an outline of the circular exhaust housing.
3. Cut out plaster using a utility knife.
4. Remove lathe using a reciprocating saw and remove any insulation that may potentially block exhaust.
5. Outside, trace an outline of the dimensions of the square exhaust housing and remove siding with the utility knife.
6. Trace an outline of the circular exhaust within the square dimensions and remove sheathing with the reciprocating saw.
7. Screw the outer square exhaust housing to the structure using screws from the kit and a drill/driver.
8. Locate an electrical source with constant power.
9. Connect nonmetallic 14-2 sheathed electrical wire to the power source by splicing the wires together using pliers. Cover the connections with wire connectors.
10. Place the circular housing in the hole, pull wire through, and make the connections to the electrical box.
11. Insert the fan into the housing and plug it into the electrical box.
12. Insert the fan cover using the cap screw.

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How to Install a Through-the-Wall Exhaust Fan | Ask This Old House
https://www.youtube.com/user/thisoldhouse/

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Ask This Old HouseConstructioncooking odordiydo it yourselfelectricianexhaust fanfanhome improvementHome Repairhow toKevin O'ConnorkitchenNorm AbramremodelingrenovationRichard Tretheweyroger cookscott caronThis Old HouseTom Silva

About The Author

Quentin Peters

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  3. When I first saw the fan I was thinking "Man I don't care how well that spring thinks it seals, that's gonna be chilly." Then I see all that no insulation inside the wall. The bare drywall around the attic access. "Oh… Never mind."

  12. just get a range hood with a charcoal filters and replace the filters every few months. this is just venting out heated or conditioned air outside just throwing money down the fan

  13. Scabittron wiring bro…!!! First of all, no JB’s in the attic. He’s using his linesman to strip the wires. Plus it’s a nice house and he put in a pull string fan. How ghetto! Do it right!!!

  16. محتوااااااا مميز و راااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااائع اتوقع لكي النجاح الكبير استمرى فى تقديم هذا المحتوا و استمري فى البداع و كل الشكر لكي على المعلومة المفيده …..0….. و لكن اهتمي ب السيو ..SEO …هذا راي فى محتواك و اتمني رايك من اجل تطوير القناه .0..مع تحيات جيش دعم محمد زيدان . .0….0..الينك القناه..0.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BahIFTwprNE&t=54s
    ……………………….

  18. No weather sealant (that is shown), uses saws-all instead of a simple hole saw (way cleaner), and appears to be cutting into a ship lap wall without advising for testing of asbestos insulation. Totally possible there was more we didn't see because of the quick cuts, but this feels like an overly-simplified install to me.

  29. I also do electrical work, and would be embarrassed for the home owner to see a gouge like that in the interior wall. No reason why he couldn't have gotten within 1/8" all around with all those new Dewalt tools and razor knife. Holy moly… and lineman's pliers as strippers. Maybe that's what gets TV shots nowadays, obviously.

  41. lol…Jabroni job…That's an asinine placement…I don't care what a customer says; it goes where it's supposed to go, or hire someone else…
    Her microwave was the wrong size for the cabinet.
    She should have gotten a range hood

  49. I have a really old Fasco exhaust fan in my kitchen wall. It didn't work so I thought I'd just replace it and clean the vent to outside. To my surprise, it had no vent to outside. Why would anyone install it without a vent?

  51. Really more if an industrial "solution"; better to have done it correctly for a residential house. (And what the smoke will do to the ceiling … !)

  55. I’m done with the chain pull vents. I think they are too 20th century. Also, I don’t know why the power box is on the bottom of the pipe and the wire doesn’t just go into the side of the wall and runs to a switch. Also the grill is cheap plastic, ugly. And the fan is too small and under powered to get that smoke under control before the smoke detector goes off. I see some comments saying the exhaust duct would best be routed through the ceiling and into the attic. Well, how does it get past the second floor, if there is one? That would be a lot more work than what they are doing or would have had to do by running a duct across the ceiling from the stove which is too far from the windows. Opening them to vent the smoke out would be ineffective. Given the distance. To switch the stove to a countertop unit with a hood and get a stacker oven and microwave combo closer to the window, would serve better than that tiny fan so far away. She would have to scrape and repaint the ceiling to get that rotten fish smell out anyway, with or without that fan. My parents got a countertop stove with something called a down draft. It’s the stupidest thing I’ve seen. The engineers were counting on the smoke too easily get drawn down into a vent on the stove. It works a little bit, but most of the smoke goes up and sets off the smoke detector. I don’t know how my parents got sold into that when they got the house built. You really need a hood that vents outside. Luckily my exhaust fan is right next to my oven, so the smoke would just go right out and nowhere else.

  57. Here in 2021. Unsure how I feel about this solution. For a quick easy fix, this may have been good, and also for television. But for something that requires more efficiency & convenience over a longer length of time, I think a more controlled way to vent the air out might have been better.

  59. I love this channel and it teaches me a lot, but this install is super ugly and seems wrong. It would have been way smarter to run it up through the microwave and through the cabinet and outside, either through the wall or the roof. Considering they had to go in the attic already, why not just do it right? In my opinion that just hurt resale and made an ugly kitchen 🙁

  62. Seriously a ghetto pull chain hanging in front of the window? If I hired a "pro" I would want at least a wall switch or do it the right way from the start and vent the hood vent outside through the attic.

  65. Lets burn some crap in the kitchen… Huh, the hottest smoke and air travel along the ceiling until exhausted.

    <Sarcasm> Weird, I have never witnessed that before…

    How about actually solving the problem. Install a real exhaust system (kitchen hood) above the source. Case closed.

    This video is a sham meant to sell the wrong solution.

    I beg people with this problem to solve it in the correct way… It sounds more complicated but ultimately, its probably easier and cheaper (in most cases) to tie into an existing exhaust duct run than plumb one on the other side of your giant kitchen, My 0$.02, I guess…

  74. I'm shocked that anyone would advertise such shoddy workmanship! From the oversized hole that is just covered up by the trim plate, to a pull-chain that goes through that same trim plate, the work is done without any finesse or regard for the end product at all. His "expertise" is as new as the tools used to accomplish the work! The romex wire twisted tight at the box makes me cringe! Misuse of the term "facia" also bothers me. Fast, dirty and cheap! What happens if this woman decides to put up some curtains? That will be fun with that pull-chain, won't it? I hope she got a great deal, because it looks like a great deal of headache for her in the future. Does this guy even know that those microwaves have a feature where you can reorient the exhaust fumes in three different directions. I agree with everyone who says that this is a fart fan for a bathroom. It should be used for shower steam and not for cooking. The effort should have been made to turn the microwave exhaust upward and vent it through the cabinet in the usual way. But she obviously contracted with another blow and go artist who installed the microwave on the cheap! I feel sorry for the unsuspecting public that are naive and able to be taken advantage of by these fly by night workman who have no scruples and are just interested in making a quick buck! And for God's sake use a proper switch! This isn't an attic light next to some pull down stairs!

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