I came across what I first though was a return vent in the kitchen ceiling without a filter. I opened it up and it was a electronic damper with ductwork about 5ft horizontally to the exterior wall with a passive vent cover.
I haven’t come across this before. The house was high end new construction 5k sqft.
Was there a vented range hood, or a recirculating hood ie… microwave over range?
Yep, there was a large vent hood over the cook-top.
Preinstalled venting for optional exhaust?
My guess would be make up air from the exterior to replace what the exhaust fan is removing. You know those Texans think they have to BBQ 1/2 cow at one time:roll:
That was my thought also Charley. Some of those Range Hoods can suck the spots off a Dalmatian at 30 paces. Imagine the potential for negative pressure and backdrafting of the WH, etc.
Now, if there was no Hood installed, it would be an exhaust for the recirculating microwave fan, or for a difficult location to run duct work from the range area.
link from a fellow NTX Nachi member:
Could it be a pre installed island exhaust vent?
