Cavity vent or old-school extractor?

[SolRobinson]

Hi, I just wanted to come on and see if anyone knew if these would be an old school way of ventilating your kitchen or if this is a cavity vent.

My house is a semi, it has no cavity insulation, just an empty cavity. All the houses in the street have one of these airbricks on the outside in where the kitchens were originally placed. We have moved our kitchen to the other side of the room so I'm now wondering whether we can just get rid of this vent or if it was a cavity vent. Anyone get any ideas? I have been in one of the neighbours properties and they have the vent on the outside but have just covered up the vent on the inside.

You can see a hole to the bottom left where the old extractor used to be ducted out.

Thanks.

 

[foxhole]

Kitchen vent, often had a pantry on inside ( depending on age of property).

 

[SolRobinson]

Kitchen vent, often had a pantry on inside ( depending on age of property).

Yeah, I thought so, no pantry, it was just on top of the wall units (original kitchen was still in when we bought it) sounds like I can just block it up on the inside then

 

[^woody^]

Cavity vents are soooo 1950, so even if it was venting the cavity you can confidently block it up in 2024.

If it's venting a room, that would need a little more confidence.

 

[SolRobinson]

Cavity vents are soooo 1950, so even if it was venting the cavity you can confidently block it up in 2024.

If it's venting a room, that would need a little more confidence.

How do you mean? This reads as if it’s not a cavity vent, but I should be cautious of blocking it up if it’s a room vent? The vent in the room will be replaced, but probably with a modern extractor fan. Not an old plaster vent. No drafts…

 

[JohnD]

Long ago, Building Regulations required kitchens to have a ventilated food cupboard so they would be relatively cool. Houses too small to have a pantry would have a cupboard built against an external wall with one or more airbricks.

Now that fridges are ubiquitous this is no longer a requirement

But I think that's what you've got.

 

[Mottie]

We had one like that in our 60's house (or 'mid-century' as they are now called!). I’m pretty sure it was for the boiler that needed air from the room to work as opposed to drawing its own air in. When we fitted a new boiler in the loft and remodelled the kitchen, I blocked it up. We have another in the bathroom but I fitted an extractor to the inside of that.

 

[^woody^]

How do you mean? This reads as if it’s not a cavity vent, but I should be cautious of blocking it up if it’s a room vent? The vent in the room will be replaced, but probably with a modern extractor fan. Not an old plaster vent. No drafts…

Yes, you should be cautious about blocking up any vent that is ventilating a room. Gas appliances may require vents, and removing vents may lead to less air movement and more condensation/ mould.

 

[SolRobinson]

We had one like that in our 60's house (or 'mid-century' as they are now called!). I’m pretty sure it was for the boiler that needed air from the room to work as opposed to drawing its own air in. When we fitted a new boiler in the loft and remodelled the kitchen, I blocked it up. We have another in the bathroom but I fitted an extractor to the inside of that.

Yes, you should be cautious about blocking up any vent that is ventilating a room. Gas appliances may require vents, and removing vents may lead to less air movement and more condensation/ mould.

Yeah you’d both be right. They had an old gas warm air boiler thing (not sure what they’re called exactly) but I guess it being there for the gas boiler would make more sense than a pantry vent (as it wasn’t inside a pantry) luckily the boiler was removed sometime before we bought the house and they had a combi put in which we have since replaced.
So I’m more confident I’d be ok to remove the interior vent, I’ll leave the external in just for ease.