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Bathroom Vent

Hi, I have a bathroom vent in my masterbath that is approx 15 feet away from the shower. Was wanting to know if this is adequate enough to vent that warm moist air to the outside?

Thanks in advance, Lance

Reply to
LanceMan
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does it work well? room have window?

shorter run is always better, but it a compromise between run length, power of blower motor, possible noise, and wether the run has lots of bends and what kind of vent line, smooth metal better than the plastic flexible corrugated type

Reply to
hallerb

Bathroom exhaust fans are designed to change the air in the space so many times per hour to remove commode odor. As a secondary function they will remove shower steam if located near the shower and if the unit is of enough CFM. In your situation it probably won't do much for the steam, given its distance from the shower unless it's a pretty powerful unit

Reply to
RBM

Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately the room does not have a window and I haven't been up in the attic to check out the ventilation (just bought this house a couple months ago - it was built in 1983). The vent is a small 9x9 unit with a rating of 50 cfm from what I could see.

Reply to
LanceMan

You can call your town (state) building inspector. It's probably fine. All a bathroom fan does is lower the relative humidity of the air so the water won't condense on the walls. I have a 6x10' bathrooom with 7' ceiling. That's 420 cuft. I think the fan I put in is 70 cfm so in 6 minutes it will drop the humidity in half.

Reply to
Stubby

Unfortunately, a 50 CFM unit for a bathroom that size is pretty much worthless

Reply to
RBM

50 cfm is the min required by my building code. Doubtful it does more than make noise. IMO

I just installed a 100 cfm with 3 feet of 4" hard pipe, not flexible stuff. It does remove the steam and toilet odors.

Reply to
SQLit

Braun makes a very powerful bath exhaust fan that is whisper quiet.

Reply to
Danimal

What brand/model? Is it fairly quiet?

Reply to
Slingblab

I think you're referring to Broan. They recently came out with an "ultra quiet" line which are absolutely excellent!!!

Reply to
RBM

There really are as lot of factors that come into play. While it is better to be close to the shower, it may be fine. The question is does it serve the purpose.

Assuming it seems to be doing a reasonable just, I would do two things. First make sure that it is vented out of your home and not terminating in the attic or just ending over a eve vent in hopes it will go outside. Venting into the attic is really bad.

I suspect you might profit from replacing the existing fan at some time with one of larger capacity and less noise. The ones usually put in by builders are super cheap.

Reply to
Joseph Meehan

Lots of factors here. Volume of your bathroom, amount of moisture after a shower, shower duration, volume flow of the fan, the length of time the fan is operated after a shower. An inexpensive upgrade is to swap the fan switch with a 30-minute timer switch. For more money you could upgrade the fan with a more powerful model (Panasonic makes quality fans).

Reply to
Phisherman

its VERY important theres a air supply to allow air to enter the bathroom easily.

My dad had a big one in his old house, to be of any use getting steam out of his windowless room the door had to be open at least a crack.

rooms with fans should have vents to the hall for easy air flow

Reply to
hallerb

Only if the attic is inside rather than outside. The line between the two is the insulation layer. You want to vent to the outside of the insulation which can be in the attic.

Reply to
Stubby

any vent is better than nothing, If you can replace the switch with a timer switch that will stay on for 15 min after your shower, even better..I live in a high rental area and always wire the vent to the light , so It's always on when the light is on...you wouldn't believe how many mold problems I've dealt with because the tenant doesn't use the vent...personally, I think the quality of those bath vents is way less than the price..scott

Reply to
scottyo41

Take a steamy shower and see.

Reply to
mm

I've seen some nasty rot from taking that advice -- warm, moist air vented underneath a roof makes for condensation in the attic space. Yes, the attic space is ventilated and the condensation will eventually evaporate, but in the mean time you have wet rafters and wet roof sheathing. Do it right, have it vented outside the attic.

Reply to
Joshua Putnam

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