Mine was noisy so I thought the motor had bad bearings. I opened it up, and was shocked with the amount of dirt in there. The fan blades were so loaded with dirt, it's no wonder they were noisy. Since I could not get the vacuum cleaner up past the blades, I removed the whole fan, and ended up just tossing it in a bucket of water and washing all of it. Of course, I'm letting that shaded pole motor completely dry before I use it.
Tomorrow I have to go and see if I can buy a vacuum cleaner hose extension pipe to get all the way up to the roof. (Or I'll just duct tape a piece of PVC pipe on the hose).
Anyhow, how come they dont put filters on those fans? (Or do some of them come with filters?)
Now, if I could figure out where all that dirt comes from..... Especially since I seldom use that fan, except on real hot days in summer to get some of the heat out of the house. (or once a year when I do a big stinky)....
Home Depot sells a product I find useful. It's a green pad, maybe 20x25, with a black plastic grid as a backer. It's a lightweight version of a blanket-style air filter, intended as a furnace filter, but I use it anywhere I need a custom filter. For instance, I use it to fashion intake filters for my computers. It cuts easy and can be either washed or replaced when it gets dirty.
The primary purpose of a bathroom exhaust fan is to remove moist air. For that purpose, a filter would be an impediment. In addition, most people can't be trusted to change their furnace filter on time.
Filters are a bad idea. As another poster pointed out, an important purpose of the fan is to remove moisture.
The fan blows air to the outside. Worrying about dirt in the system is pointless. None of that dirt is coming back inside.
The dirt is completely natural. I don't care how clean your house is, take a look at light streaming in through a window. You're going to see little particles floating around.
That's not to mention the cloud of dead skin floating around _every_ human being.
If you're one of those people obsessive about being clean and germ free, read up on mites:
Face it, we're animals living in animal stew. Odd, thing is, it's good for you.
The issue is not about the presence of dirt/dust in a house. The issue is that the build up of dust on the exhaust fan make it noisy. That is why it is incorrect to say "Worrying about dirt in the system is pointless."
I have an exhaust fan in a basement bathroom. My shop is also located in the basement. This causes a lot of dust to be sucked up into the fan along with the moist air. The dust sticks to the squirrel cage and causes it to vibrate. Not only does this make the fan very loud in the bathroom, but the vibrations are transmitted through the floor into the living room.
When the fan is clean, you can't hear it in the living room, but once it gets caked with dust, there is a low hum throughout the living room.
So, the point of worrying about "dirt in the system" is that the dirt makes the fan extremely noisy. One could also assume that the build up of dirt causes the motor run hotter and to work harder because of the extra weight and un-evenness of the dirt on the moving parts.
You need the right type of filter. The best method is to take the element out of a 1950 Chevy oil bath filter. Clean it in gas and put some fresh oil on it when you mount in on the air intake.
And I always thought they were installed because of stinky poop odors.... :)
I dont worry much about moisture. In winter the air needs moisture, I just let it go into the rest of the house. In summer I dont take real hot baths, I just make it warm.
I did manage to clean out the whole vent system today. I took a large bucket-like container, put it under the vent, and used my small pressure washer. Most of the dirt and water went in the bucket. The little bit that got on the floor, I just mopped up. Now I know that vent is REAL clean.
But now I see another problem. That vent is right above the heat register in my bathroom. Even when it's not running, it appears to me that it's a large heat waster. I can see light from the roof when I look up there, so it's just open to the outside, and the register right under it just pushes heat right out the roof. I've decided to NOT replace the fan, and just cut a piece of tin to fit in there and screw onto the same screws that are there to attach the fan. That way I can still install the ceiling trim and light fixture which is part of it. When Spring arrives, I'll put the fan back. So, I guess this will become a yearly event, to SEAL the thing in winter.
It's kind of a stupid thing. We insulate, and weatherstrip out homes, yet we have this wide open device venting our heat out of the house, at ceiling level. Since heat rises, it's just going outside, even when the fan is not running. What a waste!
The OP says he wants to get "all the way up to the roof". I used the word "system" to refer to cleaning the whole thing. Go ahead, clean the fan, that only makes sense.
Clean the rest of it when the OCD police aren't on patrol.
I thought they all had flaps and this one did too. But it dont. I think I'll have to find another vent that will fit in here. Till then, I'm just sealing it up. Hopefully I can find one that fits the existing pipe to the roof. I dont want to rip the roof apart.
When I installed my new Panasonic Fan/Light/Nightlight I did not want it to get clogged up like you describe. I also did not want to take out the mot or every few months to clean it. I bought a sheet of 1" thick reusable fur nace filter material and cut pieces to fit in my grill. That worked out pe rfectly. Now I just remove the filters, wash them with soap and water and put them back in.
I installed two bathroom Panasonic fans (Fan only) for a customer several m onths ago who had a cat. The fans that I removed were caked with dander. I tried to use the same filter material that I used on my Fan/Light/Nightli ght but the space was too tight. I suggested to the homeowner that he try looking around for some other type of filter material that was thinner. Ma ybe even a screen would work.
One thing about installing a filter or screen is that it will affect the fa n performance. Bath fans are not designed to accommodate a filter. Havin g something in there will affect the air flow. However, based on my own ex perience I have not noticed that the fan is under-performing. It is import ant to keep the fan and filter clean. I should note that when I installed my new fan, I relocated it from the builder's position over the toilet. I installed mine over the shower which has made a tremendous difference in th e amount of steam removed. No more foggy mirrors.
I think that it might be more effective to brush the inside of your bath fa n air duct instead of just vacuuming it. I have a brush kit that I use for my dryer vent. It works for bath fan air ducts as well.
I wrote a 19 page booklet entitled "Almost Everything You Need To Know To R epair A Bathroom Exhaust Fan In Your Home". It is free to visitors of my w eb site. In it I list every bath fan manufacturer's contact information fo r obtaining replacement parts.
I've come to the conclusion that my exhaust fan is missing this flapper. I was ready to just buy another complete exhaust fan, but it appears that all of them are now made with the exhaust part on the SIDE of the unit, and connects to a flexible hose or solid pipe.
Mine goes straight to the roof, using about a 7" pipe. Mine has a round ceiling panel (most sold are square). I dont want to have to rip the roof apart, nor have to modify my bathroom ceiling. Not to mention the cost to replace the thing, when all it needs is a "DAMPER".
It appears that the word "DAMPER" is the correct word for this "flapper".
Anyhow, rather than spend the money for a new exhaust fan, and then have to rip the house apart, I'd rather keep what I have. My fan is good, and the piping is also good. So, what I need is a DAMPER that will fit above the fan blade. But where can I buy such a damper? Anyone have any idea? I did not see anything like that is the "home repair" stores I visited recently.
I'm assuming a 7" damper may be hard to find, but if I can get a 6" one, I can add some metal and modify it to fit.
Any idea where I might buy this damper????
I should mention that above my fan, there is a plastic ring, which serves no purpose. I can only guess that ring was once a flapper of some sort, and being plastic, it broke. Yet there were no pieces of broken plastic in there.... Worse yet, there is no brand name or model number on the fan. However there is a wiring diagram inside the housing, which says "Ventline" on it. I'm thinking this may be the brand name, but when I look them up on the web, all I can find are roof vents for RVs.
In the case of vent in our bathrooms, sheet metal damper is part of unit housing, at the outside exhaust port there is plastic flap behind screen. Housing is secured with rubber grommets and screws, sort of make it floating to minimize noise.
I addition to the backdraft damper on the fan, there should also be a backd raft damper on the outside vent cap which will prevent air from coming in. Are you feeling cold air coming down from your bath fan?
A 7" duct is very big for a bathroom fan. Maybe you have a fan unit that i s made for another type of installation. Can you post some pictures?
Nutone or Broan might have some fans with with a 7" duct out the back that you can use. Check out this model:
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30 years ago some friends of mine bought an old house from someone who did his own work around the house. All of the faucets, sinks, shower heads, so me lights and one exhaust fan were from motor homes. Whenever something br oke it was a major project to make it right.
Yes, when it's windy I feel a lot of air coming in. It wasn't as bad before I removed the fan and cover, (and all the dirt). Temporarily I just shoved some rags into it (without the fan). I immediately noticed its warmer in the bathroom.
It could be from something else????? I dont really have a way to post pictures, but it is definitely a 7" After sticking my head way up in there and using a magnifying glass, there is small print on that label, which says "7 inch" and also a model number. Ventline Group - Philips Ind. Model 2644
I'm finding nothing on the web for this model, but Ventline does have a website. This model dont show up, and most of their stuff is for motor homes. I emailed them yesterday, but so far got no reply.
Thanks So far, it seems every vent on that site, and all the ones I looked at in the stores have the vent coming out of the SIDE of it. Mine goes STRAIGHT UP! On the roof, there's a cap over it. Picture a piece of round furnace ducting going straight out the roof, with a cap on top. At the bath ceiling level, the fan goes inside and there is a flange to hold the fan, as well as a light. Then a round metal cap, with the clear plastic light piece fits over that. It's all very simple, except to get parts. That snap in plastic ring that was above the fan blade, appears to have onc had some sort of damper built into it. But whatever was there, is long gone. Where it went puzzles me.
Yea, I've worked on both motor homes and trailer houses. Everything seems to be special and odd. I always wondered why they did that? You'd think that the items would cost more because they are not mass produced standard items, but apparently there must be some cost savings for the companies that make these homes. I once worked on the wiring in a trailer house and none of the outlets or switches had boxes. Instead they had special outlets/switches that snapped into the wall, and before they went into the wall, the wires were fed into the rear, then a special piece snapped over that, and that piece became the part that holds it in the wall. The first one I tried to open had me totally confused. I had to remove some of the paneling to figure out what was there. Once I figured it out, it was simple to remove them, but I could not find replacements, so I had to enlarge the hole in the wall, and install a box. I can only guess that these "enclosures" around the outlet/switch acted as the "box", as far as the code.
Another OLD trailer home was built with studs that were something like 2
7/8" by 1 1/8". I never understood the reasoning for that, except to maybe save a little weight. At least most of the newer trailers seem to use standard 2x4s, which is what my guest house/storage trailer home has.
Maybe my bath vent comes from a RV or Trailer house. I have run across a few other oddball things in here.
That link that I posted was of a fan that had a rear 7" discharge, but it i s rated for 210 CFM's. I expect that your fan moves around the same amount of air with a 7" discharge. Usually a bath fan has a 4" duct or sometimes a 3" with a 50 to 100 CFM rating.
Do you have access to this fan from the attic above? If so I would suggest that you consider replacing it. It is possible to replace the fan entirely from below using one of the Panasonic models, which are made for retrofit. That will be my next booklet.
I did look at the Ventline web site and they have some models that appear s imilar to what you describe. They look as though they can be fitted in pla ce from below, but I did not see any installation instructions. You can tr y calling them and talk to technical support to see about replacing yours w ith a newer model Ventline fan. Maybe it is an easy swap-out.
I know, people can be incredibly stupid. I'm tired of it being an accepted norm that people don't understand basic facts about home maintenance and l iving. It's just as stupid as the socially accepted norm that it's okay to be bad at math, what the f!@#? People need to get competent.
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