Need fan in basement bathroom

[Marc]

The house we moved into has a finished basement. There's a bedroom with a half-bath, but no windows and no fan. I believe that's a no-no, code-wise. But, more importantly, we have people who stay there from time to time and I'd like to add an exhaust fan.

The problem is there's no place I can think of to put the exhaust. The bathroom is in the corner of the house and the two outside walls are concrete and below ground. Is there any such thing as a filtered fan, something like for kitchens? I could exhaust into the utility closet, where the well tank, water heater, and other plumbing is located. But I don't want the odors moving out into the family room. And my father-in-law can be aromatic.

Or would a kitchen-style fan exhausting back into the bathroom be enough?

Thanks.

[Oscar_Lives]

Just hook the exhaust into the return air of your furnace and let the filter take care of it.

[buffalobill]

since you usually need to provide windows equal to ten percent of the finished floor space, and 45% openable, smoke detector, carbon monoxide alarm, water alarm, radon testing, and a permit, and to supply fresh combustion and breathing air into the basement as well as bathroom exhaust, let's move the guests into the main floor living room or nearby motel for now. and buy dad some bean-o. :) also look at the radon mitigation fans that collect radon gas from your basement and constantly blow it up a pvc chimney. see various fans at:

[Marc]

Thanks, but I don't have forced hot air. However, you did give me an idea. My water heater is propane and has its vent tube right in that next-door closet. Maybe I can tie into that somehow. I would need some type of check valve to keep the water heater's exhaust from going into the bathroom, but it's a thought.

[Bill Kearney]

Not a good idea. Don't take the existing, working exhaust and introduce some new way to cause carbon monoxide to vent into the living space. Yes, there are probably ways to do it but I'd have a professional do it AND get the local building inspector's office to sign off on the plans before and the work once it's done. Given the risks associated with exhaust fumes I'd find a different solution.

But if that water heater exhaust runs somewhere, how about running something else along that same route?

Alternatively you could run the vent up through the walls above the bathroom. They do make booster units that'd let you tie into the exhaust vent for another nearby bathroom. Companies like Fantech make solutions for this. You might be lucky enough to have closet or something above the bathroom that'd lend itself to being ripped up to facilitate installing the new ducting. Otherwise it's easy enough, but messy, to rip open a wall and put up new drywall.

[Chub]

I'd just vent into the util closet next door and let the draw from the water heater vent suck it out.

[Marc]

Here I am following up my own post with an answer. First of all, thanks for the thoughts on this. But I did some more Googling and came up with a "ductless bathroom fan",

this is a half-bath, I don't need to get rid of humidity. This ductless fan should work fine. I found others like it and many refer to removing bathroom odors. It probably won't be as good as a real outside exhaust, but it'll be a whole lot better than what we have now - nothing.

I wasn't too crazy about messing with the propane exhaust, either, and there's no good way to run an exhaust upstairs. The walls just don't match up and nothing but dining room up there.

So thanks again for the ideas - well, all except the Beano one :-).

--Marc

Marc wrote:

[DT]

Well, ignoring the fact that an occupied basement area requires emergency exit windows in just about any location that has a building code...

The top of the concrete walls must rise above the ground at least a foot or so, right? Open the ceiling of the bathroom, and run the exhaust duct in between the ceiling joists, out through the rim joist.

Dennis

[spudnuty]

Toto makes a bidet/fan seat that also deodorizes and I have made a deodorizer out of a fan and special activated charcoal filter. In fact that has been down for a year and since we only have one bathroom it's sorely missed. Richard

[spudnuty]

Toto makes a bidet/fan seat that also deodorizes and I have made a deodorizer out of a fan and special activated charcoal filter. In fact that has been down for a year and since we only have one bathroom it's sorely missed. Richard

[spudnuty]

I'm answering my own post. I see that Broan has an activated charcoal filter but I wonder if it will remove the methane and ammonia that will be produced. I used a filter mask canister that was made to remove these. Richard

[Goedjn]

It needs two means of egress separated by a rated fire assembly, but neither of them has to be a window. Windows are just the easiest way to meet the requirement. A concrete tunnel with sufficient headroom would work just as well.

[Jeff Wisnia]

You could always scrounge around used building material yards and pick up an American Standard "Ventaway" toilet. (AKA "The fart catcher.") Repair parts for them are still available.

They stopped making those a few years ago, probably for water conservation reasons because they use running water to pull the air out of the bowl and send that air down the drain after the trap section of the toilet.

IIRC you pulled up on the flush handle to turn on that water flow before you sat down. Pushing down on the handle to flush the toilet stopped the venting flow.

Happy Holidays,

Jeff

[Marc]

My house is on a slope, so the front of the basement is well above ground and has plenty of windows and a couple doors. But I like the concrete tunnel. I'll start digging as soon as the ground thaws :-)

[hvactech2]

This is not recommended. never tie anything like this into a flue as it could easily cause CO entry into the living space.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ spam protection measure, Please remove the 33 to send e-mail

[BocesLib]

If you are just worried about smell, get an air freshner and a spray air freshner when the going gets rough in there.

Panasonic does make a through wall unit that might work nice for you too (if it vents outside)

As for the other guy even suggesting you put it into the furnance return, you are out of your mind! geez when that thing is running it would suck out the smell and pump it right into the house!