Rant about bathroom extractor fans

[Roger Mills]

Sounds like a good idea! I've not seen a powered slats jobby. Would you care to specify make/model/source?

[Huge]

Other than it's a Vent-Axia, I'm afraid I can't remember. It's a plain,

4", axial fan without timers, humidstats or WHY. I just switch it with a cord operated ceiling switch. The slats are operated by some kind of thermal thingy, judging by the delay with which they open and close.

("Oh, bugger, it's broken!" "Oh, no it isn't.")

[Andrew Gabriel]

Probably a magnetic solenoid. There's a 6" Vent-Axia in my garage like this.

There are also thermal solenoids - no laud bang, but slow to open and close.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Those are Deta which I don't think exists anymore. CPC used to do just about their whole range but it all suddenly vanished from everywhere.

I also have a 6" Vent-Axia one in the garage. That would have been really serious money, except I saw it in a pawn shop (Cash Converters), brand new in box, for about £5 or £10.

[Andrew Gabriel]

My first line of treatment at the first sign of a cold is a long hot shower or bath with a steamy room, so I'd need some way to keep the fan off during the bath/shower.

[Hugo Nebula]

The only relevent "regs" would be the Building Regulations.

If the building has undergone a change of use to a dwelling, or the number of dwellings in the building has changed, or if the room contains a bath or shower where there wasn't one before, _and_ the room containing the bath or shower does not have an opening window, then, yes, a fifteen minute over-run is required. Otherwise, it can be operated by an on-off switch.

[Roger Mills]

Ah, right - thanks. I was hoping not to have to replace the fan, but simply to replace the flap bit - which is separate, anyway - with an electrically operated one wired in parallel with the fan. Sounds like they're not like that!

[Andy Burns]

See if the Helios EVK series suits you (sorry, but their website makes it easier to post a link to a PDF rather than a HTML page)

[Roger Mills]

Interesting - thanks! The EVK100 looks about right for a bathroom fan. Can't find any prices anywhere - is there a pricelist somewhere?

[chris French]

In message , Andrew Gabriel writes

well, presumably there would be an isolator?

[John Rumm]

The one I fitted in my last workshop was like that - the internal shutter took about 20 secs to fully open or close.

[Pete Verdon]

There is, but TBH since this is a through-the-wall heat recovery ventilator rather than a full-bore extractor, it doesn't quite keep up with the shower during use. It clears the steam afterwards, so it's fine for my needs, but you'd still be able to get a good lungful.

Pete

[rgwbdsgn]

You may well want to speak to Adrain at Epicair - he really knows his stuff with fault finding on extractor fans. He runs epicair

[rgwbdsgn]

You may want to contact Adrian, the guy who runs epicair, what he doesn't know about extractor fans...

[John Rumm]

Don't you suppose this might have been fixed now in the three years since it was posted about?

[Mr Pounder]

Well spotted. 10/10 :-)