Bathroom Fans

[David Gale]

My wife and I recently bought our first house, which is, of course, a fixer-upper. One of our "immediate" repairs is to add fans to the two bathrooms that don't currently have them (go figure--two bathrooms with showers, no fans, one half-bath with a fan). What brands would you recommend?

My wife likes the sound of the fan, so I'm thinking 1.0-2.0 sones would be great. The main bath is about 65 square feet, while the other is only about

30 (yes, it's really small), though we're considering expanding that one eventually, so it'd probably get the same size fan as the main bathroom.

I went to Home Depot, as well as my local hardware store, to check out their selections, but most of the "demo" models were either not plugged in or broken, so I couldn't test many out.

Also, would the light in a fan/light combination be bright enough to act as the primary light source?

Thanks in advance,

-David

[Art]

If installation allows I would look for a fan with the motor at the exhaust. Can be more powerful and quiet. Also use a timer switch so it can run several minutes after a shower and the bath is empty..... it will turn off automatically getting more of the humid air out.

[Bob in CT]

The lights that come in the low noise Panasonic fans aren't. You need another light. Personally, regardless of what your wife says, I'd put in Panasonic fans. It's nice not hearing anything when you shower.

[Joseph Meehan]

I just put in a Braun a few months ago. It is quiet and the light is plenty bright for a small to mid size bath. I kept it on a dimmer, but if you do not need to dim it a fluorescent lamp could be even brighter.

[David Gale]

Installation would allow that (ceiling goes straight to unfinished attic), but, again, my wife has made it clear that she likes some noise from the fan, so she wouldn't. And we're still newly-wed enough that she gets to veto. ;-)

Will look into the timer switch. Thanks!

-David

[Joe Bobst]

NO. You'll need auxilliary lighting over your vanity mirror. And consider one of the new night-lamp/outlet combos from Pass & Seymour-Lergrand (TM8HWL-ICC). It has a LED nightlamp set that will probably outlast your house. These are required in hallways by some building codes but IMHO they're handy as can be scattered all around the house in dark areas. They come in white, almond and ivory colors so far, but not brown or black,.so you may have to paint your own. HTH

Joe

[xrongor]

if by primary you mean sole light source, i think not. not necessarily because it isnt bright enough, but because its probably not in a good location. better to also have lights at the mirror itself. keeps the ladies happy. its also nice when you need to fix/clean something in there and can brighten it up real good instead of working around your shadow.

randy

[David Gale]

Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. She wants the noise; I don't want too much; hence my desire for 1.0 to 2.0. I was eyeing a .8 sones model at HD, but she said it was too quiet.

Yes, we're planning on that. We currently have a POS ceiling light as the primary, with auxillary lights alongside the mirror; I was wondering whether I could replace the primary with a fan/light combo, or if I should replace it with a light and add in a fan next to it. My big question there is how bright the lights are after being filtered through the standard glazing--since all the fan/light combos we saw had translucent white glazing rather than totally transparent, it's hard to know how bright a 100-watt bulb would look. Would the light from a fan/light combo be strong enough to act as a primary (not sole) light source?

Thanks again,

-David

[Joseph Meehan]

You have my pity. You must love her greatly to live with a woman who WANTS the noise. She's one in a million.

BTW when you get it home it will sound much louder than it did on display. The small room makes it sound a lot louder. Take a small radio into the bath and set the volume to a nice level. Now got to HD and play it at the same level, I doubt if you can hear it.

[m Ransley]

Sones as a sound rating is BS and deceptive, DB or decibils is more realistic. Sones are Apx 1/10 th of Db . a 3 Db increase takes a doubling of power in amplifiers. Panasonic is quiet and good, But my Broan has a 3 way switch , Lights on a dimmer, Heat lamp and fan on a timer, all custom. If wife likes noise, get CFM and be happy.

[Mike Fritz]

100 watts would probably too much heat for such a small lamp. Make sure you look into that.

--Mike

[FireBrick]

I STRONGLY suggest and agree with a timer. For a major reason that most people are not aware of. When the CO meters/alarms became popular, the Fire Dept. I served with was plagued with many alarms from homes were people came home from work/whatever to find their CO alarm sounding.

With our very accurate meters we would indeed find evidence of CO in the home but now could not find a cause. After a couple of these calls we found a common thread. The people were showering and then leaving the house. But for whatever reason they were NOT turning off the bathroom exhaust fans.

We soon found from the manufacturers that even a small exhaust fan could evacuate enough air that the house would pull a negative pressure and normal furnace or water heater gases were not venting to the outside but being pulled into the house setting off the alarms.

In today's tight house construction techniques, not enough make up air was entering the cracks and crevices.

After explaining the situation to the Village inspectors, they introduced a building code that all home exhaust fans in new or remodeled residences be wired onto timers.

A strong safety issue if you shower before retiring for the night and forget to turn off an ultra quiet exhaust fan.

[David Gale]

Most of the fan/light combos I looked at said they used 100 watt bulbs, so I'm assuming that's not too hot for them.

-David

[Bill]

Hey David! Consumer Reports says the Panansonic model is the best ceiling exhaust fan on the market. I did a quick Google "Froogle" search for a Panasonic FV-08VQ2 and came up with several websites of vendors who sell these fans. Check out this one:

This exhaust fan should give you years of trouble free quiet service...your wife may hate it since it does not make any noise!

:-) Regards, Bill

[Terry]

Somewhere the attic was mentioned? While the following is probably obvious: Make sure, especially if you are in a cool/cold climate to exhaust 'outside'. The last thing anyone needs is pounds of damp air condensing into water in their attic or roof space. (People still ask about that! On this and other similar news groups!) Again if you are in a cool climate I'll mention that we had to ensure that the vents to the outside sloped 'down', not 'up' as recommended! Because in cold weather the warm damp air condensed in the vent pipes and moisture ran back into the house! All we get now is a slight icicle on the outer edge of the vent housing. Also when you are assembling/installing the vent piping, using say a combination of flexible and sections of metal piping, position the joins so that any moisture that does condense will drain 'down' the pipe to the outer end. You can also use duct tape and/or large pipe clamps. Good luck.

[m Ransley]

Yea FIREBRICK why not mandate working Flues. BS,BS.BS. your answer

[Phisherman]

Yes, but you'll need more light for shaving or makeup application. If sound is not an issue, get the one with the largest cfm. A 30-minute timer to automatically turn off the fan is nice to have.

[Art]

Actually our town now requires fresh air vents in the house where a gas appliance such as a dryer is used so he may have a valid point.

[xrongor]

thats the key. just make sure you dont go higher than what it says on the box. some are rated for less.

randy

[MC]

Would be great to rig up a moisture sensor to turn on the fan and a timer to keep in on for a period of time then shutoff automatically.

My fans were wired to a seperate switch, but finally had to wire to the light switch, got tired of trying to convince the kids and wife to turn the fan on when they shower and was starting to have a mildew problem.

I like the idea of the timer as would be great to have stay on for a little longer after they are done.

My biggest issue is they complain all the time when they want to be in the bath and not taking showers complaining of the noise.

MC