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Moral of this story. Take pictures of what you have before you disconnect it.
BTW taking a fan out of a bathroom that doesn't have a window is a code violation.
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9 years ago
Electrical wiring problems
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9 years ago
| BTW taking a fan out of a bathroom that doesn't have a window is a | code violation.
I expect that probably varies by state. Where I live the code used to require one or the other. It now requires both, so removing a fan where there *is* a window would be a violation.
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9 years ago
I never knew fans were required anywhere in homes. In fact I never had a fan in any house I lived in, until I moved into this one. And I already duct taped over the switch, cuz I kept flipping it on when I turn on the light switch. And if you ask me, those fans waste a lot of heat in winter.
I would have removed a wire from the switch, but during the summer I did leave it run on real hot days to suck out the heat in the house. (No AC). So when hot weather comes I only have to remove the tape.
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9 years ago
Hi, For bathroom, fan will help minimizing moisture build up. All 4 bathrooms in my house has fans with digital timer which I can set at
5,10,15,20 minutes. We don't want stuff bathroom.- Vote on answer
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9 years ago
Hi, Even if you can open the window?
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9 years ago
Opening the window works a whole lot better than any but the best fan, and unlike the crappy fans, it ALWAYS works.
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9 years ago
That is my preference. Never had a problem until grandson moved in with us. He'd take long showers and steam up the room and it started to get mold. He mostly took showers when I was not home because I'd turn the hot water off after a few minutes.
Recently remodeled both bathrooms and installed fans.
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9 years ago
I'd like to see a cite for that code. There are plenty of bathrooms in everything from commercial spaces to homes without windows and it would sure create huge problems for architects, for no good reason. Anything is possible, but I'm taking bets it's not true.
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9 years ago
| > I expect that probably varies by state. Where I | > live the code used to require one or the other. | > It now requires both, so removing a fan where | > there *is* a window would be a violation. | > | > | Hi, | Even if you can open the window?
Yes. I'm in Boston, so the logic may have something to do with not being able to leave the window open for much of the year. On the other hand, Massachusetts is also very good at generating regulations. It makes sense to me for most situations. (Sometimes it's just prohibitive to put a new fan in.) The fan gets rid of smells, dries shower condensation and provides sound privacy for guests.
Example: I remodeled a bathroom, about 10 years ago now, and built in cherry cabinetry. (Sink base, medicine cabinet and inset towel rack "shadow box".) The owners have two daughters, now teenagers. The cherry still looks good. I attribute that to a fan timer that allows the fan to run after the shower is used, preventing water from sitting on the cherry. On the other hand, if there were floor-to-ceiling tile there would be no need for the fan timer. I guess that's the problem with building codes: They're common sense rules that sometimes get applied to the point of nonsense.
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9 years ago
A quick google search produced this:
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"In Boston at least, codes say that bathrooms (even half baths) need to have an exhaust fan installed even when the bathroom has a window."
Now that does makes some sense. But it's very different from what you're claiming, which is that a bathroom has to have *both* a window and a fan. Requiring a window in every bathroom instead of just a fan, would raise all kinds of architectural and building problems for no benefit. It makes no sense and if true, I'd love to see the cite.
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9 years ago
In my old church, in a Chicago suburb, the contractor put exhaust fans in both public washrooms. They never seemed to work. So, I always wanted to pull up the ceiling tiles and see what's what. Actually, a friend and electrician did it at my advise. He found both washroom registers tied together and connected to a single fan which exhausted to the roof, but, they never ran power to said fan. We talked about it and finally decided to replace the light switches with a 2 pole switch, using the 1st pole to turn on the light in its washroom and the 2nd pole to run the fan. So now when either washroom light switch is on, so it the fan. Nice .... at the time 20 years after the church was built!
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9 years ago
In a similar public bathroom in Germany, I was surprised when the fan came on.
I entered a toilet stall and the fan came on when I latched the door. If just using a urinal there was no fan.
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9 years ago
| In my old church, in a Chicago suburb, the contractor put exhaust fans | in both public washrooms. They never seemed to work. So, I always wanted | to pull up the ceiling tiles and see what's what. Actually, a friend and | electrician did it at my advise. He found both washroom registers tied | together and connected to a single fan which exhausted to the roof, but, | they never ran power to said fan.
I've seen many cases where a fan was put in but getting the vent outside would have been a lot of trouble, so they just vented it into the ceiling space. One is in the condo of a friend of mine, renovated in the 70s. I have no idea how the builders got away with it.
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9 years ago
| >> I expect that probably varies by state. Where I | >> live the code used to require one or the other. | >> It now requires both, so removing a fan where | >> there *is* a window would be a violation. | > | > I'd like to see a cite for that code. There are | > plenty of bathrooms in everything from commercial spaces | > to homes without windows and it would sure | > create huge problems for architects, for no good reason. | > Anything is possible, but I'm taking bets it's not true.
One doesn't have to actually add a window, though in virtually all residential full baths there are windows, so that's not really an issue there. But a window does not substitute for a fan. A fan is always required in a full bath. But that code is actually new within the past few decades. formerly it was either/or. Mass. Building Code section 1205.2.1
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9 years ago
I have a residential full bath right here that has no window. It's not unusual at all.
But a window does
So, you now agree that code in Boston doesn't require both a window and a fan? Only a fan?
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9 years ago
In 3 houses and 2 apartments, all my bathrooms had windows, until I got to this townhouse. Even the powder room at the end of the group has no window, though one could be put in. They all had fans.
I take mostly baths and some short showers. I don't need fans.
In the bathroom off the master bedroom, there was a separate switch for the fan. In the bigger bathroom on the second floor, when I put a light in above the mirror, I interrupted the cable to the fan and put a switch in for the fan, in the light base. I also put a switch in for the light itself. (There was a knockout for that.)
And in the powder room, where I never take a shower, I just unplugged the fan.
Even in my mother's apartment, a rental, I drilled a hole in the plates around the fans, put in a switch in each one, with a pull chain and a string. When she died, I didn't change it back and they didn't complain. I'm sure the noise had generated complaints by tenants of other apartments. It would drive me crazy.
My AC is broken and for 8 to 14 days a year, it's not really worth fixing. I'll have to check out the bathroom fan. (I have a small table fan above my head when I'm sleeping, and another big one at the foot of the bed for really hot periods, and other table fans pointed at the kitchen table, the office chair, and the shop chair. They don't make the noise the bathroom fans do (plus I don't need a fan in any bathroom.)
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9 years ago
My guess is he is really saying "it has to have a fan even if there is a window"
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9 years ago
I had one installed in the mens room at our shop. Motion detector turns it on and it runs about 5 minutes after the stall occupant is gone. I'm not worried about code, just wanted the odor eliminator.
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9 years ago
If just using a urinal there was no fan.
I also worked in a building where the men's room had a strong fan and the d oor was really tight. The fan ran all the time, and always pulled the trap s dry, so the room stank of dry traps. We eventually got a transfer grill put in the door and that solved the problem.