NuTone vs Broan Bath Exhaust Fans

[Vince]

I have heard that Broan and Nutone have merged. Is this true?

NuTone still has its own website as does Broan, and it seems that they have a similar appearance on screen.

Is one line better than the other, with respect to reliability, SONEs, and design?

[RBM]

[Vince]

Thanks for your info. My only experience is the BROAN exhaust fan that was installed in my daughter's house. It is loud !! Makes me want to stay away from BROAN. However, I was at HD the other day and listened to a unit that was quiet; must check my notes to recall which model it was.

My requirements is for a 52.15 square feet bathroom. I believe that a unit rated for 80 CFM will be more than adequate (based on 1.1 times the room sq footage). I hope to get by with a less than 1.0 SONE unit.

I am browsing over the BROAN and the NUTONE websites now, and come across reference to both brandnames at the NUTONE website.

[Mark and Kim Smith]

Those fan motors / bearings tend to get old and worn. Last time that happened to my Broan and it was super noisey, I replaced the motor. Got it from the Broan web site.

[HerHusband]

I installed Panasonic fans thoughout our house, including one in our laundry room that runs full time as a whole house ventilation fan. They use squirrel cage fans and the small ones (FV 05VQ2) are virtually silent. I have the next size up Panasonic fan (FV 11VQ2) in our master bath (100 square feet), and while you can hear that one slightly, it's still far quieter than any other bath fan we've used.

I did buy a Broan QS130 "Allure" range hood for our kitchen. On low speed you can't really even hear it, and high speed isn't much worse. Better yet, it actually has enough power to pull in the steam when you're boiling water and whatnot.

Anthony

[RBM]

[BocesLib]

Panasonic fans are real nice and quiet. They are more expensive but you can generally get them a bit cheaper on ebay rather than a local wholesaler.

Tom

[Bobby]

They also cost 3 times the price of the Nutone ones!