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Adding an exhaust/vent fan to an existing bathroom - help!

15 years ago

We are looking to buy a home that has a large bathroom (300 sq.ft.)with a steam shower. The only exhast fan is the small f-fan in the toilet area next to the shower.

There is a second floor above, so it's not as easy to go overhead.

What is the best alternative to retrofit another vent fan? How do you do this when there is so little space to work with?

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Comments (5)

User
15 years ago
You can get a low profile fan that will fit within the space. I have a powder room on the first floor and chose the Panasonic WhisperFit Lite to go there. It fits nicely and is ducted right out the nearby side wall. The WhisperFit is designed with the motor on the inside of the fan, rather than sticking out the top.

In my situation the fan was a replacement for an old, LOUD f-fan. I used rigid duct wrapped in foil-faced fiberglass insulation. The Panasonic fans (and maybe other brands) are designed to allow you to mount the body and secure it before the fan itself is inserted into the body. This gives you more room to work.

The fan I chose is 60 CFM, if I remember right. In my small powder room, this is enough ventilation that dust will roll across the floor when the door is closed. I installed a timer instead of a switch, which keeps me from forgetting that it's on.

If you don't need one with a light, just look for the WhisperFit series. They can be found on eBay. I would assume that you could branch the electrical circuit from the existing fan to this new one for the simplest hookup. Then both would run at the same time.
willinak
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks braytonak, a good start! I don't know yet how the floor joists run, but the closest outside wall is at least 10-12 ft. Running the duct should be fun, which I think would need to be 6" dia.
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We are looking to buy a home that has a large bathroom (300 sq.ft.)with a steam shower. The only exhast fan is the small f-fan in the toilet area next to the shower. There is a second floor above, so it's not as easy to go overhead. What is the best alternative to retrofit another vent fan? How do you do this when there is so little space to work with?
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I have whisper warm and we installed a timer switch for the fan portion so we dont have to remember to turn the fan off when we are leaving the bathroom. Works great. I was told it cant go inside the shower though so ours is right outside where you step out and the heater is great. I too bought one bigger than the space called for and have no regrets. I read that some complained that the heater didnt warm up enough and that made me get the larger size. The heater is great! Remember though that it takes a whole circuit breaker of its own-20 amp if I recall correctly so make sure you have enough space on your electric box.
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As for fan-lights in the shower, it seems ineffective to try to remove water vapor laden air from the shower since most of it will condense on the walls before that can happen anyway. My goal is to remove humid air from the vanity area and allow fresh air drawn from the door undercut to reduce fogging of the mirror and window glass. The entire bathroom will eventually dry out if you use a fan with a built in timer and/or constant low speed feature like Panosonic's WhisperGreen series. I have yet to find a fan-light combination that performs as well as separate units. Here are my criteria: no CFL or LED lamps (LED inappropriate in a bathroom; CFL inappropriate in a house) Max sound rating .8 sone max grille size 13x13 flush with ceiling variable speed fan with timer Panasonic makes a recessed spotlight-fan combination (FV08VRL1) but it uses a CFL. I suppose a halogen PAR lamp could be substituted because the CFL is probably only needed to get an EnergyStar rating but I am not comfortable recommending it. To reduce fan noise it is important to reduce back-pressure by using larger metal ducts.
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I'm not sure about your proposed solution but I had another thought. It sounds like you have access to the attic. What if you went up there and air sealed around the fan? We are building a new house and I wasn't happy with the fan installation so I used a bunch of quality tape to seal up the connection to the flex pipe and sealed holes in the housing. You could also try insulating the entire length of the flex pipe. Good luck.
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User
15 years ago
4" duct is typical with the vast majority of bath fans. Only when you move into the high CFM units will you need 6" duct.
john604
14 years ago
Contact these distributors to get the better fan, high quality and low price:
http://www.aupu.us/PRODUCTS/VFan/VF.htm
http://www.continentalfan.com/products.php?p=Bathroom%20Ventilation&fid=71
http://www.bainsneptune.com/english/ventilateurs/ventilateurs.html
http://www.tamliteusa.com/domestic/bath/terbfvql3.htm
MongoCT
14 years ago
Based on my experience with the links that John604 referenced, I wouldn't buy from any of them.

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