We have a long narrow bathroom with the shower at one end. The mistake we made was setting the WhisperWarm to blow warm air towards the shower instead of the sinks. Silly us! Using the shower warms up the enclosure just fine - it's standing at the sinks where you need warm air, LOL. So we'll have to adjust the angle of the fan heat one of these days.

The location is closer to the shower than the sinks, which works because it's easier for the exhaust fan to vent the steam from the shower. Our sq. footage is at the max for the WhisperWarm, so I'd definitely install two fans if you're anywhere close to the max allowed. Or, if you're like my DH and take those really long, really hot showers!

We have Panasonics in both bathrooms and love them. Unlike the Broan/Nutone junk, they start quiet, work well, and STAY quiet. The WW is a little louder than the solo fan units, but not at all obnoxiously so. If you're outside the bathroom you can barely hear it. Ours were installed in 2003.

I have a brand new WhisperWarm in our shower/toilet room part of the master bath. We are very happy with it. It is very quiet and can barely be heard outside of that little room. The heat is a little slow to come on (I think the coil is warming up) but it is nice even warm air that does not overpower you but keeps that room pretty toasty until I decide that it's too much.

The one thing I don't like is the CFL bulb which cannot be dimmed. It really isn't a big deal but it is not as bright as an incandescent.

Overall, we are happy with our purchase. We had a Nutone which I totally agree with jkom51 was a piece of junk. They only are quiet for a few years and then they slowly digress to a point where you will eventually have a freight train in your bathroom. We threw both of ours out recently and good riddance!

One last thing, is that they are pretty tricky to install. My husband is generally very handy at this type of thing but we hired an electrician for this job. We were fortunate that we had a 20amp circuit to this location already from the previous Nutone, but the unit itself takes 2 people to install due to the weight and the attachment to the structure. Then there is the electrical connections that he had to make to our timer setup. It ended up costing us the same amount as the fan but that is the cost of having multiple functions in the fan and for installing a quality piece.

The Panasonic we have has regular light, a dimmed light (LOVE THIS) a fan, and a heater. We've had it about 2 months. The fan i extremely quiet. The heater is wonderful, its just enough to take the chill out of the bath. I turn the fan on after I'm done since I dont want the fan pulling out the heat. Our shower is at end of standard rectangular bathroom. As mentioned above, be sure to install the unit with the heater end where you'll be standing. Very happy with it.

Just for clarification, the dimmed light referred to above is the night light. The regular light cannot be dimmed.

Thanks everyone!

So does anyone know the sq footage that one unit covers? My bathroom is going to be quite large, the shower itself will be 6ft by 6ft, with no doors. And I *hate* being cold in the shower!

Here is a review I found:
"I installed the unit in a 150 sq foot bath with a 10 foot ceiling and both exhaust fan and heater function very well. The sliding mounting brackets worked very well when installing in ceiling joists at 24" on center and stabilized the unit securely with no vibration. This is a first class product with quiet yet powerful motors and its also quite attractive- I highly recommend it."

Mine is installed in a shower/toilet room measuring about 6x6 but there is a door to this room so I don't need it to heat a larger room size.

So does anyone know the sq footage that one unit covers?

If your bathroom is up to 100 square feet, then you need a fan which is at least as many CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute of air moved) as square feet. Example: an 8' x 10' bathroom is 80 square feet, so you need a fan unit that is at least 80 CFM.

For a bathroom larger than 100 square feet, one simple method for sizing the fan is to add 50 CFM for each fixture (toilet, shower, tub) and 100 CFM for a whirlpool or jetted tub. The more precise method is to calculate the cubic feet of your bathroom (length x width x height), divide by 60 (the number of minutes in an hour), and multiply the result by 8 (the number of recommended air changes per hour). So if your bathroom is 13' x 10' with 10' ceilings, you'd get 13 x 10 x 10 / 60 x 8 = 173 CFM.

I believe the Panasonic Whisper Warm fans are 110 CFM, so they may not be adequate for a larger bathroom. Just for contrast, the Fantech fans -- without a heater -- are 110 CFM or 190 CFM for a single grille in a room, or 270 CFM or even 370 CFM for a larger bathroom where you'd use two grilles.

-- Eric

amielynn - Just wondering what you decided to do to keep your shower warm and how it is working out. I too was/am considering the WhisperWarm but since it is not approved for the shower enclosure I'm actually leaning toward an old-fashioned heat lamp in the ceiling just outside the shower but close enough to warm it. I know they are not "in fashion" but I could not care less about that, I just HATE to be cold in the shower. I would imagine that with a 6x6 shower with no door your shower enclosure might be pretty chilly in the Wintertime. I have a 4x6 WITH a door and I am always cold in the shower in Winter, and I live in Georgia!
Thanks!

doggie beat me to the same thought!

I used to put them in 20 years ago. But, yes, they are definitely out of fashion.