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Electrical Wiring

HELP retrofitting a bathroom fan

17 years ago

I removed a fan from the bathroom and every fan I purchase is larger than the existing hole. I can make the hole larger but my big problems is the location of the ductwork. My old fan had the outlet on the top so it reached the duct in the attic. The fans I find at home depot or lowes have them on the side which will not reach my duct. I have access to the ceiling which is in an unfinished attic.

thanks in advance for the advice,

-terri

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Comments (4)

rredogg
17 years ago
murphy81,

Maybe this will help, maybe not. Home depot sells replacement motors for exhaust fans. The cost is around 12 dollars. Just go into the aisle were the exhaust fans are located and ask one of the clerks.

Best of luck, rredogg
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dozer
17 years ago
buy the appropriate size flexible duct to reach from the new fan to the existing duct. A bit of creativity is sometimes needed to make the situation work.
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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.
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pjb999
17 years ago
Hi Terri,

I ended up just replacing the motor base on mine - the ones here in Canada at least, come with the squirrel cage too, so you're only reusing the box and the grille - so that way you don't need to modify anthing....but dozer's right, a bit of flex duct, some duct tape and you can make anything work...
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Jamshed Mulla
17 years ago
I am replacing 2 old bath exhaust fans in a 1960's house. They are the same type, but one is ceiling mounted, the other wall mounted.

I can't tell the brand/model, but it consists of a gray metal box secured to the wall/ceiling (approx 6" x 8"). The motor/fan unit is mounted with three keyholes. The motor has a squireel-cage fan. The housing has a 2-pin outlet in the front of the box and the fan plugs into it. Maybe someone can identify this unit.

Anyways, does anyone know where I can buy 2 replacement motors/fans? Would be it better to try and cut the boxes out and replace the entire units? Most of the new ones I have seen are much larger so there shouldn't be a problem expanding the opening, although I'm not sure how the old boxes are ducted. The wall mounted one just punches through the exterior wall and has a hood on the outside of the house.

Advice please!!!
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