Location for bathroom exhaust roof vent caps
I have two bathrooms on the second floor. One bath is on the front side of the house and the other bath is on the back side. The front side has two exhaust fans, one over the toilet and one over the shower while the back bathroom has one fan. The three exhaust fans are each connected to flexible insulated ducting. The ducting pops through the roof above (going through the unfinished attic) with black roof caps, 2 in the front and one in the back. The two in the front of the house are a bit of an eyesore from the street as the pop out of the center of our roof. On the back side of the house, I'm looking to put solar panels, so the back roof cap is an obstacle. I'm about to get my roof replaced, so now is the time to move these things if I can. I'd love to get rid of all three but then I'm just sending the bathroom exhaust into my unfinished attic, which I've read isn't good. What are my options here? Do I have to have three of these exhaust caps going through my roof? Are there any good solutions that don't require these things? Picture from the front is below, back is similar with the vent more centered.
Example of ducting:
Comments (7)
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bathroom exhaust fan/ attic gable vent
Comments (2)It was probably the soffitt vent. I would never connect my fans to anything other than a roof vent where it escapes outside my house. Our GC connected all of ours to soffitt vents. That is the bare minimum to pass code (at least 14 years ago). Our new Panasonic instructions state clearly they are to be exhausted out the roof. We had our Solatube installer fix them....See Morebathroom exhaust vents
Comments (13)Personally I think the fewer penetrations through a roof the better. I also don't see anything inherently wrong with venting two bath fans through a single roof opening. Even if both are on at once, probably the worst thing that will happen is that they back pressure each other and they don't vent quite as efficiently. Both of my bath fans are vented through the same soffit vent....See Moreventing bathroom exhaust fan
Comments (2)The main reason is laziness and cost. What they should have done is installed an insulated 4 inch flexible duct to a capped roof vent. It needs to be insulated so the warm air does not condense in the winter and drip into the fan. Your old fan probably got rusty because there was no roof cap and the duct was not insulated....See MoreIs this an acceptable way to vent bathroom exhaust?
Comments (10)My bathroom fan exhausts run through rigid metal ducting (galvanized or aluminum), and they have an insulation wrap where they go through unheated space. Aside from the obvious problem you have with no proper vent caps, that cheap, "slinky" style of ducting will collect dirt and debris over the years and become less efficient, and the warm, humid air in the winter will condense out moisture as it hits the attic space. This means you could get dripping into the bathroom from the grillwork or water in the attic if that thin plastic wall has any small tears. Unfortunately, you hired an incompetent to do the job. My advice: redo it completely with proper materials and proper vent caps....See More
Stax
3 years agoarthurma
3 years ago
Bruce in Northern Virginia