How to replace bathroom fan with fan with heater

3 years ago

It's cold in the master bath in the winter. I'd like to replace the existing bathroom exhaust fan with a new model that also has a heater. Can this be done without having to run new wiring?

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Comments (5)

catbuilder
3 years ago
Can't see your wiring from here. What do you currently have?
mtvhike
3 years ago
Unlikely, because the existing fan is exhaust and you would want one which blows in, as well as having a heater. You may be able to use the same circuit, if it has enough capacity (but switching may be an issue).
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Yes you can though sometimes it's a bit rough to pull an additional conductor through a conduit that already has stuff in it. They make double switches that fit where one switch goes. The questions are: 1. Can the circuit handle it. Most likely yes, the heater+light rarely exceeds 1200 Watts. Of course, you'll have to decide what else is on that circuit (not really so much a code factor than a nuisance factor). If it's on the same circuit as the receptacles in the bathroom, anybody with teenager daughters knows that one of those monster blow driers can trip a circuit. 2. Can you shoehorn the unit you want into the space your existing fan is in and get the exhaust duct to line up.
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I just bought 2 nutone heat, vent light fans for $195 each at Lowes. nice product, 2 sones (very quite) with direction adjustable heat vent in cover. about 2" larger than existing bath fans. perfect imo, to just cut the hole a bit larger. I also installed daylight cfl bulbs. used hardcast brand mastic tape to seal housing to cut in sheetrock before installing cover. also used the mastic tape to install the damper (and penny) to the housing of the bath fan, and the venting to the damper. took about an hour per bath fan. not my first rodeo. I also like panasonic whisper quite fans, but twice the price of the nutone. never liked nutone before, but saw mostly elcheepo bath fans that sounded like a 747 taking off. these were quite nice, and the low sones rating means that they will be used. I recommend running the fan for half an hour after shower. best of luck.
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bungalowbabe
Original Author
3 years ago
@catbuilder There's currently an on/off rocker wall switch so that would be single pole, correct? I know if you replace a ceiling light with a light/fan combo you can hook up some kind of remote that would avoid needing new wiring. Didn't know what kind of other unique setups might be available to remodelers in my situation.
Bruce in Northern Virginia
3 years ago
Most effective bathroom heaters are rated at about 1500 watts, and they recommend a 20 amp circuit. However, if your existing fan circuit is only 15 amps, and its not shared with anything else, it might still work okay.

I have seen many remote switches for fan/light combos, but have not seen one for a bathroom heater/fan. However, that doesn't mean they don't make one. Again, the key point is that the remote device at the fixture end must be able to handle a 1500 watt load from the heater, so you would need a switch with that rating. It also needs to be designed and rated for hard wired installation, since your new heater/fan would have to be hard wired.

Bruce
bungalowbabe thanked Bruce in Northern Virginia
wdccruise
3 years ago
You could go old school and install a bathroom fan with an infrared light bulb heater (example, example). Those use much less electricity than other types so you shouldn't have a problem with exceeding the circuit's capacity.

Note: generally you'd want to wire the fan and heater separately so you can use the fan without the heater in summer. If you don't modify the existing wiring, you'll have to wire the fan and heater together so the heater will always come on even when it's not needed.
bungalowbabe thanked wdccruise

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How to replace bathroom fan with fan with heater

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catbuilder

mtvhike

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bungalowbabe
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How to replace bathroom fan with fan with heater

Comments (5)

catbuilder

mtvhike

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bungalowbabeOriginal Author

Bruce in Northern Virginia

wdccruise

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bungalowbabe
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