Summary: The most important component of the ventilation system of your home is the exhaust fans in your bathrooms. A bathroom fans expels out large quantity of humid air besides the most obvious expulsion of the nasty odors. There are all types of bathroom vent fans and they come in all sizes. But the one with the motor, which is placed in the attic, is my preference. These are residential bathroom exhaust fans, which are very powerful, but at the same time the quietest I have seen.
Question: The builder-grade exhaust fans that are in my home are many and also no expensive. But then they make a lot of noise. I don’t think that they get rid of all the moist air that is produced while I am showering. Are there noiseless and high performing ventilation that I can get? I also want a bathroom exhaust fan that comes with a light. Would you advice me on the way avoid damaging the home while the bathroom fan is installed?
Answer: The vital piece of a home-ventilation system is the bathroom fans. There could be damages not visible to the eyes caused by improper installation of bathroom exhaust fans. Quite often, moist air is allowed to escape into the attic space by the installers, which then condense in the attic on surfaces that are cooler. The liquid water creates mold on the surfaces of the wood could then result in a problematic wood rot.
There is no need to worry for there is just the fan that you want. This is not something new as they have been around for a long time. But builders often go for the cheaper ones to cut down on the building cost for the sake of affordability. But then the fact is that consumers are likely to pay more if given a choice for a better ventilation of bathrooms with lesser noise. I hope that builders soon realize this and start offering more choices. But then the builders correlate more choices to more problems.
The exhaust fans that are in my bathroom are actually installed in the attic space. I have been lucky to have this. The fan motors are sited abut 8 to 10 feet from the bathroom. As a result the exhaust fans are like central vacuum systems. Most of the builders locate the fan motors barely a few inches from the ceiling of the bathroom rendering the place to be noisy.
There is a flexible duct pipe in the remote bathroom exhaust fans which is insulated which connects the fan motor to the exhaust inlet boxes attached to the bathroom ceiling on its framing members. The box extends trails up to the attic. There is only a smooth round inlet cover for you to see. Large quantities of air that is moist and humid are sucked by these powerful fans as it rises up to the ceilings when you shower. There is a special roof vent cap that can be easily installed which ducts the air through the roof of the house.
The insulated ducting is flexible. It extends to the fan from the room and onwards to the ceiling of your bathroom. This ducting on the one hand stifles the fan’s noise while on the other condensation is prevented inside the flexible piping of the insulation. Bathroom fans that leak is a common complain of many. But then this is not a leak from the room bit the water condensing inside the exhaust piping that is not insulated. This condensate then flows into the bathroom down the piping.
You can get bathroom exhaust fans with and without lights. The exhaust fans with lights have bright compact halogen bulbs right in the middle of the small circular vent covers. I like the inlets with lights placed one close to the shower area and another around the centre of the bathroom. This will give overall lighting to an average sized bathroom. You might want an added lighting above the mirror.
There will be written instruction for the fan. Follow them to make sure that there are no damages to your home when you install the bathroom fan. In case you are not so sure about handling high-voltage wiring that would pass inspection, you can engage an electrician to do the wiring of the fan. Ducting the air from the bathroom to the outside of your house is the most important part. This has o be done through the roof. Several roof overhangs have soffit. You should not get attracted to the idea of venting the fan through the horizontal soffit. Frequently the moist air clouds up under the soffit. This gets sucked into the attic. This will surely lead to wood rot and mildew.
There could be problems some years later with the bathroom exhaust. The links between the fan, the flexible duct, the roof vent cap and inlet boxes have to be lasting. These links should not be protected with duct tape as they are not reliable. The ducts could be affected by the humidity and the high heat in the attics leading to duct failure. Instead metal band clamps are better.
These clamps are similar to the conventional automotive radiator hose clamps. Usually ductwork shops, hardware stores and several home centers sell these inexpensive clamps. After connecting the band clamp, use the tape as per the instruction of the manufacturer.
The flexible duct pipe should not have any kinks. Make sure of this. There should also be a makeup air duct, which should be installed in our house so that when the exhaust fan expels out the air, an equal quantity of air should be able to enter. “Backdrafting” could occur is the critical makeup air is not available. This will lead to poisonous gases entering your home through water heater exhaust pipes or furnaces.
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