Bathroom Extractor Fan

[Steven]

I am planning to decorate the bathroom next week when the kids are away. I plan to remove and replace the drywall on the false ceiling as it is black with damp and bad artex. Thanks to Bluekingfisher for his post about Dry Wall I am OK with this side but I am planning to install a Bathroom Extractor Fan to help clear the condensation problem.

As I have never installed one of these except a like for like replacement I am a little lost on the best type to fit.

What I do know is it has to be 100m due to the location, it has to go through a 500m wall, I will be stitch drilling the hole (unless some one can loan me a cutter ), I have some 100mm flex hose if that is any good and I am fine with wiring it.

I am unsure about type of fan, Standared, timed or Humidistat, what parts I require if I do not get a kit and any suggestion on what to get and were in Glasgow so I can pick it up in the next few days.

 

[AndyT]

Before you spend all day drilling through your thick wall, see if you can go over the top of it. In our bathroom, the intake is in the ceiling, but the outlet is in the soffit board outside (ie the horizontal board, behind the vertical fascia board to which the guttering is fixed). The 100mm flex hose is compact enough to just go over the top of the wall, into the angle between joists and rafters and then down.

This only works if your bathroom is on the top floor. Drilling a big hole in the timber soffit board is not too bad, if you can get to it. I managed it from inside the loft.

 

[Mark Hancock]

I can highly recommend the Icon fans. I installed one of these easily using the PIR Humidity Timer module, following a recommendation from RogerS.

http://www.airflow.com/productcat/pg_V/iCON-Range
http://www.fastlec.co.uk/airflow-icon-mains-230v-c-33_75_76.html
http://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/airflow-icon-15-auto-iris-bathroom-fan-4-100mm-14912419.htm

For the drilling I hired from a local tool hire place.

Mark

 

[Dibs-h]

Installed a Xpelair Humidistat controlled fan in the past and no issues at all.

Dibs

 

[Eric The Viking]

The cheap ones usually go noisy. The better ones have proper bearings and last far longer.

To be honest, as I like to listen to the radio in the bath, etc., I'd buy on specified noise rating alone. A 3dB difference is a halving or doubling of the noise, and thus there really is quite a range of quietness (or otherwise).

If it's over a wet area of the bathroom, it should be a 12V one, in which case the timer will be in the transformer enclosure. I've not seen a 12V humidistat one - doesn't mean they don't exist, but they're probably not cheap. There should be a double-pole isolator switch outside the bathroom too, which is usually in/on the wall above the bathroom door.

If you're fixing into the ceiling, it's fine to glue 1x1" battens above the false ceiling, around the hole you make, to fix into. Ideally, you need the sort of louvre outer vent that has drop-down flaps, to stop draughts when the fan is off. It's also sensible to insulate round the vent pipe in the ceiling space (and above the ceiling generally), as this helps reduce condensation. Since the vent pipe will inevitably collect lots of dust (= human skin debris, mainly), the drier it stays the less likely it is to grow mould.

 

[Steven]

Thanks for the response. The bathroom is on the ground floor, So no easy way out. The fan will be above a sink, I think this will narrow it down to 12v timed fans.

Thanks for the tip about drop down flaps.