How well does your bathroom extractor fan work?

TanDiy

Hi, we are looking to have an extractor fan fitted in our upstairs bathroom and just wondered how well these work. We have a shower over the bath which causes lots of condensation. We thought we would have a fan in the bathroom that went straight through the wall to the outside but an electrician has said it would be better to put the fan in the loft. He wants to put a vent above the bath, run ducting to the fan in the loft and then run ducting to the outside wall in the loft. This means there will be a run of about 10-12ft between the vent in the bathroom and the outside wall. We would turn the fan on and off with a pull cord.

Just wondered if anybody else has this arrangement and how well it works. We are thinking that a fan straight through the bathroom wall would be better. We do not want to fit something unless we know it will work. Thank you very much.

katejo

TanDiy wrote: »

Hi, we are looking to have an extractor fan fitted in our upstairs bathroom and just wondered how well these work. We have a shower over the bath which causes lots of condensation. We thought we would have a fan in the bathroom that went straight through the wall to the outside but an electrician has said it would be better to put the fan in the loft. He wants to put a vent above the bath, run ducting to the fan in the loft and then run ducting to the outside wall in the loft. This means there will be a run of about 10-12ft between the vent in the bathroom and the outside wall. We would turn the fan on and off with a pull cord.

Just wondered if anybody else has this arrangement and how well it works. We are thinking that a fan straight through the bathroom wall would be better. We do not want to fit something unless we know it will work. Thank you very much.

Do you also have a window in the bathroom? I have an extractor which works ok (with a shower over the bath) but think that it might not be adequate if i didn't have a window as well. i can't advise you on types of extractor or their position.

amcluesent

TBH they're rubbish. I have one over the shower with the fan in the loft. The light in the ceiling unit it handy, otherwise I'd say not bother. All these fans also let in a LOT of cold air.

jhe

i have a ventaxia fan through the wall, works a lot better than the old fan i had . it has a self closing flap on the back that prevents any draughts

fannyadams

have a look on here to see what size fan you need, most people buy the wrong size.

and yes get the outside box with the flaps as it slows down the draft coming back in, we have this for our kitchen and it's very efficient.

also we are going to have ours vented through the wall when I've saved up enough money to have it done.

IMHO I think that's a very long run of pipe to vent outside...condensation would build up in pipe in your loft space which (if you have very very good loft insulation) may cause the liquid to freeze and split the pipe (as an aside my best mate has just had the new level of insulation put into his house and all his pipes froze in our recent cold snap then burst. He has no ceilings in his top floor rooms right now. this never happened last year when we had the bad cold)

HTH
FAx

Poppycat

Mine works fine I do have its et for around 30 minutes on a timer when we have a shower or bath. I did have mine replaced recently its on a outside wall and comes on when we switch it on and then switches off after a time

gmoorc

TanDiy wrote: »

He wants to put a vent above the bath, run ducting to the fan in the loft and then run ducting to the outside wall in the loft. This means there will be a run of about 10-12ft between the vent in the bathroom and the outside wall.

This is exactly what I have done.
Originally had one where the fan was built into the ceiling unit which to be honest was pretty useless.

I replaced it with a kit with a much more powerful fan sited in the loft space similar to this one:

screwfix.com/p/manrose-pro-showerlite-centrifugal-chrome-35w-shower-fan-kit/37637

The change was dramatic! Very pleased with the results.

This also has the advantage of letting you size the fan to your room size and as the fan is in the loft it's nearly inaudible.

rustyboy21

We had them fitted onto outside walls when we had the bathrooms done. The bathroom upstairs one is never on, as we only really use the loo and basin ( 21 jet airspa, 18 jet whirlpool bath with lights and never gets used ! )

Downstairs showeroom is used everyday. Fan comes on with light and goes off 20 mins after light switched off. Do get a lot of steam from the shower ( like it hot ) . Takes ages to clear steam away, doesn't clear it in the 20 mins run time. It also takes the heat from the room. The room was so cold ( extension off main house ) that I had a 5 foot towel rail fitted off CH and was still cold, so had small double convector fitted too, like bahamas. I have now switched it off and just crack the window open slightly for 10 mins , which clears the steam away quicker. Also saves the electric. Maybe not a lot of electric used, but better than nothing and window clears it faster. Was told I hasd to have them fitted for regs. Maybe fitted , but waste of time as far as I am concerned

DVardysShadow

The probable reason the electrician wants to do it in the long winded way is that if the fan is in the loft, he can use a mains voltage fan. Over a bath he should ideally use a low voltage fan which will require a transformer.

fluffpot

Dvardy - not really applicable any more if all circuits in bathroom are RCD protected - you can have mains in zone 1 as long as splashproof.

OP - an in line fan as your sparks is suggesting will be more effective and quieter than one in the wall. Go for a 5" one

TimBuckTeeth

A few years ago I replaced a cheap ceiling mounted fan, which didn't do anything apart from make a lot of noise, with an inline centrifugal fan in the loft. If a suitable one is chosen it will give a higher air flow rate, be quieter and more reliable.

I use an Xpelair XID100, which fits in 100mm (4") flexible ducting, and would recommend it :
http://www.dealec.co.uk/acatalog/Xpe...Duct_Fans.html

It is powerful enough to prevent mold problems, but in hindsight I would choose the larger 125mm XID125 to clear steam and toilet smells quicker. It is running smoothly after 5 years use as it has ball bearings rather than the cheap sleeve bearings found on many fans.

or the plastic version, which is supposed to be slightly quieter and corrosion resistant (although the metal one is galvanised):

http://www.dealec.co.uk/acatalog/xpe...duct_fans.html

The small inline fans like this Manrose one (which is not centrifugal) are too small and underpowered and would definitely not be suitable for use with a 12ft length of ducting.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/manrose-in...-fan-kit/15061

As the ducting is fairly long it is essential to use a centrifugal fan and to use an over sized one as the airflow rate will be reduced.