Extraction Fan

Oakdene

Afternoon all

Just a qucik question, I've had my bathroom re-tiled and I am thinking of getting an extractor fan put in, one that turns on when you put the light , there isnt one fitted at the moment. The only way for steam to escape is via the window or the door when I open it to leave the bathroom.

Above my bathroom is the loft which is empty, is it possible to put an in-ceiling one in & have it go into the loft & out of the house via a pipe which is connected to an outlet which has been drilled through the wall outside?

Also, whats the best way for the fan to be wired in given that there is nothing there at present....

Grenage

When I did this, I put a hole in the ceiling, ran ducting into the loft, and used an in-line fan; another hole was made in the fascia, and ducting connected that up to the exhaust. I used the lighting circuit for power.

You also have the option of going through the roof with a tile vent.

Oakdene

Grenage wrote: »

When I did this, I put a hole in the ceiling, ran ducting into the loft, and used an in-line fan; another hole was made in the fascia, and ducting connected that up to the exhaust. I used the lighting circuit for power.

You also have the option of going through the roof with a tile vent.

Great, thanks!

Just wanted to check it could be done before getting someone round to look at it & laugh at me if it couldnt!

Ebe_Scrooge

I was going to say the same thing about tile vents. My house ( relatively new ) has extractors in all the bathrooms and toilets, and they all go through the loft and out via a tile vent. Obviously they were put in when the house was built, so venting through the fascia may be slightly cheaper if you're retro-fitting, as you wont need a roofer to replace an existing tile with a vented one.


But yes, it's definitely do-able.

Furts

Be careful if you extract through a fascia - a standard grill is around 150mm square meaning it will not fit comfortably if there is guttering present. Also vital you fit a cowled cover to minimise heat loss and draughts - cheap grilles have an open pattern.

If you fit into a soffit be careful - the soffit may be asbestos so best not go there!

An easy option would be through a gable end wall.

TheCyclingProgrammer

An inline fan is a good option, ours is pretty powerful but its not too noisy as its up in the loft. As others have said you can duct to a tile vent or a soffit vent - ours is a soffit vent (wooden soffits).

Other than fitting the soffit vent, which I had a handyman do for me due to the height, I fitted the vent up in the loft myself, ran all the ducting and fitted it to the ceiling vent. Then I got it wired up by a local electrician. You'll need to have some means of isolating the fan - we have a double pole switch next to the fan in the loft but they are frequently put above the bathroom door (OUTSIDE the bathroom).