Who to fit bathroom fan?

sandy700

I have an extractor fan fitted in ceiling of my bathroom but it was never very good and has now packed in.
I have decided to get a wall mounted extractor fan so who do I get to fit it as they would have to make a hole in an upstairs exterior wall and also have to wire it in.

A plumber, electrician or a general handyman?

rob7475

An electrician would be my first choice. I fuess your ceiling mounted one is a cheap showerlite that usually gets fitted. Replace this with something better and you'll notice a massive improvement. Also, make sure the ducting exits your loft properly.

Spies

Wall ones are rubbish, get the ceiling one replaced with something suitable.

sandy700

Spies said:

Wall ones are rubbish, get the ceiling one replaced with something suitable.

The ceiling one is rubbish that's why I want a wall one.

sandy700

rob7475 said:

An electrician would be my first choice. I fuess your ceiling mounted one is a cheap showerlite that usually gets fitted. Replace this with something better and you'll notice a massive improvement. Also, make sure the ducting exits your loft properly.

So what would you recommend?

casper_gutman

Your problem isn't that the fan you have is in the ceiling, it's that the fan you have isn't very good. Swapping a rubbish ceiling fan for a rubbish wall fan won't help. You need a decent fan, and replacing a rubbish ceiling fan with a decent one is much easier.

Generally the best and easiest way to fit an extractor fan is to put it in the roof space above the bathroom, extracting via ducting through the ceiling. This arrangement allows a bigger, more effective and efficient fan and motor to be used as they don't have to fit within the hole in the wall. The airflow can be much more powerful this way. It's also quieter (the fan unit can be supported on the roof joists by isolating mounts, rather than sitting right in the wall of the bathroom), easier to install (no need to core a massive hole through the wall), easy to maintain (the unit can be accessed via the attic space), easier to connect up electrically via the lighting supply that's usually running in the roof space anyway.

Do some research on recommended extraction rates, choose a decent fan with a good extract rate and acceptable noise level, and pay an electrician to fit it (assuming you're not confident doing so yourself - this could be a very easy DIY job if you end up replacing the fan with a new one in the same position).

BUFF

casper_gutman said:

Generally the best and easiest way to fit an extractor fan is to put it in the roof space above the bathroom, extracting via ducting through the ceiling. This arrangement allows a bigger, more effective and efficient fan and motor to be used as they don't have to fit within the hole in the wall. The airflow can be much more powerful this way. It's also quieter (the fan unit can be supported on the roof joists by isolating mounts, rather than sitting right in the wall of the bathroom), easier to install (no need to core a massive hole through the wall), easy to maintain (the unit can be accessed via the attic space), easier to connect up electrically via the lighting supply that's usually running in the roof space anyway.

Where does it exhaust the air to? Don't you still need at least a 4" hole to outside?
Also, I am thinking of doing similar but my options of where to extract to are all into the prevailing wind & am a bit concerned that may not work too well? 

rob7475

sandy700 said:

rob7475 said:

An electrician would be my first choice. I fuess your ceiling mounted one is a cheap showerlite that usually gets fitted. Replace this with something better and you'll notice a massive improvement. Also, make sure the ducting exits your loft properly.

So what would you recommend?

Something like this:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/manrose-mf100t-100mm-axial-inline-extractor-fan-with-timer-240v/719gy

Make sure it ducts outside properly from your loft and use rigid ducting if possible. If not, a decent alumnium insulated flexible ducting will work well and help reduce noise. The thin flexible ducting that comes with the showerlite kits is useless.

shiraz99

sandy700 said:

Spies said:

Wall ones are rubbish, get the ceiling one replaced with something suitable.

The ceiling one is rubbish that's why I want a wall one.

Yes, but you can better ones. A decent inline extractor is better than a wall mounted one - https://www.extractorfanworld.co.uk/faqs-32-w.asp

casper_gutman

BUFF said:

casper_gutman said:

Generally the best and easiest way to fit an extractor fan is to put it in the roof space above the bathroom, extracting via ducting through the ceiling. This arrangement allows a bigger, more effective and efficient fan and motor to be used as they don't have to fit within the hole in the wall. The airflow can be much more powerful this way. It's also quieter (the fan unit can be supported on the roof joists by isolating mounts, rather than sitting right in the wall of the bathroom), easier to install (no need to core a massive hole through the wall), easy to maintain (the unit can be accessed via the attic space), easier to connect up electrically via the lighting supply that's usually running in the roof space anyway.

Where does it exhaust the air to? Don't you still need at least a 4" hole to outside?
Also, I am thinking of doing similar but my options of where to extract to are all into the prevailing wind & am a bit concerned that may not work too well? 

Ceiling fans usually exhaust through a vent in the roof soffit, so the hole only needs to be made through a cm or two of timber or uPVC, not through tens of cm of masonry (and messy cavity insulation). Alternatively, the duct might connect to a vent through the roof tiles, which is pretty convenient to install if it can be done at the same time as a new roof.

In the OP's case, it's even easier: they already have a ceiling extractor. They should be able to improve things massively without needing a new hole through the exterior of the building.

Gavin83

BUFF said:

casper_gutman said:

Generally the best and easiest way to fit an extractor fan is to put it in the roof space above the bathroom, extracting via ducting through the ceiling. This arrangement allows a bigger, more effective and efficient fan and motor to be used as they don't have to fit within the hole in the wall. The airflow can be much more powerful this way. It's also quieter (the fan unit can be supported on the roof joists by isolating mounts, rather than sitting right in the wall of the bathroom), easier to install (no need to core a massive hole through the wall), easy to maintain (the unit can be accessed via the attic space), easier to connect up electrically via the lighting supply that's usually running in the roof space anyway.

Where does it exhaust the air to? Don't you still need at least a 4" hole to outside?
Also, I am thinking of doing similar but my options of where to extract to are all into the prevailing wind & am a bit concerned that may not work too well? 

We have a vent that's fitted into a tile. On the back it has a similar connection to the back of the vent so you can connect your ducting to it.

I'm with the others on here, a ceiling inline extractor is vastly superior to an in wall option, assuming it's done correctly.