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#1
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
Hi All,
I've just moved to a house with a downstairs bathroom hence leaving a window open after a shower is no longer an option. I thought the best option would be to install an extractor fan while I'm putting in the new bathroom suite. However I have two questions... 1) I've seen a fan which operates on a humidistat, not connected to the light switch in anyway. Has anyone had experience of these? Are they any good. I'm looking at one for ~£30 from Screwfix. 2) I have an airbrick - well it's actually cast iron. I was planning to knock that through and use that to install the fan. The question is, do I need to install a duct through the wall and a vent on the exterior wall? Or can I just install the fan on the interior wall only? I would prefer not to touch the outside of the house as the cast iron "brick" is quite ornate (and 80+ years old) and fits in with the rest of the house. Would I risk damp getting into the cavity? I'd assume I would be no better or worse than the current arrangement? Cheers. |
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#2
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
"klkbloke" wrote in message oups.com... Hi All, I've just moved to a house with a downstairs bathroom hence leaving a window open after a shower is no longer an option. I thought the best option would be to install an extractor fan while I'm putting in the new bathroom suite. However I have two questions... 1) I've seen a fan which operates on a humidistat, not connected to the light switch in anyway. Has anyone had experience of these? Are they any good. I'm looking at one for ~£30 from Screwfix. Ours is excellent, I can't recommend them highly enough. It's magic when you hear the (very low) noise come on when you're in the bath. Under the shower I never hear it at all. Mary |
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#3
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
g at one for ~£30 from Screwfix.
2) I have an airbrick - well it's actually cast iron. I was planning to knock that through and use that to install the fan. The question is, do I need to install a duct through the wall and a vent on the exterior wall? Or can I just install the fan on the interior wall only? I would prefer not to touch the outside of the house as the cast iron "brick" is quite ornate (and 80+ years old) and fits in with the rest of the house. There should be a air-pressure operated flap installed on the outside to prevent wind blowing in when the fan is off, otherwise the bathroom will be permanently cold. Doesn't the air brick vent the void between the floors. john2 |
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#4
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
klkbloke wrote:
I've just moved to a house with a downstairs bathroom hence leaving a window open after a shower is no longer an option. I thought the best option would be to install an extractor fan while I'm putting in the new bathroom suite. However I have two questions... 1) I've seen a fan which operates on a humidistat, not connected to the light switch in anyway. Has anyone had experience of these? Are they any good. I'm looking at one for ~£30 from Screwfix. I've put in a few of these recently and would strongly recommend them. They have the great advantage of only switching on when they are needed. Use can a double pole switch as an isolator, and wire it straight into the lighting circuit. 2) I have an airbrick - well it's actually cast iron. I was planning to knock that through and use that to install the fan. The question is, do I need to install a duct through the wall and a vent on the exterior wall? Or can I just install the fan on the interior wall only? I would prefer not to touch the outside of the house as the cast iron "brick" is quite ornate (and 80+ years old) and fits in with the rest of the house. Would I risk damp getting into the cavity? I'd assume I would be no better or worse than the current arrangement? I would put a new flue through the wall away from the cast iron grill, and then leave the grill to ventilate the cavity. John -- John White, Electrical Contractor |
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#5
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
Huge wrote:
On 2006-08-27, john2 wrote: There should be a air-pressure operated flap installed on the outside to prevent wind blowing in when the fan is off, otherwise the bathroom will be permanently cold. IME these are completely useless, and on windy days a freezing draught will howl through the fan. Get one with positive operation on the shutters. That's my experience as well. They also make a terrible racket on windy days. Much better to get a fan with integral shutters and have a plain vent on the outside. John -- John White, Electrical Contractor |
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#6
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
John White wrote: klkbloke wrote: I've just moved to a house with a downstairs bathroom hence leaving a window open after a shower is no longer an option. I thought the best option would be to install an extractor fan while I'm putting in the new bathroom suite. However I have two questions... 1) I've seen a fan which operates on a humidistat, not connected to the light switch in anyway. Has anyone had experience of these? Are they any good. I'm looking at one for ~£30 from Screwfix. I've put in a few of these recently and would strongly recommend them. They have the great advantage of only switching on when they are needed. Use can a double pole switch as an isolator, and wire it straight into the lighting circuit. 2) I have an airbrick - well it's actually cast iron. I was planning to knock that through and use that to install the fan. The question is, do I need to install a duct through the wall and a vent on the exterior wall? Or can I just install the fan on the interior wall only? I would prefer not to touch the outside of the house as the cast iron "brick" is quite ornate (and 80+ years old) and fits in with the rest of the house. Would I risk damp getting into the cavity? I'd assume I would be no better or worse than the current arrangement? I would put a new flue through the wall away from the cast iron grill, and then leave the grill to ventilate the cavity. I doubt he has a cavity. Old housing had little plumbing, lots of chimneys and few security worries, so they could rely on natural ventilation to air them. The vent in a must have for old property. I'd hire a core drill and bore a new hole for the fan somewhere where the new feature would be hidden outside, if that was possible. |
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#7
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
klkbloke wrote:
1) I've seen a fan which operates on a humidistat, not connected to the light switch in anyway. Has anyone had experience of these? Are they any good. I'm looking at one for ~£30 from Screwfix. Yup, I have fitted a couple of the 4" ones. They seem to do what it says on the tin. You get in the shower - after a few mins the fan kicks in. It then runs for 30mins to an hour after until the room is dry again. You can tweek the sensitivity with a knob on the underside (you may need to do this from time to time if the weather changes dramatically) 2) I have an airbrick - well it's actually cast iron. I was planning to knock that through and use that to install the fan. The question is, do I need to install a duct through the wall and a vent on the exterior wall? Or can I just install the fan on the interior wall only? I would prefer not to touch the outside of the house as the cast iron "brick" is quite ornate (and 80+ years old) and fits in with the rest of the house. Would I risk damp getting into the cavity? I'd assume I would be no better or worse than the current arrangement? As you suggest, if you don't line it then you will fill the cavity with water. You can get rectangular ducting (TLC stock it), and a short length ought to do it if you make sure it is sealed to the wall on the inside and goes through as far as the cast iron on the far side. -- Cheers, John. /================================================== ===============\ | Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk | |-----------------------------------------------------------------| | John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk | \================================================= ================/ |
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#8
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
John White wrote:
I've put in a few of these recently and would strongly recommend them. They have the great advantage of only switching on when they are needed. Use can a double pole switch as an isolator, and wire it straight into the lighting circuit. IIRC, the ones I fitted required fusing at 3A which meant I needed a FCU as well... I would put a new flue through the wall away from the cast iron grill, and then leave the grill to ventilate the cavity. This air brick sounds more like the type that we have in our bathroom - it is simply connected through the wall to a louvered vent on the inside and serves as permenent room ventilation. -- Cheers, John. /================================================== ===============\ | Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk | |-----------------------------------------------------------------| | John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk | \================================================= ================/ |
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#9
Posted to uk.d-i-y
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
John Rumm wrote:
John White wrote: I've put in a few of these recently and would strongly recommend them. They have the great advantage of only switching on when they are needed. Use can a double pole switch as an isolator, and wire it straight into the lighting circuit. IIRC, the ones I fitted required fusing at 3A which meant I needed a FCU as well... Quite right. I meant to say "Use a double pole, switched FCU as an isolator, and ...". I really should read what I write before I post it. :-( I would put a new flue through the wall away from the cast iron grill, and then leave the grill to ventilate the cavity. This air brick sounds more like the type that we have in our bathroom - it is simply connected through the wall to a louvered vent on the inside and serves as permenent room ventilation. Fair enough. I was going by the OP's reference to a cavity. John -- John White, Electrical Contractor |
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#10
Posted to uk.d-i-y
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
John White wrote: John Rumm wrote: John White wrote: I've put in a few of these recently and would strongly recommend them. They have the great advantage of only switching on when they are needed. Use can a double pole switch as an isolator, and wire it straight into the lighting circuit. IIRC, the ones I fitted required fusing at 3A which meant I needed a FCU as well... Quite right. I meant to say "Use a double pole, switched FCU as an isolator, and ...". I really should read what I write before I post it. :-( I would put a new flue through the wall away from the cast iron grill, and then leave the grill to ventilate the cavity. This air brick sounds more like the type that we have in our bathroom - it is simply connected through the wall to a louvered vent on the inside and serves as permenent room ventilation. Fair enough. I was going by the OP's reference to a cavity. John -- John White, Electrical Contractor Hi All, Thanks for the many responses. I'll try and answer the various points raised. - it is a cavity wall (I checked before I bought the house). - the fan is rated at 15w so connecting it to the lighting circuit (using a dp switch) is ok (AFAIK). Basically there is a cast iron grill on the inside wall and one on the outside wall. My plan as it stands (unless someone persuades me any differently) is to install the fan on the inside and duct it to the outside grill so as not to encourage the damp into the cavity. This would still leave a 3" X 5" area of the grill unobstructed by the fan. I'm reluctant to put another whole through the wall as it feels a little ott. At present most of the ventilation to the bathroom is via this grill which is currently open to the cavity. What do you think? |
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#11
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
"klkbloke" wrote in message oups.com... John White wrote: John Rumm wrote: John White wrote: I've put in a few of these recently and would strongly recommend them. They have the great advantage of only switching on when they are needed. Use can a double pole switch as an isolator, and wire it straight into the lighting circuit. IIRC, the ones I fitted required fusing at 3A which meant I needed a FCU as well... Quite right. I meant to say "Use a double pole, switched FCU as an isolator, and ...". I really should read what I write before I post it. :-( I would put a new flue through the wall away from the cast iron grill, and then leave the grill to ventilate the cavity. This air brick sounds more like the type that we have in our bathroom - it is simply connected through the wall to a louvered vent on the inside and serves as permenent room ventilation. Fair enough. I was going by the OP's reference to a cavity. John -- John White, Electrical Contractor Hi All, Thanks for the many responses. I'll try and answer the various points raised. - it is a cavity wall (I checked before I bought the house). - the fan is rated at 15w so connecting it to the lighting circuit (using a dp switch) is ok (AFAIK). Basically there is a cast iron grill on the inside wall and one on the outside wall. My plan as it stands (unless someone persuades me any differently) is to install the fan on the inside and duct it to the outside grill so as not to encourage the damp into the cavity. This would still leave a 3" X 5" area of the grill unobstructed by the fan. Spouse made a wooden panel on which to mount the fan which would close off the exposed grill and painted it to match the wall. There is ducting through the cavity of course. Mary |
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#12
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
klkbloke wrote:
Hi All, I've just moved to a house with a downstairs bathroom hence leaving a window open after a shower is no longer an option. I thought the best option would be to install an extractor fan while I'm putting in the new bathroom suite. However I have two questions... 1) I've seen a fan which operates on a humidistat, not connected to the light switch in anyway. Has anyone had experience of these? Are they any good. I'm looking at one for ~£30 from Screwfix. 2) I have an airbrick - well it's actually cast iron. I was planning to knock that through and use that to install the fan. The question is, do I need to install a duct through the wall and a vent on the exterior wall? Or can I just install the fan on the interior wall only? I would prefer not to touch the outside of the house as the cast iron "brick" is quite ornate (and 80+ years old) and fits in with the rest of the house. Would I risk damp getting into the cavity? I'd assume I would be no better or worse than the current arrangement? Cheers. Partially blocking these vents is not a good idea. small bathroom fans are really hopeless anyway, and not even worth switching on at bathtime. Th real solution is to add a lock to the window that enables it to be locked quarter to half an inch ajar, so no-one can see in but some ventilation occurs. Compared to a fan: cheaper to buy cheaper to install no run cost silent much longer lived and more reliable more pleasant in use. NT |
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#13
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
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#15
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
chris French wrote:
In message . com, writes klkbloke wrote: Partially blocking these vents is not a good idea. We had a similar arrangement in our old house, the internal airbrick was covered over in the renovations, never caused a problem. sometimes it does, sometimes it doesnt, doesnt make it a good idea. small bathroom fans are really hopeless anyway, and not even worth switching on at bathtime. not my experience at all. Had a 100mm inline van in the loft, venting the bathroom through the roof. operated by a humidistat. It worked very well, much better than the previous arrangement - a window. Never any problems with damp, mould etc. I wonder why. My 6 inch one was useless. NT |
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#16
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
The message
from chris French contains these words: Had a 100mm inline van in the loft, These new tiny Transits are quite versatile, aren't they? -- Skipweasel Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. |
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#17
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
"Guy King" wrote in message ... The message from chris French contains these words: Had a 100mm inline van in the loft, These new tiny Transits are quite versatile, aren't they? I saw a couple last weekend but our loft hatch wouldn't take one. Mary -- Skipweasel Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. |
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#18
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
"John White" wrote in message ... I really should read what I write before I post it. :-( Join the club, hands up anyone who has read anything before they have pressed the 'send' button! Alan |
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#19
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
wrote:
small bathroom fans are really hopeless anyway, and not even worth switching on at bathtime. Th real solution is to add a lock to the window that enables it to be locked quarter to half an inch ajar, so no-one can see in but some ventilation occurs. Compared to a fan: cheaper to buy cheaper to install no run cost silent much longer lived and more reliable more pleasant in use. In our experiance the window solution never really worked. The bathroom has one permenant vent like the OPs, plus a large fanlight window that is always open (although partially obscured by the window blind). If you had a shower the condensation would still hang about for ages. After switching to mains pressure hot water that made the situation even worse and a fan became a requirement. The small 4" fan actually does far better than I expected. -- Cheers, John. /================================================== ===============\ | Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk | |-----------------------------------------------------------------| | John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk | \================================================= ================/ |
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#20
Posted to uk.d-i-y
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
wrote in message ups.com... chris French wrote: In message . com, writes klkbloke wrote: Partially blocking these vents is not a good idea. We had a similar arrangement in our old house, the internal airbrick was covered over in the renovations, never caused a problem. sometimes it does, sometimes it doesnt, doesnt make it a good idea. small bathroom fans are really hopeless anyway, and not even worth switching on at bathtime. not my experience at all. Had a 100mm inline van in the loft, venting the bathroom through the roof. operated by a humidistat. It worked very well, much better than the previous arrangement - a window. Never any problems with damp, mould etc. I wonder why. My 6 inch one was useless. You need to let air in. A gap under the bathroom door is one way. I remember one regular poster a few years ago mentioning the plasterboard on a stud wall being pulled down due to a lack of air entering a room and the fan creating a vacuum. Adam |
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#21
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
In message . com,
writes chris French wrote: In message . com, writes klkbloke wrote: Partially blocking these vents is not a good idea. We had a similar arrangement in our old house, the internal airbrick was covered over in the renovations, never caused a problem. sometimes it does, sometimes it doesnt, doesnt make it a good idea. Well I think it means you should think about it before doing it The went is this case would have ended up on the shower wall which wasn't really welcome. It presumably was to provide some fixed ventilation into the bathroom or WC - can't remember - we knocked them together. The fan was going to provide suitable ventilation to the room, and the outside vent was still left in place. Though the house had other air bricks to provide ventilation of the cavity -- Chris French |
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#22
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
On 27 Aug 2006 14:13:36 -0700 someone who may be
wrote this:- small bathroom fans are really hopeless anyway, and not even worth switching on at bathtime. Along with others, I disagree. A small in-line fan which extracts directly above the bath does a good job of removing much of the steam all year round. Replacement air comes from diagonally opposite. When out of the bath there is usually little point burning electricity to remove the last of the humidity, that is what the window opens for. -- David Hansen, Edinburgh I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54 |
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#23
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
wrote in message ups.com... chris French wrote: In message . com, ..... not my experience at all. Had a 100mm inline van in the loft, venting the bathroom through the roof. operated by a humidistat. It worked very well, much better than the previous arrangement - a window. Never any problems with damp, mould etc. I wonder why. My 6 inch one was useless. Quite probably due to an inadequate supply of air into the room. My humidistat operated fan works fine, but I ought to get around to fitting a door on the bathroom some time. Colin Bignell |
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#24
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
"David Hansen" wrote in message ... On 27 Aug 2006 14:13:36 -0700 someone who may be wrote this:- small bathroom fans are really hopeless anyway, and not even worth switching on at bathtime. Along with others, I disagree. A small in-line fan which extracts directly above the bath does a good job of removing much of the steam all year round. Replacement air comes from diagonally opposite. Ours is fitted in the wall vent which isn't near the bath but over the sink. The humidistat itself, however, is close to the bath - isn't that more important? When out of the bath there is usually little point burning electricity to remove the last of the humidity, that is what the window opens for. Ours doesn't but the door does and is usually open - except when I'm in the bath :-) There's some humidity in all air in the house though if only from breathing, that doesn't mean it's damp. Mary |
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#25
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
"Alan Holmes" wrote in message ... "John White" wrote in message ... I really should read what I write before I post it. :-( Join the club, hands up anyone who has read anything before they have pressed the 'send' button! It takes training to read what you have actually written, instead of what you thought you had written. Colin Bignell |
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#26
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Extractor fan in bathroom.
"nightjar .uk.com" nightjar@insert my surname here wrote in message ... "Alan Holmes" wrote in message ... "John White" wrote in message ... I really should read what I write before I post it. :-( Join the club, hands up anyone who has read anything before they have pressed the 'send' button! It takes training to read what you have actually written, instead of what you thought you had written. Colin Bignell Who does that kind of training? Mary |
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