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wrote:
Goedjn wrote:
On Wed, 31 May 2006 19:38:25 -0400, "JA"
wrote:

Would anyone like to weigh in on where I should vent a bathroom
fan? (Not the attic--I know that!) I've found that some home
repair sites say it's OK or preferred to vent through the soffit;
others say this is nearly as bad as venting into the attic and that
one should vent through the roof; and yet others say to avoid the
roof and go through the soffit or gable end of the house.

Does this all depend on where you live? For instance, in areas
with heavy snow, the roof vent could get blocked and therefore
venting through the soffit would be preferred, but everywhere else
the roof is the way to go? Is it really bad to vent through the
soffit?

If you vent through the soffit, you want to make sure that
there aren't any soffit intake-vents within a fathom of
the out-vent. Otherwise all the moist air that you've just
carefully vented to the outside will just get sucked back
into to attic.

I'm not so sure it's all that bad. Some of the ejected air may wind
up going back in through adjacent soffit vents, but I doubt it will
amount to all that much. The air coming out of the vent is going to
be moving fairly rapidly, while the air intake of adjacent soffit
vents is moving very slowly, even on a hot day. Soffit venting is
very common, a large percentage of those have continuous soffit
vents, and if it were that big of an issue I think there would be
widespread reports of problems. The ones in my house here in NJ are
all done that way and I have no problems.

Others have reported problems. I it a bad idea. Not as bad as venting
it directly into the attic, but not as good as properly venting it. I
understand that it is also against code in some areas.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit