and ideas? the panasonic lines seem good. very quiet and efficient, but
i want a METAL intake grill.
man there sure are lots of crappy bulbous cheap looking plastic grills!
one is for the bathroom so i figure 80 cfm and less then 1 sone. the
other fans is for a larger room so about 40 cfm and around 2 sones.

Chris Porro Email List wrote:
and ideas? the panasonic lines seem good. very quiet and efficient, but
i want a METAL intake grill.
man there sure are lots of crappy bulbous cheap looking plastic grills!
one is for the bathroom so i figure 80 cfm and less then 1 sone. the
other fans is for a larger room so about 40 cfm and around 2 sone

Bathrooms are damp. Metal grills are steel and rust readily (ugly!). Be
happy with the plastic and by next year you won't even notice it.
IIRC, Consumer Reports had an article on range hoods that might have
some clues as to which manufacturers are building the good stuff. Good
luck.

Joe

haha. well maybe you are right about me forgetting in a year. but we do
have a broan fan in our other bathroom. the grill is metal, but painted
so maybe its protected. it looks spotless after almost 2 years. trouble
is, its a bit too loud and i can't seem to find the model anyway.

as far as consumer reports go...i'm not sure i trust them. something
about how long they're been around and how large they are makes me
think they've been gotten to. .

Also suggest you worry more about cfm,s as they are what tells you it
will dry out the room fast or slow put up with the noise you don,t live
in the can but mold doe.s. Squirrel cage is the best to get and most
efficeint at moving air . Good Luck as a Contrctor the advise on here
is for the most part good and most know what they are talking about,
but always trust your gut
wrote:
as far as consumer reports go...i'm not sure i trust them.

Ah...you'd trust the integrity of complete unknowns on the Internet
over the most widely respected consumer testing agency in the world?

Suggest you google on "Risk Management." ;-)

I just put in a Broan that had a plastic grill and it looks very nice
to me. I'd prefer the plastic over metal, which, as others have
pointed out, can rust in a bathroom environment. I think it was 2
Sones, and it seems quiet enough for a bathroom to me. One advantage
to having some noise is you can tell it's on from nearby, so it won't
be ase easy to leave it on and forget about it. Of course you could
use a timer to prevent this too.

I had a problem with Air King. Bought one of their fans online based
on the data provided on the spec sheet. The rough in dimensions are
wrong, off by about a 1/2", which screwed me, because in this case, it
was critical and it would not fit.

i know it sounds funny, but i think i actually do trust unknwon people
on the internet more then consumer report. some of these people are in
the industry and there knwoledge is an accumulation of years of first
hand experience. first hand experience is the big winner for me. not to
mention thier livlihood depends on knowing the truth/value of products.
but i'm really just guessing about consumer reports.i don't read them.

as far as my fan sago goes, and i admitt i'm way too exacting about it,
i'm thinking about keeping the panasonics. fyi the stats a

80 CFM, 0.4 Sones, 23 watts, 4" duct $98
290 CFM, 2.0 Sones, 64 watts, 6" duct $166

the cfm ratings are funny i think though. an 8x8x8 or 512sqft bathroom
would get turned over once every 5-6 minutes by an 80 cfm fan. seems it
would be higher. oh well.

anyway it looks to me they are a good product if the numbers are right.
they also have a low profile grill. i hate those bulbous ones.

thanks everyone.