Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.

So is there any reason to replace the fan?

On 1/29/2020 8:57 PM, micky wrote:
Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.

So is there any reason to replace the fan?



What was the main reason he was inspecting the fan?

On 2020-01-29 6:57 p.m., micky wrote:
Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.

So is there any reason to replace the fan?


not if you're happy with it

On Wed, 29 Jan 2020 20:57:34 -0500, micky
wrote:

Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?
My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.
**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.
But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.
He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.
My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.
I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.
So is there any reason to replace the fan?



Probably his removal / re-install labour ...
fiddle farting around to preserve the old one
would pay for a new one.
And doing a clumsy job on preserving the old one
would compromise the new roof.
John T.

On 1/29/2020 8:57 PM, micky wrote:
Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.

So is there any reason to replace the fan?


Your new roof should last 20 to 30 years. Will the old fan? Do you
want to have the roof disturbed three years from now? In the scheme of
things, it does not cost that much for peace of mind.

On Wed, 29 Jan 2020 22:52:11 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On 1/29/2020 8:57 PM, micky wrote:
Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.

So is there any reason to replace the fan?


Your new roof should last 20 to 30 years. Will the old fan? Do you
want to have the roof disturbed three years from now? In the scheme of
things, it does not cost that much for peace of mind.
The new roof should last 20 or 30 years - yup - if it's done right
this time. Putting in a new one makes sense BUT.The new fan is
unlikely to last 20 or 30 years. Make sure you get one that can be
dissassembled without removing it and buy a spare so you have parts
when required - otherwise the roofer will be telling you you need to
replace the roof next time the fan goes bad. Just sayin - - - -

In article ,
says...

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.

So is there any reason to replace the fan?





You may want to do like I did and replace the roof fan with a ridge
vent. You eliminate all mechanical and rust problems.

In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 29 Jan 2020 21:29:49 -0500, Hawk
wrote:

On 1/29/2020 8:57 PM, micky wrote:
Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.

So is there any reason to replace the fan?



What was the main reason he was inspecting the fan?

My roof has a small leak, and he was inspecting the roof. I hadn't
said anything about the fan.

In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 29 Jan 2020 23:10:09 -0500, Ralph Mowery
wrote:

In article ,
says...

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.

So is there any reason to replace the fan?





You may want to do like I did and replace the roof fan with a ridge
vent. You eliminate all mechanical and rust problems.

This is a townhouse, and it came with and still has a ridge vent that's
almost as long as the house is wide, and a full length soffitt vents
both front and back.

People in this group have told me years ago that I shouldn't have needed
a fan with all this ventilation, and all I can say is when I bought the
house in May, without leaving the AC on, I'd come home after work at
around 6 and the 2nd floor was too hot to enter. It was still too hot
at 10 and at 11. I'd eat dinner and sleep in the basement, and go up
stairs in the morning. This went on daily for weeks.

After I put in the fan, it was 10 or 15 degrees cooler upstairs, still
without the AC, and I almost never needed AC at all. So you'll never
convince me the fan isn't a great thing for my hosue.

In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 29 Jan 2020 22:29:32 -0500,
wrote:

On Wed, 29 Jan 2020 20:57:34 -0500, micky
wrote:

Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?
My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.
**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.
But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.
He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.
My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.
I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.
So is there any reason to replace the fan?



Probably his removal / re-install labour ...

I really should have said that he's not recommending a whole new roof
and the one piece of plywood he wants to take out is elsewhere (Actually
the piece he wants to replace is right below where, in an earlier
thread, you all noticed the damaged ridge rail and the shingles that
were now an inch below it..

So no time spent on removal or reinstall, unless he comes up with
something new.

fiddle farting around to preserve the old one
would pay for a new one.
And doing a clumsy job on preserving the old one
would compromise the new roof.
John T.

In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 29 Jan 2020 23:03:02 -0500, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Wed, 29 Jan 2020 22:52:11 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On 1/29/2020 8:57 PM, micky wrote:
Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.

So is there any reason to replace the fan?


Your new roof should last 20 to 30 years. Will the old fan? Do you
want to have the roof disturbed three years from now? In the scheme of
things, it does not cost that much for peace of mind.

Sorry, I should have said that this 2nd guy isn't recommending a new
roof, just selective** repairs, so I'm still going to need a whole new
roof in few years.

So maybe his saying the fan needs replacing should have been reserved
for people getting a whole new roof, and he just said it without
thinking, out of habit?

**He hasn't sent a list of repairs yet, but he told me a new ridge rail,
one piece of plywood, covered by new shingles which may not match but
can't be seen from the ground anyhow, repairs to some popped nails, and
maybe other stuff will be in the list.

The new roof should last 20 or 30 years - yup - if it's done right
this time. Putting in a new one makes sense BUT.The new fan is
unlikely to last 20 or 30 years. Make sure you get one that can be
dissassembled without removing it and buy a spare so you have parts
when required - otherwise the roofer will be telling you you need to
replace the roof next time the fan goes bad. Just sayin - - - -

You have a good point there. I've had to replace the motor for this
fan three times, and it's possible from the inside.

It's tricky because, because of the motor brackets, the blade makes it
hard to take the motor out (and without gravity to help, even harder to
put it back in), and the fan has 3 sort of L-shaped brackets that come
from outside and together make a ring around the motor.

The brackets are mounted on rubber things somehow, so the motor
vibration doesn't get to the house, and I don't know how to disconnect
the brackets from their mounting and wouldn't try it if I knew how. The
rubber is still in good condition after 35 years but I would think that
would fail first. When disconnected at the motor, the rubber mounts let
the brackets move up and down and to the side, to some extent.

It was tricky enough to change the motor, but the 3rd time, they put a
1/8" plastic band around the motor where the bracket goes, so I couldn't
fully tighten (until the brackets touched each other around the motor)
the 3 bolts connecting the brackets. It used to fit that motor
perfectly. (The plastic band seemed like it be very difficult to take
off, like it was stuck to the metal, but I didn't realize all this until
I was in the middle of it. If there's a next time, I'll call the motor
company first and see what they say.) EVEN THOUGH, the motor has the
same model number, with no suffix or anything, as it did the first time
I replaced the motor. It's gotten bigger but the model number stays
the same.

On Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at 8:57:39 PM UTC-5, micky wrote:
Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I'm a little curious. Do steamy showers or baths affect the humidity
in the attic space that much? My bathroom vent fan exhausts to the
outdoors, so I've never thought about the humidity that might leak
around the fan housing. (The attic access--right outside the bathroom--
has a gasket.)

Cindy Hamilton

Cindy Hamilton wrote:

I'm a little curious. Do steamy showers or baths affect the humidity
in the attic space that much? My bathroom vent fan exhausts to the
outdoors, so I've never thought about the humidity that might leak
around the fan housing. (The attic access--right outside the bathroom--
has a gasket.)

I had a customer once with bathroom exhaust fan that went to the
roof but had bad water stains on the ceiling around the vent in
the bathroom. Problem was the exhaust duct between the vent and
the roof was exposed in the cold attic (in winter). It didn't
leak but it got bad condensaton when the duct got warm from a
shower and condensation ran down the outside back towards the
bath ceiling vent.

Solution was to insulate the exposed duct in the attic.

On 1/30/2020 6:36 AM, Gary wrote:
Cindy Hamilton wrote:
I'm a little curious. Do steamy showers or baths affect the humidity
in the attic space that much? My bathroom vent fan exhausts to the
outdoors, so I've never thought about the humidity that might leak
around the fan housing. (The attic access--right outside the bathroom--
has a gasket.)
I had a customer once with bathroom exhaust fan that went to the
roof but had bad water stains on the ceiling around the vent in
the bathroom. Problem was the exhaust duct between the vent and
the roof was exposed in the cold attic (in winter). It didn't
leak but it got bad condensaton when the duct got warm from a
shower and condensation ran down the outside back towards the
bath ceiling vent.

Solution was to insulate the exposed duct in the attic.

Â* Gary , the scenario you presented is physically impossible ! Water
condenses on COLD surfaces , not warm . I suggest the cold attic chilled
the duct causing the warm moist air inside to condense on the INSIDE .
It's still gonna cause the damage you describedÂ* as the condensation
wicks out into the surrounding drywall/plaster/whatever . Solution is
the same ...

--
Snag
Yes , I'm old
and crochety - and armed .
Get outta my woods !

In alt.home.repair, on Thu, 30 Jan 2020 03:21:22 -0800 (PST), Cindy
Hamilton wrote:

On Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at 8:57:39 PM UTC-5, micky wrote:
Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I'm a little curious. Do steamy showers or baths affect the humidity
in the attic space that much? My bathroom vent fan exhausts to the
outdoors, so I've never thought about the humidity that might leak
around the fan housing. (The attic access--right outside the bathroom--
has a gasket.)

Cindy Hamilton

That's a good question. My fans, from two bathrooms side by side,
exhaust to an inch or two below the roof ridge rail. (I'm not sure where
the first floor fan vents to. Maybe I'll look) Not sure why, maybe it
saved a little money not to have 3 holes in the roof, three vents, and
the trouble of roofing around them.

But the instructions that came with the fan talked about running the fan
after one took a steamy shower. Because I guess, the humidity would be
bad for the wood in the attic. I don't know if home-priced humidistats
existed in 1983, but the instructions might have mentioned them too.

One of the bathrooms had a separate switch for the fan, and two of the
first things I did were, in the bigger bathroom, put in a light over the
sink and in the housing for that light, put a switch for the fan, which
I promptly turned off and havent' turned on since then. The new light
was half way between the ceiling light and the wall switch, which had
also controlled the fan. (And still does. The fan won't run unless both
switches are one.)

And in the powder room, it was going to be too hard to put in a wall
switch so I just unplugged the fan, in the ceiling. That fan is meant,
iiuc for odors, and of course there are none.

When my mother moved to Baltimore, to an apartment whose bathrooom(s?)
had no windows so they put in a fan, I put in a switch for each, a
pull-chain right through the housing. I was like a typical tenant who
considers the changes he makes improvements and not damage. The
apartment never complained. I had asked my mother and she hated the
fan's noise as much as I did, even though it wasn't much noise.

On 1/30/2020 12:34 AM, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 29 Jan 2020 23:03:02 -0500, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Wed, 29 Jan 2020 22:52:11 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On 1/29/2020 8:57 PM, micky wrote:
Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.

So is there any reason to replace the fan?


Your new roof should last 20 to 30 years. Will the old fan? Do you
want to have the roof disturbed three years from now? In the scheme of
things, it does not cost that much for peace of mind.

Sorry, I should have said that this 2nd guy isn't recommending a new
roof, just selective** repairs, so I'm still going to need a whole new
roof in few years.

So maybe his saying the fan needs replacing should have been reserved
for people getting a whole new roof, and he just said it without
thinking, out of habit?

**He hasn't sent a list of repairs yet, but he told me a new ridge rail,
one piece of plywood, covered by new shingles which may not match but
can't be seen from the ground anyhow, repairs to some popped nails, and
maybe other stuff will be in the list.

The new roof should last 20 or 30 years - yup - if it's done right
this time. Putting in a new one makes sense BUT.The new fan is
unlikely to last 20 or 30 years. Make sure you get one that can be
dissassembled without removing it and buy a spare so you have parts
when required - otherwise the roofer will be telling you you need to
replace the roof next time the fan goes bad. Just sayin - - - -

You have a good point there. I've had to replace the motor for this
fan three times, and it's possible from the inside.

It's tricky because, because of the motor brackets, the blade makes it
hard to take the motor out (and without gravity to help, even harder to
put it back in), and the fan has 3 sort of L-shaped brackets that come
from outside and together make a ring around the motor.

The brackets are mounted on rubber things somehow, so the motor
vibration doesn't get to the house, and I don't know how to disconnect
the brackets from their mounting and wouldn't try it if I knew how. The
rubber is still in good condition after 35 years but I would think that
would fail first. When disconnected at the motor, the rubber mounts let
the brackets move up and down and to the side, to some extent.

It was tricky enough to change the motor, but the 3rd time, they put a
1/8" plastic band around the motor where the bracket goes, so I couldn't
fully tighten (until the brackets touched each other around the motor)
the 3 bolts connecting the brackets. It used to fit that motor
perfectly. (The plastic band seemed like it be very difficult to take
off, like it was stuck to the metal, but I didn't realize all this until
I was in the middle of it. If there's a next time, I'll call the motor
company first and see what they say.) EVEN THOUGH, the motor has the
same model number, with no suffix or anything, as it did the first time
I replaced the motor. It's gotten bigger but the model number stays
the same.


With a ridge vent do you even need a fan? Years ago I put one in that
stopped working. With new roof, roofer just put in a passive vent. Now
with a second new roof with ridge vent fan is not needed.

I also had a next door neighbor whose fan failed and set the roof on
fire after midnight when they were sleeping. If another neighbor coming
home late had not seen it a tragedy might have resulted.

Terry Coombs wrote:

Gary , the scenario you presented is physically impossible ! Water
condenses on COLD surfaces , not warm . I suggest the cold attic chilled
the duct causing the warm moist air inside to condense on the INSIDE .
It's still gonna cause the damage you described as the condensation
wicks out into the surrounding drywall/plaster/whatever . Solution is
the same ...

I stand corrected. You're right. And as you said, still the same
back to bathroom ceiling problem and the insulation did fix the
problem.

On Thursday, January 30, 2020 at 8:29:32 AM UTC-5, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Thu, 30 Jan 2020 03:21:22 -0800 (PST), Cindy
Hamilton wrote:

On Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at 8:57:39 PM UTC-5, micky wrote:
Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I'm a little curious. Do steamy showers or baths affect the humidity
in the attic space that much? My bathroom vent fan exhausts to the
outdoors, so I've never thought about the humidity that might leak
around the fan housing. (The attic access--right outside the bathroom--
has a gasket.)

Cindy Hamilton

That's a good question. My fans, from two bathrooms side by side,
exhaust to an inch or two below the roof ridge rail. (I'm not sure where
the first floor fan vents to. Maybe I'll look) Not sure why, maybe it
saved a little money not to have 3 holes in the roof, three vents, and
the trouble of roofing around them.

Yeah. When we moved in to our house the bath fan was flex-ducted to
just below a roof vent (no ridge vent on our house). We quickly
changed that to vent out a hole in the relatively nearby gable end.
At that time, my husband was a little timid about making roof penetrations
so the gable end seemed like a reasonable route. (He got over the roof
penetrations thing.)

But the instructions that came with the fan talked about running the fan
after one took a steamy shower. Because I guess, the humidity would be
bad for the wood in the attic. I don't know if home-priced humidistats
existed in 1983, but the instructions might have mentioned them too.

All of those fans are supposed to vent to the outdoors, not the attic.

The manufacturer recommends running the fan after a shower to dry up
the bathroom. So people don't get ****ed off with their product and
badmouth them on the Internet. They aren't really interested in
protecting your dwelling from moisture damage. And their warranty
says so, quite explicitly.

Cindy Hamilton

On Thursday, January 30, 2020 at 8:39:12 AM UTC-5, Frank wrote:
On 1/30/2020 12:34 AM, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 29 Jan 2020 23:03:02 -0500, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Wed, 29 Jan 2020 22:52:11 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On 1/29/2020 8:57 PM, micky wrote:
Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.

So is there any reason to replace the fan?


Your new roof should last 20 to 30 years. Will the old fan? Do you
want to have the roof disturbed three years from now? In the scheme of
things, it does not cost that much for peace of mind.

Sorry, I should have said that this 2nd guy isn't recommending a new
roof, just selective** repairs, so I'm still going to need a whole new
roof in few years.

So maybe his saying the fan needs replacing should have been reserved
for people getting a whole new roof, and he just said it without
thinking, out of habit?

**He hasn't sent a list of repairs yet, but he told me a new ridge rail,
one piece of plywood, covered by new shingles which may not match but
can't be seen from the ground anyhow, repairs to some popped nails, and
maybe other stuff will be in the list.

The new roof should last 20 or 30 years - yup - if it's done right
this time. Putting in a new one makes sense BUT.The new fan is
unlikely to last 20 or 30 years. Make sure you get one that can be
dissassembled without removing it and buy a spare so you have parts
when required - otherwise the roofer will be telling you you need to
replace the roof next time the fan goes bad. Just sayin - - - -

You have a good point there. I've had to replace the motor for this
fan three times, and it's possible from the inside.

It's tricky because, because of the motor brackets, the blade makes it
hard to take the motor out (and without gravity to help, even harder to
put it back in), and the fan has 3 sort of L-shaped brackets that come
from outside and together make a ring around the motor.

The brackets are mounted on rubber things somehow, so the motor
vibration doesn't get to the house, and I don't know how to disconnect
the brackets from their mounting and wouldn't try it if I knew how. The
rubber is still in good condition after 35 years but I would think that
would fail first. When disconnected at the motor, the rubber mounts let
the brackets move up and down and to the side, to some extent.

It was tricky enough to change the motor, but the 3rd time, they put a
1/8" plastic band around the motor where the bracket goes, so I couldn't
fully tighten (until the brackets touched each other around the motor)
the 3 bolts connecting the brackets. It used to fit that motor
perfectly. (The plastic band seemed like it be very difficult to take
off, like it was stuck to the metal, but I didn't realize all this until
I was in the middle of it. If there's a next time, I'll call the motor
company first and see what they say.) EVEN THOUGH, the motor has the
same model number, with no suffix or anything, as it did the first time
I replaced the motor. It's gotten bigger but the model number stays
the same.


With a ridge vent do you even need a fan? Years ago I put one in that
stopped working. With new roof, roofer just put in a passive vent. Now
with a second new roof with ridge vent fan is not needed.

Bingo! Generally accepted best practice today is a ridge vent. And if
you have a fan too, it's likely not helping anything, it may be making
it worse. The fan to be effective needs to be up high in the roof.
That's where the ridge vent is. So the fan will pull air in through
the ridge and blow it right back out. With just a ridge vent, the air
flows from the soffit vents through the attic, out the ridge.








I also had a next door neighbor whose fan failed and set the roof on
fire after midnight when they were sleeping. If another neighbor coming
home late had not seen it a tragedy might have resulted.

That's a concern of mine too. I had one in one section of the roof and
when it failed, I decided to just disconnect it. That roof section has
a gable and this opening which is non-power now. When I get a new roof,
the fan location will be closed and a ridge vent installed.

On Thursday, January 30, 2020 at 12:16:54 AM UTC-5, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 29 Jan 2020 23:10:09 -0500, Ralph Mowery
wrote:

In article ,
says...

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.

So is there any reason to replace the fan?





You may want to do like I did and replace the roof fan with a ridge
vent. You eliminate all mechanical and rust problems.

This is a townhouse, and it came with and still has a ridge vent that's
almost as long as the house is wide, and a full length soffitt vents
both front and back.

People in this group have told me years ago that I shouldn't have needed
a fan with all this ventilation, and all I can say is when I bought the
house in May, without leaving the AC on, I'd come home after work at
around 6 and the 2nd floor was too hot to enter. It was still too hot
at 10 and at 11. I'd eat dinner and sleep in the basement, and go up
stairs in the morning. This went on daily for weeks.

After I put in the fan, it was 10 or 15 degrees cooler upstairs, still
without the AC, and I almost never needed AC at all. So you'll never
convince me the fan isn't a great thing for my hosue.

How much insulation do you have in that attic, Pilgrim?

In article ,
says...

This is a townhouse, and it came with and still has a ridge vent that's
almost as long as the house is wide, and a full length soffitt vents
both front and back.

People in this group have told me years ago that I shouldn't have needed
a fan with all this ventilation, and all I can say is when I bought the
house in May, without leaving the AC on, I'd come home after work at
around 6 and the 2nd floor was too hot to enter. It was still too hot
at 10 and at 11. I'd eat dinner and sleep in the basement, and go up
stairs in the morning. This went on daily for weeks.

After I put in the fan, it was 10 or 15 degrees cooler upstairs, still
without the AC, and I almost never needed AC at all. So you'll never
convince me the fan isn't a great thing for my hosue.



Something does not seem right. If you have a ridge vent, the fans will
be sucking much of the air from the ridge vent and not the soffitt vents
and probably would not do much cooling unless the ridge vent was closed
off.

On Thursday, January 30, 2020 at 10:20:55 AM UTC-5, trader_4 wrote:

Bingo! Generally accepted best practice today is a ridge vent. And if
you have a fan too, it's likely not helping anything, it may be making
it worse. The fan to be effective needs to be up high in the roof.
That's where the ridge vent is. So the fan will pull air in through
the ridge and blow it right back out. With just a ridge vent, the air
flows from the soffit vents through the attic, out the ridge.

For those who have soffits and soffit vents.

My house lacks soffits. I'm sure some air sucks up around the fascia,
but most of it comes in through a vent in each gable end. We've got
a fan to help move air through the attic.

Cindy Hamilton

On Thursday, January 30, 2020 at 10:25:33 AM UTC-5, Ralph Mowery wrote:
In article ,
says...

This is a townhouse, and it came with and still has a ridge vent that's
almost as long as the house is wide, and a full length soffitt vents
both front and back.

People in this group have told me years ago that I shouldn't have needed
a fan with all this ventilation, and all I can say is when I bought the
house in May, without leaving the AC on, I'd come home after work at
around 6 and the 2nd floor was too hot to enter. It was still too hot
at 10 and at 11. I'd eat dinner and sleep in the basement, and go up
stairs in the morning. This went on daily for weeks.

After I put in the fan, it was 10 or 15 degrees cooler upstairs, still
without the AC, and I almost never needed AC at all. So you'll never
convince me the fan isn't a great thing for my hosue.



Something does not seem right. If you have a ridge vent, the fans will
be sucking much of the air from the ridge vent and not the soffitt vents
and probably would not do much cooling unless the ridge vent was closed
off.

Cindy just brought up a good point. What if there are no soffit vents?
If Micky's house has no soffit vents, only a ridge vent and you put a
fan in the middle, part way up the roof, I can see that having a big
effect on cooling. Many houses have soffit vents and then the insulation
installers later shove insulation over them, blocking them. There are
plastic chute things available that you staple to the underside of the
roof between each rafter, down by the vents, extending up a few feet
to keep them open. Same are used in vaulted ceilings to keep the bays
open for air.

On Wed, 29 Jan 2020 23:10:09 -0500, Ralph Mowery
wrote:

In article ,
says...

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.

So is there any reason to replace the fan?





You may want to do like I did and replace the roof fan with a ridge
vent. You eliminate all mechanical and rust problems.
Somehow he appears to have both - - -= ---

On Thu, 30 Jan 2020 03:21:22 -0800 (PST), Cindy Hamilton
wrote:

On Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at 8:57:39 PM UTC-5, micky wrote:
Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I'm a little curious. Do steamy showers or baths affect the humidity
in the attic space that much? My bathroom vent fan exhausts to the
outdoors, so I've never thought about the humidity that might leak
around the fan housing. (The attic access--right outside the bathroom--
has a gasket.)

Cindy Hamilton
Not if you have a good vapor barier and all the light boxes etc are
properly sealed, and the fan vent duct is tight. A lot of IFs.

On Thu, 30 Jan 2020 08:29:28 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Thu, 30 Jan 2020 03:21:22 -0800 (PST), Cindy
Hamilton wrote:

On Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at 8:57:39 PM UTC-5, micky wrote:
Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I'm a little curious. Do steamy showers or baths affect the humidity
in the attic space that much? My bathroom vent fan exhausts to the
outdoors, so I've never thought about the humidity that might leak
around the fan housing. (The attic access--right outside the bathroom--
has a gasket.)

Cindy Hamilton

That's a good question. My fans, from two bathrooms side by side,
exhaust to an inch or two below the roof ridge rail. (I'm not sure where
the first floor fan vents to. Maybe I'll look) Not sure why, maybe it
saved a little money not to have 3 holes in the roof, three vents, and
the trouble of roofing around them.

But the instructions that came with the fan talked about running the fan
after one took a steamy shower. Because I guess, the humidity would be
bad for the wood in the attic. I don't know if home-priced humidistats
existed in 1983, but the instructions might have mentioned them too.

They did

One of the bathrooms had a separate switch for the fan, and two of the
first things I did were, in the bigger bathroom, put in a light over the
sink and in the housing for that light, put a switch for the fan, which
I promptly turned off and havent' turned on since then. The new light
was half way between the ceiling light and the wall switch, which had
also controlled the fan. (And still does. The fan won't run unless both
switches are one.)

And in the powder room, it was going to be too hard to put in a wall
switch so I just unplugged the fan, in the ceiling. That fan is meant,
iiuc for odors, and of course there are none.

When my mother moved to Baltimore, to an apartment whose bathrooom(s?)
had no windows so they put in a fan, I put in a switch for each, a
pull-chain right through the housing. I was like a typical tenant who
considers the changes he makes improvements and not damage. The
apartment never complained. I had asked my mother and she hated the
fan's noise as much as I did, even though it wasn't much noise.

On Thu, 30 Jan 2020 10:25:22 -0500, Ralph Mowery
wrote:

In article ,
says...

This is a townhouse, and it came with and still has a ridge vent that's
almost as long as the house is wide, and a full length soffitt vents
both front and back.

People in this group have told me years ago that I shouldn't have needed
a fan with all this ventilation, and all I can say is when I bought the
house in May, without leaving the AC on, I'd come home after work at
around 6 and the 2nd floor was too hot to enter. It was still too hot
at 10 and at 11. I'd eat dinner and sleep in the basement, and go up
stairs in the morning. This went on daily for weeks.

After I put in the fan, it was 10 or 15 degrees cooler upstairs, still
without the AC, and I almost never needed AC at all. So you'll never
convince me the fan isn't a great thing for my hosue.



Something does not seem right. If you have a ridge vent, the fans will
be sucking much of the air from the ridge vent and not the soffitt vents
and probably would not do much cooling unless the ridge vent was closed
off.
The only way it would do much good is if EITHER the soffit vents or
the ridge vent were severely restricted - otherwise convection would
be MUCH more effective than a piddly fan.

On Thu, 30 Jan 2020 07:34:14 -0800 (PST), Cindy Hamilton
wrote:

On Thursday, January 30, 2020 at 10:20:55 AM UTC-5, trader_4 wrote:

Bingo! Generally accepted best practice today is a ridge vent. And if
you have a fan too, it's likely not helping anything, it may be making
it worse. The fan to be effective needs to be up high in the roof.
That's where the ridge vent is. So the fan will pull air in through
the ridge and blow it right back out. With just a ridge vent, the air
flows from the soffit vents through the attic, out the ridge.

For those who have soffits and soffit vents.

My house lacks soffits. I'm sure some air sucks up around the fascia,
but most of it comes in through a vent in each gable end. We've got
a fan to help move air through the attic.

Cindy Hamilton
Then you MOST likely don't have a ridge vent either. My first house
was that way - a story and a half with knee walls (which were not
insulated) and storage behind the knee walls. Hotter than hades in the
summer and freezing cold in the winter. The previous ownwer had put
insulated plugs in the vents for the winter - which HAD to be removed
for the summer. I quickly insulated the knee walls and was able to
leave the vents open - but the doors to the storage area were still
cold - even with foam-board glued to them.

In alt.home.repair, on Thu, 30 Jan 2020 08:38:58 -0500, Frank "frank
wrote:

On 1/30/2020 12:34 AM, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 29 Jan 2020 23:03:02 -0500, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Wed, 29 Jan 2020 22:52:11 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On 1/29/2020 8:57 PM, micky wrote:
Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.

So is there any reason to replace the fan?


Your new roof should last 20 to 30 years. Will the old fan? Do you
want to have the roof disturbed three years from now? In the scheme of
things, it does not cost that much for peace of mind.

Sorry, I should have said that this 2nd guy isn't recommending a new
roof, just selective** repairs, so I'm still going to need a whole new
roof in few years.

So maybe his saying the fan needs replacing should have been reserved
for people getting a whole new roof, and he just said it without
thinking, out of habit?

**He hasn't sent a list of repairs yet, but he told me a new ridge rail,
one piece of plywood, covered by new shingles which may not match but
can't be seen from the ground anyhow, repairs to some popped nails, and
maybe other stuff will be in the list.

The new roof should last 20 or 30 years - yup - if it's done right
this time. Putting in a new one makes sense BUT.The new fan is
unlikely to last 20 or 30 years. Make sure you get one that can be
dissassembled without removing it and buy a spare so you have parts
when required - otherwise the roofer will be telling you you need to
replace the roof next time the fan goes bad. Just sayin - - - -

You have a good point there. I've had to replace the motor for this
fan three times, and it's possible from the inside.

It's tricky because, because of the motor brackets, the blade makes it
hard to take the motor out (and without gravity to help, even harder to
put it back in), and the fan has 3 sort of L-shaped brackets that come
from outside and together make a ring around the motor.

The brackets are mounted on rubber things somehow, so the motor
vibration doesn't get to the house, and I don't know how to disconnect
the brackets from their mounting and wouldn't try it if I knew how. The
rubber is still in good condition after 35 years but I would think that
would fail first. When disconnected at the motor, the rubber mounts let
the brackets move up and down and to the side, to some extent.

It was tricky enough to change the motor, but the 3rd time, they put a
1/8" plastic band around the motor where the bracket goes, so I couldn't
fully tighten (until the brackets touched each other around the motor)
the 3 bolts connecting the brackets. It used to fit that motor
perfectly. (The plastic band seemed like it be very difficult to take
off, like it was stuck to the metal, but I didn't realize all this until
I was in the middle of it. If there's a next time, I'll call the motor
company first and see what they say.) EVEN THOUGH, the motor has the
same model number, with no suffix or anything, as it did the first time
I replaced the motor. It's gotten bigger but the model number stays
the same.


With a ridge vent do you even need a fan?

Because I do. In a post farther down, I explained that I've always had
the ridge vent, but until I got the fan, the 2nd floor was too hot to
tolerate from when I got home at 5:30 until I went to sleep, even at 11,
probably at midnight. After I got the fan, the upstairs would be a
little warm but I could go upstair when I got home, do my paperwork, go
to sleep whenever I wanted.

Years ago I put one in that
stopped working. With new roof, roofer just put in a passive vent. Now
with a second new roof with ridge vent fan is not needed.

I also had a next door neighbor whose fan failed and set the roof on
fire after midnight when they were sleeping. If another neighbor coming
home late had not seen it a tragedy might have resulted.

The fan doesn't normally run at night The motor has thermostatic
protection.

In alt.home.repair, on Thu, 30 Jan 2020 10:25:22 -0500, Ralph Mowery
wrote:

In article ,
says...

This is a townhouse, and it came with and still has a ridge vent that's
almost as long as the house is wide, and a full length soffitt vents
both front and back.

People in this group have told me years ago that I shouldn't have needed
a fan with all this ventilation, and all I can say is when I bought the
house in May, without leaving the AC on, I'd come home after work at
around 6 and the 2nd floor was too hot to enter. It was still too hot
at 10 and at 11. I'd eat dinner and sleep in the basement, and go up
stairs in the morning. This went on daily for weeks.

After I put in the fan, it was 10 or 15 degrees cooler upstairs, still
without the AC, and I almost never needed AC at all. So you'll never
convince me the fan isn't a great thing for my hosue.



Something does not seem right. If you have a ridge vent, the fans will
be sucking much of the air from the ridge vent and not the soffitt vents
and probably would not do much cooling unless the ridge vent was closed
off.

I know. That certainly makes sense and it must be happening to some
extent but there is no arguing with success. The ridge vent has never
been closed off. And I can see the soffitt vents from inside the attic.
They're about 8" deep and as wide as the house.

In alt.home.repair, on Thu, 30 Jan 2020 05:45:33 -0800 (PST), Cindy
Hamilton wrote:



But the instructions that came with the fan talked about running the fan
after one took a steamy shower. Because I guess, the humidity would be
bad for the wood in the attic. I don't know if home-priced humidistats
existed in 1983, but the instructions might have mentioned them too.

All of those fans are supposed to vent to the outdoors, not the attic.

If I used the fans, I would have at least considered correcting that.

I've never noticed a hole in an outside wall to vent The 1st floor
powderroom fan. The powder room is on the east side of the house (and
the other two are on the west). Next time I'm in the attic I hope I
remember to check if they vent it 20 feet up to near the roof.

The manufacturer recommends running the fan after a shower to dry up
the bathroom.

Wouldnt that take an hour or two? It takes an hour or more without the
fan and I can't imagine the fan would help much. So I'd be listening to
that darn noise for an hour.

So people don't get ****ed off with their product and
badmouth them on the Internet.

I bought mine in '83 when few people were on the net.

They aren't really interested in
protecting your dwelling from moisture damage. And their warranty
says so, quite explicitly.

In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 29 Jan 2020 20:57:34 -0500, micky
wrote:

Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.

So is there any reason to replace the fan?

My fault. I shouldn't have used the word "any".

So let me rephrase the question. Given that the fan has served me well
and I intend to continue to have one, is the rust he reports a good
reason to replace the fan.

Given that the fan looks like new from the inside, I cant imagine there
is enough rust one the outside to prevent the fan from being nailed
firmly in place, even the current nail holes have gotten bigger.

On 1/31/20 1:11 AM, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 29 Jan 2020 20:57:34 -0500, micky
wrote:

Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.

So is there any reason to replace the fan?

My fault. I shouldn't have used the word "any".

So let me rephrase the question. Given that the fan has served me well
and I intend to continue to have one, is the rust he reports a good
reason to replace the fan.

Given that the fan looks like new from the inside, I cant imagine there
is enough rust one the outside to prevent the fan from being nailed
firmly in place, even the current nail holes have gotten bigger.



You are wasting electricity and causing climate change.
All the leftards are installing energy-efficient solar fans.

On Thursday, January 30, 2020 at 4:39:52 PM UTC-5, Clare Snyder wrote:
On Thu, 30 Jan 2020 03:21:22 -0800 (PST), Cindy Hamilton
wrote:

On Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at 8:57:39 PM UTC-5, micky wrote:
Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I'm a little curious. Do steamy showers or baths affect the humidity
in the attic space that much? My bathroom vent fan exhausts to the
outdoors, so I've never thought about the humidity that might leak
around the fan housing. (The attic access--right outside the bathroom--
has a gasket.)

Cindy Hamilton
Not if you have a good vapor barier and all the light boxes etc are
properly sealed, and the fan vent duct is tight. A lot of IFs.

Ah. Vapor barrier. Nonexistent in my 1948 house. Not even a
tarpaper.

Cindy Hamilton

On Fri, 31 Jan 2020 00:52:07 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Thu, 30 Jan 2020 08:38:58 -0500, Frank "frank
wrote:

On 1/30/2020 12:34 AM, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 29 Jan 2020 23:03:02 -0500, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Wed, 29 Jan 2020 22:52:11 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On 1/29/2020 8:57 PM, micky wrote:
Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.

So is there any reason to replace the fan?


Your new roof should last 20 to 30 years. Will the old fan? Do you
want to have the roof disturbed three years from now? In the scheme of
things, it does not cost that much for peace of mind.

Sorry, I should have said that this 2nd guy isn't recommending a new
roof, just selective** repairs, so I'm still going to need a whole new
roof in few years.

So maybe his saying the fan needs replacing should have been reserved
for people getting a whole new roof, and he just said it without
thinking, out of habit?

**He hasn't sent a list of repairs yet, but he told me a new ridge rail,
one piece of plywood, covered by new shingles which may not match but
can't be seen from the ground anyhow, repairs to some popped nails, and
maybe other stuff will be in the list.

The new roof should last 20 or 30 years - yup - if it's done right
this time. Putting in a new one makes sense BUT.The new fan is
unlikely to last 20 or 30 years. Make sure you get one that can be
dissassembled without removing it and buy a spare so you have parts
when required - otherwise the roofer will be telling you you need to
replace the roof next time the fan goes bad. Just sayin - - - -

You have a good point there. I've had to replace the motor for this
fan three times, and it's possible from the inside.

It's tricky because, because of the motor brackets, the blade makes it
hard to take the motor out (and without gravity to help, even harder to
put it back in), and the fan has 3 sort of L-shaped brackets that come
from outside and together make a ring around the motor.

The brackets are mounted on rubber things somehow, so the motor
vibration doesn't get to the house, and I don't know how to disconnect
the brackets from their mounting and wouldn't try it if I knew how. The
rubber is still in good condition after 35 years but I would think that
would fail first. When disconnected at the motor, the rubber mounts let
the brackets move up and down and to the side, to some extent.

It was tricky enough to change the motor, but the 3rd time, they put a
1/8" plastic band around the motor where the bracket goes, so I couldn't
fully tighten (until the brackets touched each other around the motor)
the 3 bolts connecting the brackets. It used to fit that motor
perfectly. (The plastic band seemed like it be very difficult to take
off, like it was stuck to the metal, but I didn't realize all this until
I was in the middle of it. If there's a next time, I'll call the motor
company first and see what they say.) EVEN THOUGH, the motor has the
same model number, with no suffix or anything, as it did the first time
I replaced the motor. It's gotten bigger but the model number stays
the same.


With a ridge vent do you even need a fan?

Because I do. In a post farther down, I explained that I've always had
the ridge vent, but until I got the fan, the 2nd floor was too hot to
tolerate from when I got home at 5:30 until I went to sleep, even at 11,
probably at midnight. After I got the fan, the upstairs would be a
little warm but I could go upstair when I got home, do my paperwork, go
to sleep whenever I wanted.

Years ago I put one in that
stopped working. With new roof, roofer just put in a passive vent. Now
with a second new roof with ridge vent fan is not needed.

I also had a next door neighbor whose fan failed and set the roof on
fire after midnight when they were sleeping. If another neighbor coming
home late had not seen it a tragedy might have resulted.

The fan doesn't normally run at night The motor has thermostatic
protection.
How about replacing the fan with a set of simple roof vents low on
the roof? To take the place of the missing soffit vents.

On Fri, 31 Jan 2020 01:04:08 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Thu, 30 Jan 2020 05:45:33 -0800 (PST), Cindy
Hamilton wrote:



But the instructions that came with the fan talked about running the fan
after one took a steamy shower. Because I guess, the humidity would be
bad for the wood in the attic. I don't know if home-priced humidistats
existed in 1983, but the instructions might have mentioned them too.

All of those fans are supposed to vent to the outdoors, not the attic.

If I used the fans, I would have at least considered correcting that.

I've never noticed a hole in an outside wall to vent The 1st floor
powderroom fan. The powder room is on the east side of the house (and
the other two are on the west). Next time I'm in the attic I hope I
remember to check if they vent it 20 feet up to near the roof.

The manufacturer recommends running the fan after a shower to dry up
the bathroom.

Wouldnt that take an hour or two? It takes an hour or more without the
fan and I can't imagine the fan would help much. So I'd be listening to
that darn noise for an hour.

So people don't get ****ed off with their product and
badmouth them on the Internet.

I bought mine in '83 when few people were on the net.

They aren't really interested in
protecting your dwelling from moisture damage. And their warranty
says so, quite explicitly.

It only takes about 35 seconds to clear the condensation off the 16 sq
ft mirror in the bathroom if I crack the window open half an inch or
so. Letting the moisture get "sucked out" by the extremely dry outside
winter air is VERY effective. Don't need fans aswe have windows in
both bathrooms that can open if required.

On Fri, 31 Jan 2020 01:11:04 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 29 Jan 2020 20:57:34 -0500, micky
wrote:

Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I do believe there is some rust (maybe at the outer edge of the frame)
and around the holes where I nailed the fan to the plywood 35 years ago.
But I doubt if there is much and new nails can be put in an inch away
from the old nails, where I'm sure there is no rust at all. Will take 3
minutes.

So is there any reason to replace the fan?

My fault. I shouldn't have used the word "any".

So let me rephrase the question. Given that the fan has served me well
and I intend to continue to have one, is the rust he reports a good
reason to replace the fan.

Given that the fan looks like new from the inside, I cant imagine there
is enough rust one the outside to prevent the fan from being nailed
firmly in place, even the current nail holes have gotten bigger.
Get a can of tremclad

On Fri, 31 Jan 2020 03:31:10 -0800 (PST), Cindy Hamilton
wrote:

On Thursday, January 30, 2020 at 4:39:52 PM UTC-5, Clare Snyder wrote:
On Thu, 30 Jan 2020 03:21:22 -0800 (PST), Cindy Hamilton
wrote:

On Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at 8:57:39 PM UTC-5, micky wrote:
Do electric roof fans rust enough that they must be replaced?

My fan, in the pitched part of the roof, looks like new from the inside.
The plastic top, the metal screen**, and the metal frame below the
screen. all look perfect.

**Not wire screening but sheet metal with a lot of holes in it.

But the roofer who came yesterday wants to replace it, because he says,
it's rusting.

He also says the new one will be better, new thermostat, new humidistat.

My current thermostat works fine, I never take steamy showers or baths
so I don't need a humidistat.

I'm a little curious. Do steamy showers or baths affect the humidity
in the attic space that much? My bathroom vent fan exhausts to the
outdoors, so I've never thought about the humidity that might leak
around the fan housing. (The attic access--right outside the bathroom--
has a gasket.)

Cindy Hamilton
Not if you have a good vapor barier and all the light boxes etc are
properly sealed, and the fan vent duct is tight. A lot of IFs.

Ah. Vapor barrier. Nonexistent in my 1948 house. Not even a
tarpaper.

Cindy Hamilton
A good coat of oilpased enamel on the plaster does the job- spray
foam to seal around light boxes etc.

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 31 Jan 2020 16:31:03 -0500, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Fri, 31 Jan 2020 00:52:07 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Thu, 30 Jan 2020 08:38:58 -0500, Frank "frank
wrote:
....
With a ridge vent do you even need a fan?

Because I do. In a post farther down, I explained that I've always had
the ridge vent, but until I got the fan, the 2nd floor was too hot to
tolerate from when I got home at 5:30 until I went to sleep, even at 11,
probably at midnight. After I got the fan, the upstairs would be a
little warm but I could go upstair when I got home, do my paperwork, go
to sleep whenever I wanted.

Years ago I put one in that
stopped working. With new roof, roofer just put in a passive vent. Now
with a second new roof with ridge vent fan is not needed.

I also had a next door neighbor whose fan failed and set the roof on
fire after midnight when they were sleeping. If another neighbor coming
home late had not seen it a tragedy might have resulted.

The fan doesn't normally run at night The motor has thermostatic
protection.

How about replacing the fan with a set of simple roof vents low on
the roof? To take the place of the missing soffit vents.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I do have soffit vents, the full width of the house, front and back,
about 6 or 8" in width. And they are not obstructed. When I'm in the
attic, I can see the light from the outside, through the soffit vents.

I'm not going to eliminate the fan.


The question is, Is the rust the roofer reports a good reason to replace
the fan?

Given that the fan looks like new from the inside, I can't imagine there
is enough rust on the outside to prevent the fan from being nailed
firmly in place, even the current nail holes have gotten bigger.

And what else matters, except that the fan be firmly in place?

And that the motor spins and blows the air, and it does that.

On Saturday, February 1, 2020 at 1:11:53 AM UTC-5, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 31 Jan 2020 16:31:03 -0500, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Fri, 31 Jan 2020 00:52:07 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Thu, 30 Jan 2020 08:38:58 -0500, Frank "frank
wrote:
....
With a ridge vent do you even need a fan?

Because I do. In a post farther down, I explained that I've always had
the ridge vent, but until I got the fan, the 2nd floor was too hot to
tolerate from when I got home at 5:30 until I went to sleep, even at 11,
probably at midnight. After I got the fan, the upstairs would be a
little warm but I could go upstair when I got home, do my paperwork, go
to sleep whenever I wanted.

Years ago I put one in that
stopped working. With new roof, roofer just put in a passive vent. Now
with a second new roof with ridge vent fan is not needed.

I also had a next door neighbor whose fan failed and set the roof on
fire after midnight when they were sleeping. If another neighbor coming
home late had not seen it a tragedy might have resulted.

The fan doesn't normally run at night The motor has thermostatic
protection.

How about replacing the fan with a set of simple roof vents low on
the roof? To take the place of the missing soffit vents.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I do have soffit vents, the full width of the house, front and back,
about 6 or 8" in width. And they are not obstructed. When I'm in the
attic, I can see the light from the outside, through the soffit vents.

I'm not going to eliminate the fan.


The question is, Is the rust the roofer reports a good reason to replace
the fan?

Given that the fan looks like new from the inside, I can't imagine there
is enough rust on the outside to prevent the fan from being nailed
firmly in place, even the current nail holes have gotten bigger.

And what else matters, except that the fan be firmly in place?

And that the motor spins and blows the air, and it does that.

It rusts from the outside in. We were not on the roof to inspect it. It could be cosmetic or close to failure. If it's cosmetic, paint it.

What did the roofer say about the ridge vent and the cause of your leak?