Bathroom extractor fans

Going to put an Extractor fan in the bathroom. Does anyone know if the ones with Humidstats are worth the extra cash? Do they also come with timers? Or shall I just save some cash and buy the timer only option?

The 2 I am looking at are
http://www.extractorfanworld.co.uk/soler-palau-hi-power-silent-bathroom-fan-with-timer-sil100t-3191-p.asp
&
http://www.extractorfanworld.co.uk/soler-palau-hi-power-silent-bathroom-fan-with-humidistat-sil100ht-3193-p.asp

It will be running from the bathroom straight through the gable end of the house to outside.
Thanks

I used to know someone like that. Used to really like tractors. Doesn’t any more though.

Humidistat fans are a pain they go off all the bloody time and rattle away during the night for no reason. Just get a timer one.

I bought an expelair humidistat centrifugal one for about 100 pounds for a the bathroom. I wouldn’t pay extra for the humidistat. Just get one with a pull cord operation

Pullcord – guaranteeing it never gets used

I wired mine to come on with the light and go off 10 minutes later. Comes on when you go for a whiz but so what

I got a humidistat one so that it would stay on while the bathroom cleared. It also had a timer so it would stay on for 10 mins after the lights.

It worked ok but the humidistat took a lot of fiddling.

does anyone know what flow rate / draw would be needed for a 13 m3 bathroom? Our current one (an Icon airflow 15) is useless but I can’t work out what I need instead – or whether the next model up in the range (an icon 30) would do the trick…

Has your bathroom got a rebated door ( a 10-15mm gap below it) or is it a good fit ?

Found my fan to be useless unless the door was open a crack as the door was a near perfect fit. Room cleared well then so i cut 10mm off the bottom of door so that the was an air flow instead of the fan trying to suck the air out the steam with no air replacing it

trail_rat, yep already tried that… thanks for the suggestion though..

Our current one (an Icon airflow 15) is useless

We fit Icon fans – they’re no better or worse than any others. The problems are usually a) too long a run of pipe to the outside b) an air vent to replace the air being expelled.

Icon do a PIR module with timer run-on. Just fitted one inside a shower cubicle and seems excellent.

Bathroom fans should ideally have a 3 pole isolator installed.

rwamartin – thanks.. do you normally fit the icon 30 or 50 in bathrooms… I think the 15 might be on the small side but can’t get any help from the manufacturer because I’m not in the “trade”..

I got one of these – means the fan isn’t noisy in the bathroom.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/manrose-in-line-white-20w-shower-fan-kit/15061

It seems to do the job of extracting the visible steam, although there is still quite a lot of condensation on the tiles – and it’s fully tiled so there is a bit of ‘weeping’ of water after a shower.

I read that I shouldn’t get too powerful a fan though as it can make the room cold as it draws in too much air from outside the nice snug steamy bathroom.

Have a look at one of these
Shower miser[/url]

simple idea that relies on hot water passing through the pipe to trigger the fan.

What type of fan and where

The regs require 15 litres/second airflow – but this should really be measured at the vent. The 15 is going to be good for through the wall applications where the run is short ie directly out through a cavity wall. For ducted runs ie up through a roof via a slate vent, a 30 is probably a better bet.

The fan should be IPx4 rated and can be fitted in zones 1 and 2 (I can explain those if you don’t understand them). The regs say that a fan supplied from a lighting circuit for a bathroom without a window should have it’s own means of isolation as otherwise replacement or maintenance would have to be carried out in the dark. The isolator should be installed outside of the zones.

Rich.

I recently replaced a dead ceiling extractor with one of these [/url]and it’s pretty epic.
Quieter than the old extractor yet 3 or 4 times more powerful – easily capable is sucking a sheet of loo paper up from within about 6″!
British made too.

robdixon – Member
does anyone know what flow rate / draw would be needed for a 13 m3 bathroom? Our current one (an Icon airflow 15) is useless but I can’t work out what I need instead – or whether the next model up in the range (an icon 30) would do the trick…

How long is the pipe run? And is it a axial fan or a centrifugal?

Centrifugal can’t get the throughflow of an axial, but it will work with a larger resistance (longer pipework).

My Father in Law replaced our old, knackered ceiling fan with a cheap axial one and within weeks we had mould forming as the pump wasn’t actually doing anything.
We replaced it with a centrifugal one and the difference was night and day.

We got an inline one to cut the noise down, it lives in the loft. I’m sure it’s got a clever timer too, if you only pop in for a quick Jimmy it doesn’t stay on long, have a bath or shower and it runs for 5/10 mins or whatever.

Can you get into the loft space above the bathroom?
If so you’ll definitely get better results with an inline unit like the one above. You can run some flexi duct from a 4″ grill in the ceiling to the fan, and vent it out of the soffit.
It’ll be more powerful, quieter, neater and will save you having to core drill a 4″ hole in the bathroom wall.

Try a vent Axia Lo carbon fan I fitted one and it runs all the time silently and boosts when you turn the lights on although it can work off a integral humistat or Co2 Sensor, well worth the cash

MarkLG – Member

Can you get into the loft space above the bathroom?
If so you’ll definitely get better results with an inline unit like the one above. You can run some flexi duct from a 4″ grill in the ceiling to the fan, and vent it out of the soffit.
It’ll be more powerful, quieter, neater and will save you having to core drill a 4″ hole in the bathroom wall.

And you`ll get an ice cold airblast constantly like in our 2 bathrooms vented this way 🙁
New build, vented out of soffit facing prevailing wind direction, looks like there are no back draft shutters installed, so its freezing in both of them 🙁

so you fit backdraft shutters.

its not difficult nor expensive.

just make sure they are well sprung so they dont rattle – mines solenoid driven when the fan comes on.

And you`ll get an ice cold airblast constantly like in our 2 bathrooms vented this way
New build, vented out of soffit facing prevailing wind direction, looks like there are no back draft shutters installed, so its freezing in both of them

Or for £4 you can put a back draft shutter on!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/100mm-line-extractor-draught-shutter/dp/B00A50NDEU/ref=pd_sim_kh_6

The (otherwise stunning) Serena hotel in Kampala has bathroom extractors so powerful that if you drop a piece of bog paper by the bathroom door it gets whirled up and sucked onto the vent and it’s quite an effort to close the bathroom door against the suction. The downside is that the entire hotel stinks of overheated groundnut oil from the fryers in the kitchen, which doesn’t fill me with confidence because in the case of a fire in the lobby or kitchen the whole hotel would fill with smoke….

I am aware of them now and its on the list of things to do…..

First it needs raising with the developer, along with the non sealing windows…….

globalti – Member
…which doesn’t fill me with confidence because in the case of a fire in the lobby or kitchen the whole hotel would fill with smoke….

Fear not (probably).
Most ventilation systems shut off when a fire is detected to stop this happening.

Er…. in the UK or Europe maybe but in Africa…..?

I’ve stayed in two South African hotels, one in Durban and the other in Lagos, Nigeria, where the room corridors lead straight into the floor-to-ceiling lobby with no fire doors or any other precuation to prevent the entire hotel becoming smoke-logged if a fire starts in a public area. Can’t believe hotel architects are still allowed to design in this way.

so you fit backdraft shutters.

I decided against it because the vent is near our bedroom and was concerned it might drive me up the wall of a night.

And having a grille has the added benefit of adding additional and secure ventilation for the remainder of the day even when the lights are off. I haven’t (yet) noticed it making the room overly cold.