Bathroom vent fan: down or sideways?
I am renovating a bathroom in my house, and we are capturing some previously unused space under the stairs for it. At the top of the stairs, the last 3 steps make a turn, and the part of the bathroom ceiling that will be under the turn in the stairs will be dropped about 18″, to allow for some structural framing to support these last steps.
The tub/shower will be going in this area. Now here is my question: I would like to position the vent fan pointing horizontally into the room. There is plenty of space for it on the small vertical section of wall at the edge of the dropped section of ceiling. Is there any reason that I should not do this? (It seems to me that I have almost always seen bathroom fans pointing straight down.)
The other option would be pointing down, right over the shower. I don’t want to have it that close to the water.
Thanks for any input.
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Replies
Before you deal with the vent fan, the question I have would be:
How did you deal with the plumbing vent pipe?
There is a riser nearby that goes to the roof.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.-Groucho Marx
Edited 6/20/2009 5:25 pm ET by musashi
Most bathroom fans have a little flapper door to close the vent line when not in use --- may not work properly / at all if mounted in the wall.
>>I don't want to have it that close to the water.<<
How low is that ceiling? No problem in a ceiling which is 8'........
Jim
There are vent fan approved for use over showers and tubs. Usually the instructions require them to be GFCI protected when installed there.
Also there are vent fans specified for sidewall venting. So the flapper is designed for that usage.
William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe
Thanks for the tip. I will shop accordingly.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
-Groucho Marx
Panasonic makes some of the best fans out there. Quite, well built, good instructions.http://www.panasonic.com/business/building-products/ventilation-systems/index.asp
If you have a well sealed house and you put in a panasonic, make sure that you don't downdraft the water heater or the furnace.
You got that right. I bought two in line fans, 250 cfm if I recall. They cost me about $120 apiece and run so silent I don't know they are on. They serve multiple rooms, too. Big expense was the exhaust grilles I had to buy (about $16 each, I think). Centrally installed, they are sweet!! I got quality gasketed backdraft dampers, too to minimize the cold air coming back in. They mount in any direction. Very pleased.
There was a discussion about a year ago about putting a fan low down on a bathroom wall by a toilet to divert odors away from the user. As I remember it turned out very well.
Should be able to do either way ... just make sure the damper is oriented for proper operation. Personally I'd consider a tight fitting damper in addition, but the fan has to have the umph for that to work right.
Moist air is lighter than dry air, so fans intended to exhaust moist air from baths and showers perform best when mounted high--but high sidewall is as good as ceiling.
Keep in mind that exhausted air must be easily replaced by air that is able to enter the bath. (air in = air out) Otherwise, your fan rated for, say, 60 cfm may actually exhaust only 20 cfm or less when the door is closed.