Need help with bathroom fan

[BlindFaith429]

Have to replace my old bathroom fan and have some questions.

Will post some pictures / details shortly

[Cdn_Cuda]

Biggest thing is to make sure it vents outside! Lots of older homes just vent into the attic. Low noise and make sure it is sized to your room.

[Bow]

I did mine with no experience. Just popped out the old one and installed the new one. I just made sure to kill the breaker so I didn't get zapped.

I don't get their weird noise rating system. Just use Db like everyone else.

[Siress]

my metric is best metric.

[BlindFaith429]

Okay, got the fan fixed for the most part, but I still want to replace it anyways. The fan is on the noisy side, and doesn't even have bearings in the motor, has bronze bushings. It was temperamental, but a good cleaning got it running again.

Fan looks to be blowing into the attic, which is one reason I want to change it.

House was built in the early 60s, single story ranch.. have attic access, which i think im going to need based on what I see.

Fan currently is just a fan, no light. It is controlled by a simple switch in the bathroom, which I have drawn what the wiring looks like.

Hole in the ceiling is 8" x 8-1/4" currently, and is placed over the back of the tub (not the shower-head end).

Room is approximately 7' x 8', so about 56 sq ft. There is a closet in the room taking up about 7-1/2 sq ft of that.

Based on what im reading, the recommended is 1 CFM per 1 sq feet. So the standard 80 CFM unit should be more than plenty.

Now, here's where I need help. I want to get a fan with a light. From what I've been told, I would just wire the light and fan together, so when the switch is turned on, both the fan and the light come on.

However, since I do have attic access directly above the room, I'm wondering if it would be worth it to run a second set of wires to the switch so I can control them separately. I'm not an electrician, but I am handy enough if I have good instructions.

Side note, I've remodeled one of the of the bedrooms, with new paint, outlets and light fixtures. I work on my own cars and pick up things very quickly. Not an expert electrician by any means, but I can do some basic stuff.

As to the fan, I've been told that Panasonic fans are very good and are very quiet. No idea how the other fans are that Lowes or Home Depot sell.

Heck, I went to lowes tonight to check them out, and they even have ones with built in Bluetooth speakers into the light lol

And advice / help / guidance would be much appreciated.

[Cdn_Cuda]

A quick Google show’s there a bunch of different bathroom fans with light built in. Kill two birds with one stone? Also while I’m the attic check out the insulation. My 70s house only had a single layer of pink paperbacked insulation which is pretty bad. Had since properly insulated and made world of difference.

[Number six]

I'd save the trouble of cutting a hole out for a two-switch panel, and just run the light and the fan parallel off of one switch.

[BlindFaith429]

They make switches that have multiple switches in a single "bay" to avoid having to cut in a larger box.

[Shaftski]

Have it on a GFI circuit if you don't already. Check with local building inspector about rules for distance between an electrical connection and running water. Safety is #1.

[Siress]

If you're serious about venting to the outside, there' little reason not to fish through an extra wire to control the fan separately while you're up there. It won't be to code unless you remove the drywall at the switch to fasten the new cable to a stud within 12", and then make sure to secure every 4' thereafter, and again 12" or less from the fan enclosure. You may end up with a few holes cut in the drywall that will need to be patched. If you're not already proficient, drywall repair is an excellent skill to have for any DIY home owner - so grab some 45min mud, some 2'x2' drywall panels and start practicing.

However... thinking through what little I know... maybe you could run a low voltage line (<24v) without securing it anywhere and use it to power an LED light designed for low voltage supply, rather than typical bulbs designed for 120v. It'll need to have the voltage regulator at the switch for this to be kosher...and I'm not sure if there's anything small enough out there. Could be external, though.

[Tarsun2]

the only reason i see to go through the extra work of wiring in an extra switch would be because the fan light is the ONLY light.
if you already have a bathroom light, just leave it at that.
why would you need a bathtub light on if you wernt taking a bath?

DEFFINETLY vent it out of the attic though. there are tons of options to make it work.


side note: my bathroom had one central light and no fan. i removed the light and installed a fan/light combo. i realize that sometimes you got to the bathroom and dont stink up the place, so just the light is needed. but i also realize that some people will leave the vent fan on when they leave to help clear out the room. i dont want the fan to be left on for extended periods of time. So i used the rocker switch above and made it so they can be controlled separately BUT, the fan can only be on when the light is on. when the light is off, so if the fan, but when you just need to brush your teeth, you can have just the light on.


overall it was not a "hard" job. just time consuming.

[Tarsun2]

come to think of it IIRC, a fan with a light still only uses 1 power source since they both run AC. so no extra wiring. but that means every time the fan is on, so is the light. if your ok with that, this will be a pretty straight forward job.

[BlindFaith429]

Yes, that was what I was thinking.

We do have lights over the sinks (along the wall to the right in the drawing), so the fan will not be the only light source.

Right now, when taking a shower, it's a little dark in the tub due to the shower curtain (we don't have a see-through curtain, so it blocks some of the light).

[Tarsun2]

i like it like that, its like showering in a cave lol
also, i shower in the morning (while its still dark out) and the darker shower is easier on my eyes. but this is just me.

as for advice, take your time and vent it to the outside.
dont cut the hole too big.
i used a short 2x4 piece across the hole to make sure the fan box was square to the ceiling. and it also held it in place while i mounted it between the rafters.
i dont know the codes in your area but where i am, every AC wire connection needs to be in a box with a lid. if you do some "fancy wiring" just keep that in mind.
Get a good set of fish sticks and gloves (fiberglass splinters suck) or a fish tape.
ive always used wire nuts but recently found these clear "push lock wire connectors" very handy. they also have them with locking/unlocking tabs.

[Siress]

I can see I'm off on my own tangent here, but I just found a little transformer just for this application. It looks like it might fit in a 1-gang junction box behind a low profile switch. Seems the choices here are:

1. Let the fan and light always be on together. (Most people do this...)
2. Fish another 14awg line (assuming it's a 15A circuit) to control the fan and light separately using the 1-gang switch for 2 devices. (Not to code, but easy to do. Lots of DIYer's do this... creates a fire risk.)
3. Same as 2 but remove patches of the wall to secure the added wire. (To code... could be a lot of work depending on the vertical distance, complexity of the wall finishing, crown molding, etc)
4. Fish a low voltage pair to control the light separate from the fan, convert the light fixture in the new fan to low voltage (i.e. disconnect the light fixture's hot and neural lines and cap them off, then connect the new low voltage line to the fixture), add a line voltage transformer to output ≤24V with enough current for the LED light of your choice, squeeze the transformer into the switch junction box - which may require converting to a deep 1-gang box or just go 2-gang and gain the option of getting a dimmer switch for the light and/or timer for the fan. (To code, doesn't seem like much work to me.)
5. Just use battery-powered, rechargeable LED light with motion activation. (Super easy... kind of annoying that you need to recharge the light every month or so. I slap these up all over the place...)

[Tarsun2]

well Blind, you have options lol

[BlindFaith429]

The switch is aboit 36" down from the ceiling. No crown moulding, so should be pretty simple.

The horizontal run of wire (running in the attic) is stapled to the roof trusses every 2 feet or so.

Once it gets to the right spot, there is a hole in the top 2x4 of the bathroom wall, and it drops the ~36" down to the switch box.

The vertical run does NOT feels like it is stapled inside the wall to anything. This would be a home run for me, as I could use the old 3-wire to pull through a new 4-wire, and use the dual switch like I had posted above to run the fan and light separately.

[Siress]

So, option 2 from above. Most likely fine, just goes against the electrical code. Glad you're running a /3 instead of just letting a straggler run parallel, haha.