Bathroom extractor

[Howitzer]

Hi all,

I have a small extractor in my bathroom which doesn't work that brilliantly.

It is mounted in the old standard vent position so on the outside wall is a brick grill, an oblong block full of cutout squares.

When I run the extractor I seem to get more cavitation than extraction and the steam which comes out of it seems to fall out as apposed to push out, like my kitchen extractor.

Are there many options for a new grill on the outer wall?

I know there are better extractors which would go above the shower but I don't want to have to cut holes and then re-tile the wall with the hole in.

Dave!

[PH5121]

For the fan to work properly it needs to be able to draw air in and expel the steam. Is the door to the bathroom undercut to allow air to be drawn into the room from the rest of the house?

[Pheo]

Put an in-line one in the roof, and stick an air-vent over the existing hole? Given the square holes on the outside was probably an air brick before.

I've been looking, and the ability of the in-line fans is night and day vs in wall. Like, 50m3/hr vs 350m3.hr

[PH5121]

Vent axia do a good 100mm diameter in line fan that is avaiable with an integral timer.

The ACM110T, it is very robust compared to some cheaper in line fans, that said I have a cheapo Addvent AVC110 (re badged Manrose I think) which works okay. The Vent Axia shifts more air, 220m/3 per hour opposed to 110m/3 for the Addvent.

[dirty_dog]

Ive got one of these and about to fit another in our bathroom

http://www.solerandpalau.co.uk/product.jsp?PRODUCT...

Pretty good specs wise and quiet.

[Howitzer]

Thanks for the replies guys, i'm back home in 2 weeks so will remove the old one and start measuring up.

I don't want one in the roof, I know they are better but having 2 vents in the room will look silly imo.

Dave!

[PH5121]

The in line ones go in the loft, with just a grille on the ceiling. These can be circular and less obtrusive than a square one.

[Yazar]

Howitzer said:

but having 2 vents in the room will look silly imo.

I have two and looks fine as they are just grills rather than sticking out like wall fans. One is a grill over the external air brick and second is a grill in ceiling.

It means I do not need to leave a gap under the bathroom door to get air in , so minimal noise leakage. Plus no need to have window open.

But your mind seems set on the wall ones, so is it a case of it never having worked or just recently? If latter then have you removed the fan and checked that nothing is clogged e.g. dust buildup.

If former then try the fan size calculator here to see how powerful your replacement needs to be: fan size calculator

Edited by Yazar on Monday 26th January 15:06

[LordHaveMurci]

We've recently had a sparky replace our in-line one with his recommended ceiling mounted one. The old in-line stopped working after approx 10yrs use & was virtually silent. The new ceiling mount one is a noisy bd & more obtrusive, it will be getting replaced with another in-line one soon though this time I'll look at something like the Airflow Icon with it's iris rather than the egg crate grill of our old one, should be much less cold/draughty & look nicer.

[Yazar]

Sounds like you have been let down by the sparky and blaming the fan rather than him. What was his recommended inline one, and has he fitted it properly?

A ceiling fan is by design more quiet than one on the wall - as it is physically not in the room! but instead away in the loftspace above. So its either a really cheap one or not mounted properly (left resting on ceilling next to hole rather than on a joist further away etc ).

If a crappy fan than you can minimize its crapness by making sure the vent is fitted properly and the location of fan is away from the hole made and screwed down properly using using rubber mounts (cheap £2.00).

This is mine: zero noise: S&P TD Silent]

Edited by Yazar on Monday 26th January 15:52

[LordHaveMurci]

Yazar said:

Sounds like you have been let down by the sparky and blaming the fan rather than him. What was his recommended inline one, and has he fitted it properly?

A ceiling fan is by design more quiet than one on the wall - as it is physically not in the room! but instead away in the loftspace above. So its either a really cheap one or not mounted properly (left resting on ceilling next to hole rather than on a joist further away etc ).

If a crappy fan than you can minimize its crapness by making sure the vent is fitted properly and the location of fan is away from the hole made and screwed down properly using using rubber mounts (cheap £2.00).

This is mine: zero noise: S&P TD Silent]

Edited by Yazar on Monday 26th January 15:52

Won't be trusting that sparky again but it's a ceiling mounted fan, not an in-line one hence it's so noisy, it's also more obtrusive as it's ceiling mounted. He does a lot of work for a national house builder & uses these fans in new builds, doesn't make them any good though!

Need to change the downlighters in the En-Suite & main bathroom anyway so will find another sparky to replace all in one go.

[Howitzer]

Yazar said:

I have two and looks fine as they are just grills rather than sticking out like wall fans. One is a grill over the external air brick and second is a grill in ceiling.

It means I do not need to leave a gap under the bathroom door to get air in , so minimal noise leakage. Plus no need to have window open.

But your mind seems set on the wall ones, so is it a case of it never having worked or just recently? If latter then have you removed the fan and checked that nothing is clogged e.g. dust buildup.

If former then try the fan size calculator here to see how powerful your replacement needs to be: fan size calculator

Edited by Yazar on Monday 26th January 15:06

I had left the shower running and had to attend to the little one and when I went back in there was a lot of steam and i'd forgotten to turn the extractor on. When I did I didn't notice much draw through it so opened the window and looked at the vent and it wasn't coming out with much flow.

The unit jusst sits in the cavity with a cover and it draws in around the edges. It's mounted flush so that is correct but there is no ducting between the fan and outside vent, so I think it's just cavitating as apposed to drawing.

We have a large towel radiator and electric underfloor heating so the bathroom has always been dry but now I know the extractor isn't working as it should it's bugging me

Dave!

[guindilias]

Most of the steam is probably condensing straight on to the freezing cold airbrick, hence not much coming out! I'd stick in some plastic ducting to an outside grille/backdraft shutter instead, rip the airbrick out - they were never meant to be used for that in the first place.

[Yazar]

Howitzer said:

I had left the shower running and had to attend to the little one and when I went back in there was a lot of steam and i'd forgotten to turn the extractor on. When I did I didn't notice much draw through it so opened the window and looked at the vent and it wasn't coming out with much flow.

The unit jusst sits in the cavity with a cover and it draws in around the edges. It's mounted flush so that is correct but there is no ducting between the fan and outside vent, so I think it's just cavitating as apposed to drawing.

We have a large towel radiator and electric underfloor heating so the bathroom has always been dry but now I know the extractor isn't working as it should it's bugging me

Dave!

Hold a sheet of toilet tissue or two over it and and see if it sticks. If fan is working then should do.

Edited by Yazar on Monday 26th January 16:45

[hairyben]

Howitzer said:

Hi all,

I have a small extractor in my bathroom which doesn't work that brilliantly.

It is mounted in the old standard vent position so on the outside wall is a brick grill, an oblong block full of cutout squares.

When I run the extractor I seem to get more cavitation than extraction and the steam which comes out of it seems to fall out as apposed to push out, like my kitchen extractor.

Are there many options for a new grill on the outer wall?

I know there are better extractors which would go above the shower but I don't want to have to cut holes and then re-tile the wall with the hole in.

Dave!

Easy enough to smash the old airbrick out and replace with a vent.

As you've probably surmised the airbrick is about 25% unrestricted space which throttles the fan's capability the same as if you ran it through a 2" tube.

Did this exact thing for a "useless" cooker hood the client was asking to be replaced with a more powerfull unit recently, he reported it's much better.

[hairyben]

LordHaveMurci said:

Won't be trusting that sparky again but it's a ceiling mounted fan, not an in-line one hence it's so noisy, it's also more obtrusive as it's ceiling mounted. He does a lot of work for a national house builder & uses these fans in new builds, doesn't make them any good though!

Need to change the downlighters in the En-Suite & main bathroom anyway so will find another sparky to replace all in one go.

you mean he arf-inched it?;) national house bulders don't tend to specify the best money can buy in either parts or installers, although there's building control limits on extract fan noise emissions now- maybe he had some carpy old ones he wanted shot of?.

problem with ceiling mount fans is the ceiling reverberates or amplifes the noise; you can try a "quiet" fan which is damped better but fitting another inline is best, make it a centrifugal one too- axial fans are useless on runs of ducting.