Bathroom extractor fan

[tim0409]

Hi

I built my own house around five years ago and at the time I didn't spend much time on the extraction fan setup in the downstairs bathroom/shower room. It currently has a 4" inline fan which isn't particularly powerful, which combined with a longish run of flexible pipe means it's not very effective. The room is 1.8m x 1.9m (x2.4m) but the shower is particularly powerful and consequently creates a lot of steam.
I'm thinking of replacing it with a more powerful fan - http://www.extractorfanworld.co.uk/airflow-icon-30... with a shorter duct and a humidity sensor and timer.

I just wondered if anybody has any experience of shower room fans and can advise/comment?

Cheers

Tim

[944fan]

Centrifugal fans will shift more air flow than axial fans but are more expensive. If you have a long run of hose a centrifugal fan will be better. The one you linked to I think is centrifugal and at 118m3/hr has very good air flow.

Replacing the flexible hose with solid pipe will create better airflow although this may not be particularly easy and if its a pain the effort probably wont be worth it.

You need to also make sure that there is adequate ventilation into the bathroom. If the door is tight to the flooring then the fan is just going to try and create a vacuum and wont achieve anything. You need a decent gap at the bottom of the door or a grille.

[HotJambalaya]

I just bought this: http://www.vent-axia.com/product/acm-line-mixed-fl...

Its powerful enough to do the extraction on 2 bathrooms with a T connector. Not sure if that helps, but thats all I got!

[tim0409]

I ended up going for the Airflow Icon 30 which I would highly recommend - it's incredibly powerful compared to the previous fan, especially now that I have shortened the run and used semi-rigid aluminium ducting. I went for the timer module but on reflection perhaps should have gone for the humidity sensor.

Edited by tim0409 on Sunday 31st May 22:28

[Alucidnation]

I had fitted a fair few Airflows but stopped soon after as quite a lot of the built in shutter mechanisms would fail.

Ive literally just replaced a Vent Axia MF identical to the one posted above, but with a Manrose MF.

[caziques]

Best solution would be to enclose the shower, to stop cold and hot air mixing so preventing steam.

Just bear in mind the more cold air you pull in from under the door the more steam you will create (unless you enclose the shower as above).

[jon-]

How good are the humidity sensors?

I currently have a pull cord one on a permanent live. It will be a ball ache to wire it into a switched live, but it often doesn't get turned on when the shower is in use.

A fan which turns itself off and on based on humidity sounds ideal!

[944fan]

The humidity sensors are pretty good. They are variable and it takes a bit of fiddling to get the settings right. A little too far either way and it will either start as soon as someone breathes on it or it wont start even if you shoved it in the steam room at the gym.

[Murph7355]

tim0409 said:

...
I'm thinking of replacing it with a more powerful fan - http://www.extractorfanworld.co.uk/airflow-icon-30... with a shorter duct and a humidity sensor and timer....

I have these. They're very good.

Been installed for 2.5yrs and not had an issue with them. Just keep the fascias/grilles dusted.