36
PLEASE seek professional assistance immediately.
There are two main issues with exhaust that can make you feel ill like this: Carbon Dioxide and Carbon Monoxide. Both are harmful, if not fatal, if the percentage present in the air you breath is too high. You DESPERATELY need to install a carbon monoxide detector, and contact your local housing authority. ...
35
Is this a big problem? I assume the fan has been like this for 15+ > years. If it is, I will look into getting a duct there, which is complicated by the inaccessible attic space.
Moisture in the attic is a problem and the fan needs to be ducted to the exterior. I find it hard to believe that your attic has no access. Code requires one for many reasons ...
21
You have two big issues here.
First is that you have a serious risk of venting sewer gasses into your home. This is why drain vents open above the roof line or use one-way air admittance valves. This is likely to be unpleasant and possibly unhealthy.
Second is that a drain vent is typically too small and too moist to properly vent a bathroom fan. Your fan ...
18
Condensing water is never good. The vapor will creep in places where it may not quickly evaporate once it has condensed. It will condense easily but dry slowly in cold places and badly ventilated corners (like around the window) and on a cold floor. That means that these places stay moist for longer than one would think. Take a "finger test" in such places ...
12
There are actually two problems, and they are related:
Low Power Fan
First I found a customer review on the Lowes web site that said:
I gave this only three stars as no where on packaging or instructions is there any note indicating this will not work with high efficiency bathroom fans. I spent many hours troubleshooting my Broan XB110L only to find during ...
answered Dec 23 '19 at 5:21
manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact
23.7k4 gold badges29 silver badges75 bronze badges
10
Although not an answer different from the others but I'd like to point out, and considering its importance in this case, it probably can be tolerated in an answer of its own rather than buried somewhere among comments: on your way home today, not tomorrow or next week but today, pass a reliable hardware store in your neighborhood and buy a CO detector and ...
9
The National Electrical Code (NEC) does not require bathroom exhaust fans to be GFCI protected, however, there is this bit in Article 110.
110.3 Examination, Identification, Installation, and Use of Equipment.
(B) Installation and Use. Listed or labeled equipment shall be installed and used in accordance with any instructions included in the
listing ...
9
Many apartment owners wire the fan and light to a single switch. The reason I have done it is to limit moisture build up. Not all renters are responsible enough to turn on the fan while using the shower. Failing to do so can cause moisture to build up and allow mold to form.
8
There more restricted the airflow is, the more noise there will be. All contributing factors to noise:
Diameter of duct (larger is better)
Overall length (shorter is better)
Number of turns/bends (fewer is better)
Radius of turns (larger is better)
Size reducers used (no reducers is better)
Type of duct (smooth, rigid is better than flexible)
Type of ...
8
The only good solution here is to run independent duct lines to the exterior, as should've been done initially. It's a violation of codes for good reason, as you've seen. Both ducts should be rigid or semi-rigid pipe, as appropriate.
Backflow preventers aren't the answer, because if multiple fans are running, and one is stronger, the other could be ...
8
Take it back and get a different timer
The stock Lutron MA-T51 does not need neutral; however, it accomplishes this by trickling power through the load. This is fine for large loads, but for low loads, (less than 40W or 0.3A), it causes the repeated on/off cycling behavior you are observing. (This is mentioned in the troubleshooting section of Lutron's ...
7
That must be one powerful fan to require a dedicated 20 amp line. WOW. The silver wire you see is probably a tinned copper wire. (solder on the end of a stranded copper wire). To connect a 12 and 14 AWG set of wires together, you should use a yellow wirenut. If in fact the tinned conductor is smaller than a 14 AWG, you could use an orange wirenut. If you ...
7
Seek medical attention immediately, and have the doctors provide a report on your health and diagnosis. Find out from them how dangerous it is to continue to expose yourself and your family to those fumes.
After that, you have a few options, you might try one or more of them in parallel depending on the report itself:
Provide copies of them to your ...
7
Not a big problem but moisture is almost never a good thing in a house unless you live in a very dry climate. Why not turn the fan on first thing? In addition to mildew, moisture isn't good for medications, for example. A number of rx medications will state not to store them in your bathroom for that reason.
Always better to keep the air moisture low.
7
Venting into an attic is terrible in North American climate zones (6,7,8 in linked map below); less so in arid southern zones (1,2). This will give you a sense of how bad this might be. Beyond that, what @ack said.
Map: zone map
7
Ack's answer is very good, so I won't repeat what they wrote.
I will add that molds can definitely create a significant health hazard.
I would get the attic inspected for the presence of hazardous levels of molds.
From personal experience, I can tell you that mold inside walls and attics can be extremely hazardous to your health. It doesn't have to be ...
6
The three pairs of wires correspond to the three functions. You should be able to find labels or a note in the manual explaining which is which, but for now I'll assume:
black/white: main light
red/white: fan
blue/white: night light
The green wire is a ground wire.
How you wire this up depends on what you have available. A 3-way switch will not help you ...
6
If you accidentally broke the tab between the black (common) screws on the swtich, simply use two short pigtails off the supply line like this...
If you have two separate cables (one to the fan, and one to the light), then you'd wire it up like this...
And again if you've clipped the tab between the terminals, it will look like this...
Here is what the ...
6
If you have access to the attic; and presumably the top of the bathroom fan, you may be able to follow the duct.
If you don't have access to the top side of the fan, you could remove the cover and take a peek inside. You should be able to get a glimpse of the outlet, which should allow you to determine if there's ducting attached.
In my house, the bathroom ...
6
I'm confused/surprised by the existence of the void, but if you've got the space, then go for it.
The only bit of mathematics to be concerned with is matching the cross section of the various sections of pipe.
6
No, at least not under the international residential code (IRC):
M1501.1 Outdoor Discharge
The air removed by every mechanical exhaust system shall be discharged to
the outdoors in accordance with Section M1506.3. Air shall not be
exhausted into an attic, soffit, ridge vent or crawl space.
And more specifically:
M1507.2 Recirculation of Air
Exhaust air ...
5
DO NOT VENT TO THE ATTIC. I speak from experience. While trying to sell my (town) house I discovered a mold problem in the attic. We had a bathroom venting to a duct that was just stapled to a roof joist. I knew this was there and monitored it over the course of the 5 years I occupied it. Of course, it was never a problem until we went to sell it, then ...
5
This is a very common problem. The person above who mentioned a condensation trap is right on the money. No matter how powerful a fan, how well insulated the duct, you are blowing warm, MOIST, air into cold air which makes that moisture in the air condense into water droplets.
A condensation trap, which can be as simple as a bit of a loop in the flexible ...
5
Sealing the vapor barrier
You'll want to seal the vapor barrier to the fan housing using an acoustic sealant like OSI® SC-170™, or similar product (you might have to do this from above). Just make sure the sealant is approved for use with vapor barrier, some sealants won't adhere well to the vapor barrier.
If there is enough plastic to lap up the side of the ...
5
You could use a spray foam insulation like Great Stuff. It sticks to just about everything and expands to fill voids.
5
No, this is not a code requirement for laundry rooms in dwelling units (at least in the 2012 IBC).
In fact, most dryers are essentially acting as exhaust fans when they run because they take air from the room and exhaust it outside.
5
(I'm an American living in Austria.)
My first thought was something related to the heating system too (although we're not heating yet in Vienna).
I would still call the Rauchfangkehrer (chimney sweeps). There should be a flyer in the entry area of your building for the one responsible for your area. In Vienna, the flyer is usually yellow with a stylized ...
5
The accumulated dust is going to have minimal affect its performance as a fan. But feel free to vacuum/brush it if that makes you happier. Lacking a description of the noise, it probably needs bearing lubrication.
In many apartments, the bathroom exhaust fan is most of the ventilation you get. Not running it may lead to mold problems due to excess moisture ...
5
The answer to your question depends on many exact details of your existing circumstances. Are you building anew, or are you modifying an existing construction? If modifying, do you have access to run new cables? Is power supplied at the fan location or must you draw power from one of the bathrooms?
The following diagram assumes power supplied at the fan ...
5
To make these fans quieter, the fans are designed to not create as much turbulence, which means they "slip" more when the air is not moving already, i.e. when you first turn them on. In addition the Panasonic fans have a built-in damper that prevents the cold air from flowing back into the room when the fan is off, so before it can move air it must get that ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
