Edmonton Electrician | How Does A Bathroom Fan Work
It’s a familiar scene, played out in homes everywhere, says Edmonton electrician, Ryan of Hauer Power. People go into the bathroom for a bath or shower and turn the bathroom fan on. Often, without really knowing why, or how important it is. The truth of the matter, is that the bathroom fan is an unsung hero of the home, protecting it against moisture, and the havoc it can wreak inside your home.
The primary function of a bathroom fan is to vent the humid air inside a bathroom and vent it out of the building. Humidity can cause a wide variety of problems, not just inside the bathroom but throughout the home entirely. Not only does moisture make a perfect environment for mold and mildew to grow, but the humidity can lead to rot, damaging structural components like wall studs. It can cause drywall to become mushy or damage the flooring like tile and grout.
Choose The Right Bathroom Fan
However, the ability for the bathroom fan is contingent on the fan being the right size for the bathroom, says Ryan of Hauer Power, the best Edmonton electrician. But also that the motor is in great condition, the ducting has been done properly, and it has been maintained somewhat diligently. While the size of the bathroom fan and the ducting is the responsibility of the contractors who originally did the work, however, when you are renovating or replacing your fan, get a trusted professional to check it out.
Some people may be shocked to find that their ducting wasn’t done properly, venting the humid bathroom air into the attic. Or just as bad, says Edmonton Electrician Ryan Hauer, it’s being vented out of the home, but into the soffits. Always get it checked out, because the bathroom fan won’t be able to get rid of the humid air if it’s not being vented outside.
Is The Bathroom Fan Vented Properly
And while your professional is ensuring the ducting has been done properly, make sure that the external vents have been sealed properly, or if they need to be resealed, that it gets done. This is where the humid air comes out, if it’s not sealed properly, the external vent can be damaged from the moisture. So get that checked out at the same time, to fully protect your home, advises Ryan Hauer.
The next step is ensuring that your bathroom fan is the right size for the space. While many people have never had to give it much thought, the larger your bathroom is, the more powerful the bathroom fan must be in order to move the humid air. This is expressed as cubic feet per minute, or CFM. Your Edmonton electrician will be able to help you calculate the size of fan you will need for your bathroom.
Edmonton Electrician | What Size Bathroom Fan Is Needed
A good rule of thumb is to get a size of fan slightly larger than what you immediately need. The wisdom in this, explains Ryan Hauer, the Edmonton electrician owner at Hauer Power Electrical, is that when some dust has settled on the fan, of when it ages a bit, the motor will slow down slightly. Having a motor that’s more powerful than the bare minimum will ensure it’s still quite able to move the humid air out of the bathroom, keeping your bathroom and home protected against moisture. But it’s also important to note that bathroom fans don’t last forever, they will eventually wear out and will need to be replaced.
Watch for signs that your bathroom fan is no longer operating well, and contact your Edmonton electrician to come in sooner rather than later. Some ways you can tell when this is starting to happen, is if your bathroom fan makes more noise than it used to, no matter how quiet or loud it has been. Also, if it’s slow to start when you turn the fan on, or if you notice excess moisture on your bathroom mirror, or on the walls, it’s time to contact the experts to get a new one installed.
Bathroom Fan Options
The good news is that there are so many more options for bathroom fans now than ever before. While many people think of bathroom fans as the utilitarian boxes mounted in bathrooms, current fans look stylist, and have many fun bells and whistles. Your Edmonton electrician will be more than happy to go over the wide variety of bathroom fans to choose from, and of course they will install the fans as well.
One of the most popular features of bathroom fans is their decibel levels. To many people, a quiet home is incredibly important, such as silent, or near silent dishwashers and refrigerators, to noise dampening technology in the walls, people can now get a silent bathroom fan. Perfect for people who need to use the bathroom while others are sleeping. Or for people who want to unwind with a bubble bath or long shower, and don’t want to hear whirring noise instead of their music, or silence.
Humidity Sensing Bathroom Fans
Another popular feature is a humidity sensor – the bathroom fan automatically turns on when the humidity levels raise, and turn off when the humidity lowers. There are bathroom fans with gorgeous light fixtures attached, or with Bluetooth speakers and mood lighting LEDs attached. Make sure your bathroom is your oasis of relaxation by choosing the right bathroom fan, says Edmonton electrician. Just because it’s a necessary part of your bathroom, doesn’t mean it can’t look beautiful or elegant, or provide you with desired features.
Contact Us!
Once your Edmonton electrician installs your fan, they will instruct you how to properly care for your fan. Regular dusting of the fan will help ensure that not only is your bathroom free of dust, but it will also help your fan continue working efficiently for years. Dust build-up requires more energy to spin the fan blades, using more electricity and wearing out the motor sooner. It is recommended to vacuum off the fan blades every quarter, or every two months of you have pets. Call Ryan at Hauer Power (https://hauerpower.ca/contact/) if you have any questions about bathroom fans, or if you are ready to find a new fan for your home.