What to Know About Bathroom Heater, Fan & Light Combos

Bathroom-fan combos add three vital conveniences to daily living: adequate heat, light, and ventilation. Bathrooms are ground zero for high levels of moisture and odors. From the standpoint of comfort, the bathroom’s often not a cozy room, either, especially on a cold winter morning. A bathroom-fan combo integrates an exhaust fan, electric heating, and bright illumination into one overhead unit installed in the ceiling. Here are some of the factors involved in choosing the right unit and getting proper installation:

• To fully remove humidity and odors from the bathroom rapidly, the exhaust fan should provide at least one cubic foot per minute of airflow for each square foot of bathroom space. A dedicated duct must be installed to exhaust bathroom air all the way to the exterior of the house. Exhausting directly into the attic is not acceptable, as high moisture content in bathroom air will cause expensive structural damage, ruin insulation, and also promote mold growth.

• Bathroom combo units may be activated by a timer switch instead of a standard on/off switch. This ensures that the unit runs long enough — usually 15 minutes — to fully exhaust moisture in the air after activity such as a shower or bath, then turns off automatically.

• The lamp function in the combo may utilize a 100-watt incandescent bulb, a fluorescent bulb, or an LED array. LED lighting typically provides longer service before replacement is needed. Most units also include a night light that is 5 to 7 watts.

• A bathroom-fan combo sized for a typical medium bathroom — between 50 and 100 square feet—usually includes an electric heat element ranging from 1,000 to 1,500 watts. The heating unit incorporates an internal thermostat to keep the temperature consistent.

• To ensure safe operation in a moist and misty bathroom, installation of bathroom-fan combos should be performed by a qualified HVAC contractor or a licensed electrician. Units will typically require a dedicated circuit, which also includes GFCI (ground fault interrupter circuit) protection.

For more information about the selection and installation of bathroom-fan combos, contact the professionals at Air Assurance.

Your Guide to Bathroom Ventilation

Effective bathroom ventilation is important for reasons including excessive humidity, potential mold contamination, odor control, and basic comfort issues. Bathrooms are generally the wettest room in the house and may affect general air quality throughout the entire home. In many locales, building codes today require some form of mechanical bathroom ventilation — beyond simply opening a window — to prevent these issues.

Bathroom exhaust fans are the most common method to ventilate bathrooms. Installed in the bathroom ceiling or in a bathroom wall, these electric units remove water vapor and odors rapidly, before damage or mold contamination is triggered. Here are some basics of bathroom fans:

• CFM capacity. The air-moving capacity of a bathroom fan is rated by its cubic-feet-per-minute (CFM) capacity. While the proper size can vary according to the number and size of bathroom fixtures like the bathtub, shower, and sinks; generally speaking, a bathroom exhaust fan should provide at least 1 CFM of ventilation per square foot of bathroom size (length x width.)

• Exterior venting. Venting bathroom fans directly into the attic is a terrible option. Moist bathroom air in the attic space triggers toxic mold growth and accelerates deterioration of exposed wooden attic structure. Bathroom fans should be connected to a dedicated duct that extends all the way to the exterior of the house. Vent fans installed in the wall must likewise exhaust outside, not into the wall cavity.

• Timer operation. A bathroom fan should run long enough to effectively exhaust water vapor and odors, but not too long, so as to avoid excessive loss of heat or cooling as well as wasted electricity. Bathroom fans should be connected to a timer switch to automatically shut off the unit after a preset duration. For best results, the fan should run for at least 15 minutes following a shower or bathing.

• Safety factors. Bathroom fans should be wired to a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) circuit to prevent electrical hazards in the wet environment.

For more about the benefits of exhaust fans for adequate bathroom ventilation, contact the air-quality professionals at Air Assurance.

HVAC Considerations for a Bathroom Renovation

Are you considering a bathroom renovation? You're likely looking at more efficient fixtures and the latest in bathtub, sink and toilet design. But there's one key area in a bathroom renovation some homeowners overlook: exhaust ventilation.If your ventilation is lacking, bathroom renovations are the perfect opportunity for installing or upgrading an exhaust system.

Why Exhaust Ventilation Is a Must

Most of the humidity generated in a home comes from the bathroom or the kitchen. In the bathroom, the source is likely showers, running water in the sink and flushing toilets. All this moisture has an impact on the home, resulting in:

• Stale air and unpleasant bathroom odors.

• Excess moisture in the home, leading to higher summertime humidity and a need to lower the thermostat when the humidity makes the home seem too warm.

• Mold, mildew and fungus on tile, shower curtains, floors, walls and ceilings, leading to a musty smell and damaged drywall.

If you have a window, the solution could be to open it and turn on a fan to blow out the moisture. However, this isn't always practical and modern homes seldom have bathroom windows.The best solution is to install exhaust ventilation, but ductwork must lead to the outdoors. A system that empties moist air into the attic or in spaces between ceiling joists will cause wood rot and mold. If existing ductwork leads to these places, it should be extended so that it goes through the roof or an exterior wall.

Choosing an Exhaust System

Homeowners have many choices of exhaust systems these days, including quieter, more efficient models than were available in the past.You will need to find exhaust fan with the right airflow capacity for your bathroom, which is measured in cubic feet per minute (cfm). Figure 1 cfm per square foot and a minimum of 50 cfm. For bigger bathrooms (more than 100 square feet), figure at least 50 cfm for each toilet, bathtub and shower.

For more on bathroom renovations and exhaust ventilation, contact Air Assurance. We've served Broken Arrow and the surrounding area for more than 30 years.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about bathroom renovations and other HVAC topics, call us at 918-217-8273. Credit/Copyright Attribution: “jarmoluk/Pixabay”