An exhaust fan forms a very important utility item for your home. While improving air circulation, it helps prevent building of moisture and other indoor pollutants and removes undesirable odors. So you can see, it’s necessarily needed in the bathroom and the kitchen.
A bathroom exhaust fan is essentially needed for improved ventilation. Apart from doing away with offensive odors, it also throws out large amounts of humid air to the exterior of your home. A bathroom exhaust fan comes with additional accessories like lights, nightlights, timers, and heaters.
Look for an appropriate sized exhaust for your bathroom. If you carry the size of the bathroom while shopping for an exhaust fan, the salesperson would suggest you the most suitable fan with the needed capacity. Buying a powerful unit is a wise investment.
For its efficient working, an exhaust fan should be fixed properly. It takes a couple of hours to install bathroom fans. Before getting started, you must unplug the power from the circuit. Lock the circuit so that no one can start it even accidentally, while you are at it. Remove insulation if any, from the part of the ceiling where you like to fix the unit. In case you are replacing the light fixture with a fan unit, unfasten the lighting fixture and cut off all electrical connections.
The best location for fixing the ventilation housing is on the ceiling beam. But the existing lighting fixture may not permit that. In such a situation you can use wooden braces between the beams or joists to have a firm connection for the housing. While holding the housing firmly mark around its periphery to get the needed size for the cut. Then, you cut along the line and firmly fix the housing in its place.
Pull out a cable from the existing light knob, right up to the unit. You should use a three –wire cable in case you want to split the light switch and the switch for the exhaust fan. Make sure to follow the diagram as in the manual, else it could lead to power shortage in the house.
Join the ground wire to the clip provided on the housing. Push the wires inside the wiring box and replace the cover. From the fan housing, join the duct. Then, put in the cover of the unit inside the bathroom. Finally, wire the cable to the existing electrical circuit at the wall switch.
It’s quite easy to install exhaust fans, as the guidelines provided with the accompanying manual are sufficient for doing the needful. But safety is of utmost importance and one should not hesitate to seek professional help in case of any doubts.