Are bathroom ceiling fans easily replaceable?

[Eug]

My builder put in an el cheapo 90 cfm 2.5 sones ceiling fan. Too loud!!! It's a square thing with what seems to be a fixed metal housing with an internal piece which seems to be held up by two metal protrusions and a screw. ("Nutone 671RB... for use with model 671R/672RA only" 0.8 Amp)

Before I take it apart... should I even attempt it?

I also note that quiet ones are mucho expensive. Cheap ones online like mine are about $30, but they go up to more than $200 for 50 cfm ones. :Q What's a "sones" by the way?

 

[Eug]

Pic! Can I replace just the internals and not the outside housing? The fan inside seems to be have a standard power plug, but is screwed in to the part I want to replace.

 

[MadRat]

*feels sorry for Eug*

That is not a fun project if its an older model. Luckily most last 20+ years of service!

 

[Viperoni]

You should be able to find a replacement fan, it appears most of them have a plug like that.
GL in your searches, I gotta change mine as well; the bearings are dying and the noise is NOT nice

 

[yellowvespa]

Sones is a measuement of noise. A special formula for measuring noise in small bathrooms with tile developed by someones kid on an off weekend. The lower the sone factor the quieter the unit will run .. you probably have a 4.0 sone factor .. look for 2.5 or less

 

[Eug]

Hmmmm... Well this is a 1 year old fan, since the place was only built at the end of last year. (I also asked for CAT-5 but the builder wouldn't do it, even with a big premium. :frown: So, now I have wireless. ) It looks like the enclosure for the fan is the same as others out there currently. The problem is that it seems that the actually fan part is screwed in from above so the whole thing might have to come out. I'll perhaps try taking it apart today.

BTW, it's a 2.5 sone fan. But the bathroom is very small so any noise is loud. I note that fans with sone ratings under 1 are available (for $$$).

 

[Ornery]

Don't know how involved you want to get, but there may be a cheaper solution if you're willing to fiddle around. If you could find a blower instead of a fan, that would be quieter. Some blowers used for exhausting air from cooktop hoods are mounted in the attic instead of right by the range hood. You could try mounting a fan or blower remotely at the end of a duct from that unit.

 

[Eug]

<< Don't know how involved you want to get, but there may be a cheaper solution if you're willing to fiddle around. If you could find a blower instead of a fan, that would be quieter. Some blowers used for exhausting air from cooktop hoods are mounted in the attic instead of right by the range hood. You could try mounting a fan or blower remotely at the end of a duct from that unit. >>


Thanks, but unfortunately I don't even know where the end of that duct is. I'm in a stacked townhouse so it'd be problematic anyway.

It turns out that this thing is only held in place by a single screw, and like Viperoni says, is a simple plug in. I think I'll head to Home Depot and find a replacement. A friend that redid his apt. says I can get a quiet lower cfm fan (should this post be in the cooling forum? ) that's much quieter, although at 3X the price. Mine's 90 cfm at 2.5 sone.

 

[Ornery]

I know what you mean about the price. I was buying all kinds of stuff at Home Depot for remodeling. If you aren't buying lumber most of the stuff is pretty darn cheap. I figured I'd slap one of those light/fans in our 2nd bath just for the heck of it. It's got a fan, kinda noisy, but no light over the shower. Then I saw the prices! Uh, I passed on that little project! I may do the light sometime, but the light/fan combo units are a bit pricey to buy on a whim.

Good Luck!

 

[Eug]

I suppose you can't use a lamp dimmer switch for a bathroom fan?

 

[Ornery]

Hmmmm, good idea! You can't use a light dimmer, cause they only go up to a few hundred watts, but they do make 3 speed Ceiling Fan Switches! I'm sure there are rheostat controls for them too, but I'm having trouble locating them online.

 

[Eug]

Taking a note from my case fan hack --> 12 V to 5 V, to lessen the case fan noise.

Well, this bathroom fan seems to work fine off my floor lamp dimmer. Brought it down to my living room and plugged it in. "Dimming" it seemed to quiet it down immensely.

As for the lamp dimmer being only capable of a few hundred watts, unless I'm mistaken, it won't be a problem. It's under 100 Watts, since my fan is only 0.8 Amps according to the label. (I'm not using one of those huge 5 blade ceiling fans, just the vent fan that's embedded in a hole the drywall.)

So I'm going to run out a light dimmer switch. It seems that most of the quiet ultra-expensive fans out there are only 50-70 cfm anyway. I'm guessing my 90 cfm fan when "dimmed" will be about the same power and noise for MUCH cheaper.

Thanks.