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Bathroom Exhaust Question (self.homeimprovement)

submitted 1 year ago by nrezcm to c/homeimprovement

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Our master bath doesn't have an exhaust fan and I'd like to add one to help with the humidity. It's the primary bathroom of use upstairs and the 2nd full bath is on the other side of the wall.

Can I use a splitter to tie the other bathroom's exterior vent to the new exhaust? If I did I'd put the splitter closest to the vent to help prevent blow back to the other bathroom. They're both smaller bathrooms (50sqft and 100sqft).

Or is it just better to put it on it's own exhaust vent?

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[–] kiwifoxtrot 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Shouldn't be a problem to tie them both together. You'll want to add check valves on both lines before they join together. If you haven't bought a fan yet, I highly recommend the Panasonic WhisperFit series. They pull a ton of air, are energy efficient, and are very quiet. I went from having condensation on my mirror after a shower to nothing at all.

[–] nrezcm 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Ah good suggestion with the check valve. I just replaced our downstairs fan and it was a cheap one I got from HD but it worked well. You didn't happen to go with one of the humidity sensing WhisperFits did you? Looks like they have several with adjustable CFM so that actually might be a good fit for us when we go to renovate it in the future.

[–] fodder69 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

100% on check valves; technically each fan has to have it's own vent per code. Decent fans have a check in them but better safe than sorry. I'd put a separate exhaust unless it's really hard to get to.

+1 on humidity sensors but they can make wiring more complicated especially if you have a light as well.

I love Panasonic's. Not cheap but humidity sensor, variable cfm and quiet.

Noisy fans make you feel better but all that higher pitched exhaust fan noise stays in the room to make you feel better but trust me the bass noise comes through outside!

[–] nrezcm 1 points 1 year ago

Thanks for the feedback. Honestly both routes are probably the same amount of work so maybe I just get done with it and do a new vent so I don't need to worry about it when it comes time to sell.

[–] kiwifoxtrot 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have one that I can adjust the CFM and the time it takes to shut off. I have it configured to run for 5 minutes after I turn off the switch on the wall. This does require you to run power directly to the unit and a signal wire to your switch. I believe they also make electrical switches with timers that are easier to retrofit.

[–] nrezcm 1 points 1 year ago

That should be too easy. I'd have to run romex either way since there is just a light in there right now.