Average tasks like showering, bathing and shaving can put home-destructive humidity into the air in your Sandpoint home. There’s good news though—a straightforward bathroom ventilation fan can protect you from distorted wood, mold growth, cracked drywall and other issues connected with a humid bathroom.
Even if you have ventilation fans in your bathrooms, do you know if they’re the correct size? Are they as soft and energy efficient as they could be? Age Heating & Cooling is here to answer your questions.
Today’s bathroom ventilation fans are small and modern and they work more quietly and efficiently than ever before. You’ll find a great range of options, from simple fans that will get the job done to fans with integrated heat lamps, motion sensors and heat-exchanger ventilation that helps block warmed air from getting out through your ventilation. While you have a lot of bells and whistles to choose from, the most critical aspect of your fan is whether or not it’s full-sized enough to do its job.
Rated by the cubic feet per minute (CFM) of air they push, a bathroom ventilation fan should be able to replace the air in a bathroom at least eight times an hour. With a normal 8-foot ceiling, your ventilation fan should have a CFM rating at least as high as the number of square feet in your bathroom. Thus, if your bathroom is 5 feet by 8 feet, a CFM rating of 40 would be adequate.
If you have a larger ceiling, the equation gets a little more complicated. You’ll want to multiply the width of the room by its height and length, divide it by 60 and multiply by 8. Or, to keep it simple, you can heed HGTV’s advice for bathrooms larger than 100 square feet – determine your CFM requirements by increasing 50 CFM for every toilet; 50 CFM for each shower, bath and combo; and 100 CFM for each whirlpool.
If you’re unclear if your bathroom ventilation fan is the correct size, or you know it’s the occasion for a new one, give the pros at Age Heating & Cooling at call at 208-578-4258. We’re here to help you ensure you have a ventilation fan that will run hard to care for your home and keep it cozy.