- Bathtubbathroom image by Vonora from Fotolia.com
Moisture can ruin many things in a home, and is most prevalent in bathrooms. In order to evacuate moisture and prevent damage and mold, proper ventilation is necessary. Bathroom fan ventilation is the easiest and most efficient way to control bathroom moisture issues if the basic rules of bathroom fan ventilation are followed. - Bathroom fans are supposed to provide eight air changes per hour according to Energy Star recommendations. In order to to figure out how many CFM (cubic feet per minute) of air movement a fan will need, take the length x width x height = volume. The CFM = volume/7.5. For example, if you have a room that is 10 feet by 10 feet with 8 foot ceilings, volume = 10 x 10 x 8 = 800. 800/7.5 = 106.6 CFM. This is the size bath fan to properly exhaust the space.
- Bath fans need to be ventilated to the exterior through a flexible, insulated pipe. Even though venting through the soffit is popular, it is better practice to vent through the roof as it keeps the runs shorter, and there is better air flow with less bends. Vent pipes should not exceed 12 feet.
- The fan should run the entire time a shower is going and 20 minutes afterwards. For baths, 20 minutes afterwards will evacuate all the moisture. Using a timer switch on the fan is a good addition to bathroom fans.
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