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April 8, 2008
bathroom exhaust fan
hello,
I am in a 5 unit coop brownstone on the garden level. my bathroom has a vent in the ceiling, but no fan. i know some units in the building have fans that can be turned on or off from within each apartments bathroom. does anyone know what type (if any) of fan can be installed within the existing vent? i am assuming the vent is connected to all the other bathrooms in the building through the same duct, and allows steam to escape through an opening on the roof, but am not sure. thanks in advance for any help
Comments
I'm really curious about this also. I'll be interested to see if anyone knows anything...
Posted by: jerri blank at April 8, 2008 4:46 PM
Normally there would be what's referred to generically as a 'mushroom' fan on the roof that runs all the time and pulls out fumes and vapor from the baths. In fact that would be code.
You can check and see by putting a piece of toilet paper against the vent, if there's a working fan it will hold the TP. Sounds like you need to take a trip to the roof.
If there is a single opening on the roof and no fan, you guys should get together and install one, rather than screw around with individual fans. You need one of these
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/categories/hvacr/exhaust-fans/direct-drive-centrifugal-exhaust-vents
which are cheap enuf but you have to install into the right configuration.
Posted by: denton at April 8, 2008 5:00 PM
Don't assume that any of the vents are connected and don't assume they vent outside the building if you cannot be sure. Nine out of ten times these vents vent into the wall cavity , crawlspace or floor joists in which case YOU ARE HEADED FOR A MOLD PROBLEM.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at April 8, 2008 5:02 PM
If you building is very old, and the bathrooms are in the original spot for them, chances are you have a large airshaft (not just a vent) that the fans vent into. That's the way brownstones and other like buildings were generally build. Then you can vent into it too.
But do look at the roof to see if the shaft still vents up there (sometimes with a high-hat with louvered openings) and hasn't been closed off.
Posted by: guest at April 8, 2008 5:24 PM
denton,
if you have a roof exhaust fan, it probably won't be on all the time. It is probably on a timer or all the heat/ac would be pulled out of the building.
Posted by: guest at April 8, 2008 5:25 PM
If you building is very old, and the bathrooms are in the original spot for them, chances are you have a large airshaft (not just a vent) that the fans vent into. That's the way brownstones and other like buildings were generally build. Then you can vent into it too.
But do look at the roof to see if the shaft still vents up there (sometimes with a high-hat with louvered openings) and hasn't been closed off.
Posted by: guest at April 8, 2008 5:34 PM
5:25, I've never seen a toilet exhaust fan on a timer... people use the bathroom at all kinds of strange hours.
Posted by: denton at April 8, 2008 5:35 PM
I've seen toilet exhaust fans on timers - you set the timer (10 min, 15) when you go in, so it works for awhile after you leave - you don't have to go back to turn it off, saves electricy. Think I've seen it for that reason, not to save heat - though maybe that was a reason, too.
Posted by: guest at April 8, 2008 6:41 PM
What you have is a passive fan, as opposed to an active fan that has a motor and forces air directly from your bathroom outside. Almost any multitenant situation requires these both in bathrooms and in kitchens.
As Denton suggests, the vent stacks for the building would be linked together and then the roof fan would pull air from all the units at once.
Why this setup is required for multitenant dwellings makes a lot of sense if you consider what would happen if an individual unit had a forced fan and the others weren't on. A cook on floor one is making smoked kimchi burrito surprise and gets an urgent call, leaving the dish to burn. If floor one had the fan on and two through five had them off, the burnt smoked kimchi burrito surprise would be fumigating all the other apartments' kitchens before it made it to the roof.
Posted by: Smokychimp at April 8, 2008 10:23 PM
Thanks for all the answers. It does appear that there is a non working "mushroom fan" on the roof. Now comes the hard part... not simply replacing the fan, but convincing the rest of the Coop (especially the units who have their own individual fans) that it should be replaced. I'll try the whole "if i have my own fan on, and you don't, your bathroom will smell like mine" argument. not that my bathroom smells bad or anything...
Posted by: rc at April 9, 2008 10:31 AM
yeah, your s*&^ don't smell...right...
Posted by: guest at April 9, 2008 11:53 AM
RC, are you kidding? Depending on the size, the fans (see the link I posted above) are available $300-$500. If you check the fan nameplate, and get the same fan by the same mfgr, it's a drop-in installation. All you need to do is hook up the wiring (which is most likely 110v). Even if you get a handyman to install, you're looking at $1000 total. That's $200 an apt. Boy, any coop who wanted want to spend that to improve their apts is a coop I wouldn't want to live in.
Anyway have you traced the electric and checked the breaker to the fan? Also, there's a small chance it is belt driven and the belt is broken.
Posted by: denton at April 9, 2008 2:32 PM
RC, if you need this handled, I could get it handled for you denton at speakeasy dot net
Posted by: denton at April 9, 2008 3:19 PM
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