Ventilation in bathrooms is essential. Bathrooms create a lot of condensation and damp, which if not appropriately expelled can lead to the dreaded mould.
Opening a window offers some ventilation but it’s not usually enough damp will still be accumulating in places and some bathrooms don’t have a window anyway.
If you want to ventilate your bathroom correctly then you’ll need an extractor fan.
When fitting an extractor fan in a bathroom (or anywhere else for that matter), there are a few things you need to take into consideration, so your fan does its job properly and is fitted to the regulation standards.
IP Rating
Extractor fans are powered by electricity. Electrical appliances fitted in bathrooms have to adhere to strict regulations, so they’re safe to use.
Bathroom fans must have a high resistance to water wherever they’re fitted, in the shower, above the bath or anywhere else in the bathroom.
For this reason, fans have something called an IP rating. Make sure the rating is sufficient enough for your bathroom. If you’re unsure, ask a qualified electrician
Location
Next, you need to decide where to put your fan. Ideally the inside of an exterior wall. Where this is not possible, a duct pipe will have to be used to get the moisture outside. For most properties, you’ll have the choice of one or two walls. Careful positioning of the fan will ensure that the maximum possible moisture is removed.
Manual Or Automatic?
Do you want a manual or automatic fan? A manual fan can be turned on whenever you like this is a good option if you want to save energy.
Many fans are automatic and switch on when you switch the bathroom light on. The fan will shut down after a set period once the light’s switched off.
The disadvantage of this is if you have a bath or shower in the day you might not want to switch the light on. Therefore the fan won’t go on.
If you want a more accurate solution Fans are available with sensors. The fan will switch on when someone walks into the room.
Fans are also available with humidity sensors which switch the fan on and off at a certain level of moisture.
Extraction Rate
Is your fan powerful enough? for most bathrooms, most fans on the market will do the job. Large bathrooms, however, might require two fans or a more powerful fan. Ensure the extraction rate is sufficient to remove moisture from your bathroom.
Get Help
As you can see fitting a bathroom fan can be a bit of a minefield, if you need any help or would like your bathroom fan fitted by a fully qualified electrician give us a call.