Everyday tasks like showering, bathing and shaving can put home-harming humidity into the air in your Mechanicsburg home. There’s good news still—a simple bathroom ventilation fan can save you from deformed wood, mold growth, cracked drywall and other issues associated with a humid bathroom.
Even if you have ventilation fans in your bathrooms, do you know if they’re the right size? Are they as soft and energy efficient as they could be? H & H Service Company is here to answer your questions.
Today’s bathroom ventilation fans are small and modern and they operate more quietly and efficiently than ever before. You’ll find a great range of choices, from average fans that will get the job done to fans with built-in heat lamps, motion sensors and heat-exchanger ventilation that helps prevent warmed air from escaping through your ventilation. While you can find a lot of bells and whistles to pick from, the most critical aspect of your fan is whether or not it’s big enough to do its job.
Assessed by the cubic feet per minute (CFM) of air they push, a bathroom ventilation fan should be able to exchange the air in a bathroom at least eight times an hour. With a standard 8-foot ceiling, your ventilation fan should have a CFM rating at least as high as the number of square feet in your bathroom. Therefore, if your bathroom is 5 feet by 8 feet, a CFM rating of 40 would be sufficient.
If you have a taller ceiling, the equation gets a little more difficult. 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 – establish 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 not sure if your bathroom ventilation fan is the correct size, or you know it’s time for a new one, give the professionals at H & H Service Company at call at 717-220-4502. We’re here to help you make sure you have a ventilation fan that will drive hard to protect your home and keep it cozy.