December 30th, 2009
Can I replace a bathroom fan without replacing vents also?
The fans in both our bathrooms are extremely noisy so we almost never use them. While we were having some electrical work done I asked the electrician if it was possible to replace them. He said that we couldn’t do it unless we replaced the existing attic vents with larger ones because all the new fans require wider vents. I was wondering if that’s true. (I got the feeling he just didn’t want to do it.)
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Filed under: Refurbish Property
You should be able to replace the fan motors and fans with quieter units without changing everything else.
OF course you can. But I would clean them out. Just make sure that the new fan has the same size vent, or get an adapter ( same size is a lot easier)
yes you can it is quite easy actually, just have to find the hardware store that still sells the motors by themselves, Home Depot may, I havent looked but I know Lowes sells the whole thing, which isnt a big deal either is your hole is the same size
Not sure if you would have to replace the vents if it is noisy you may just take the cover off in the bathroom and try to clean the fan by blowing it out, wiping it down really good they are just like any other fan when they are used they collect dirt and this will weigh them down and cause them to make noise. I would try this before going through buying another fan and end up with an expense that you don’t want.
good luck
turn it off. pull down the cover which might be held in place by two spring loaded wires. look at the inside and see if there is a plug in there. If so, remove the screws, unplug it and it should drop down leaving the case in place. Look for a brand name mark somewhere like Broan is a common one.
Take the old one to Home Depot and find one to match the size. You will buy the whole thing but only use the motor part.
The other cheap way is to clean off the dust and spray the shaft with WD 40. cost about $2.
wider vents? sounds like BS to me. i would call the local lighting/fixtures proffesionals. they should be able to tell you. it doesn’t make sense that the vents would have to be larger. if you are using the same size existing ‘hole’ to put in new fans it would stand to reason everything would be the same size.
not sure where you live? In the U.K all bathroom fans are 4inch vents so there is no need to change anything but the fan. make sure you use a low voltage one it is safer.