Advice on setting up humidistat bathroom fan correctly

[elsmandino]

One other thing I should mention, which might be relevant - my installation was not typical as my electrician had to install the extractor from scratch.

My bathroom used to have a wooden slatted thing on the wall (possibly called a louvre but not sure) with an air brick on the other side - it was utterly cr*p and did not appear to do anything.

Rather than drill a new hole in the wall, my electrician removed the louvre, plastered up the hole and then installed the extractor there.

I am wondering whether this particular installation is causing problems.

Is it acceptable to connect an extractor fan to an air brick in this way?

There is no cover over the air brick so the only thing that is presumably stopping any air blowing back in is the plastic flappy membrane that is on the back of the extractor itself.

 

[old duffer]

One other thing I should mention, which might be relevant - my installation was not typical as my electrician had to install the extractor from scratch.

My bathroom used to have a wooden slatted thing on the wall (possibly called a louvre but not sure) with an air brick on the other side - it was utterly cr*p and did not appear to do anything.

Rather than drill a new hole in the wall, my electrician removed the louvre, plastered up the hole and then installed the extractor there.

I am wondering whether this particular installation is causing problems.

Is it acceptable to connect an extractor fan to an air brick in this way?

There is no cover over the air brick so the only thing that is presumably stopping any air blowing back in is the plastic flappy membrane that is on the back of the extractor itself.

as they say in the Navy, a hole is a hole....You use a 4 wire cable for fans, 3 wire will just give you on/off capability, not light activated switching.

 

[EFLImpudence]

You use a 4 wire cable for fans,

If the fan has a timer (and you want the timer to work).

3 wire will just give you on/off capability, not light activated switching.

Yes, on/off with the light if you want.

 

[old duffer]

If the fan has a timer (and you want the timer to work).


guess you could just leave the light on until the humidity levels have dropped

 

[Old Salt]

I had a humidistat fan fitted. Wife likes a shower before bed and the bloody thing would run for hours. I gave up in the end and used the timer only setting. It now runs on for 15 minutes which is plenty to remove steam. Window is also open slightly 24/7.

 

[EFLImpudence]

guess you could just leave the light on until the humidity levels have dropped

My mistake.

 

[EFLImpudence]

No, I think I was right.

I said first you don't need four wires (three plus earth) to make the humidistat work.

The humidistat merely triggers the timer circuit - after all it does that with the light off in a timer/humidistat set up so presumably would work with no connection to timer terminal.

 

[EFLImpudence]

I had a humidistat fan fitted. Wife likes a shower before bed and the bloody thing would run for hours. I gave up in the end and used the timer only setting. It now runs on for 15 minutes which is plenty to remove steam. Window is also open slightly 24/7.

You probably don't need a fan at all.

 

[old duffer]

No, I think I was right.

I said first you don't need four wires (three plus earth) to make the humidistat work.

The humidistat merely triggers the timer circuit - after all it does that with the light off in a timer/humidistat set up so presumably would work with no connection to timer terminal.

 

[EFLImpudence]

What is your point?

 

[old duffer]

What is your point?

why do you think I have such low self esteem that I require to make a point?

 

[elsmandino]

Bit of an update on this one - I am now coming to conclusion that the extraction rate is not what it should be with my fan.

My bathroom has a volume of 8.57m.

My extractor fan can eject 97m per hour.

At that rate, the it should be whipping out steam really rapidly.

However, it doesn't seem to be doing so.

I lit a jostick in there and the smoke just went straight up into the middle of the room.

It was only when it was about six inches from the source could you actually see the smoke heading towards the fan.

Is that to be expected?