Bathroom and Kitchen Extraction

[mikazza]

Hi,

I am going to be installing extractor fans in my bathroon, en-suite and kitchen and i'm looking for some advice. The room sizes are:

wide long high
Bathroom: 300cm 400cm 240cm
En-Suite: 180cm 240cm 240cm
kitchen: 300cm 300cm 240cm

I'm going to be starting with the 2 bathrooms, both have access to external walls and have windows. I am going to bore a hole through the wall to the outside and fit the extractor onto it.

Basically looking for some recomendations on which extractor make and model you would recommend for these rooms. Also when looking at extractor fans on the internet it seems you only get the extractor fan bit for the inside of the house, I dont know much about them so do you have a list of all the parts I need to buy.

Thanks in advance

 

[Richard C]

Personally I love these;

http://www.fastlec.co.uk/ventilation-airflow-icon-fans-c-33_75.html?gclid=CJ2BgtPr9pUCFQ7tlAodGycf3w

They have a built in iris shutter, look very neat & I have 3 of them! The smaller 15 unit will be fine for the en-suite but I would go for the large 30 unit in the bathroom. You can buy "through wall" kits for the fans & they should be available on the same web site as the fan. But, rather than bore holes through the wall, if you have a way though the eaves then it's easier to fit the fan in the ceiling & take the ducting out to a grill fitted in the soffit.

The kitchen environment really needs something much bigger if you do any serious cooking & you would be better off going fore a cooker hood. Get one with the biggest extraction rate you can find, many look very nice & meet the minimum regulations but in practice they are woefully inadequate. If you don’t want a hood, then something like this may be suitable;

http://www.allaboutelectrics.co.uk/doc/12/vid/1244/XPELAIR_12INCH_WALL_FAN.html

I assume you are aware that bathrooms & kitchens are classed as special locations & any new electrical installation or wiring is notifyable! It must be done either by a Part P qualified electrician or notified to (before you start) & inspected by your LABC, it must then be tested by a Part P electrician & certified as compliant with Building Regs. No certificate could mean problems in the future & void insurance if the installation causes a fire.

 

[mikazza]

Cheers Richard,

Didn't know about the electrical certificate, it's a good job i'm no good with electricity and was going to pay somebody to do the wiring.

I understand through the roof is an easier option to take but i've bored these type of holes before when fitting a tumble dryer extraction vent so should be ok with this.

Thanks Again.

 

[Richard C]

Didn't know about the electrical certificate, it's a good job i'm no good with electricity and was going to pay somebody to do the wiring.

This work has been regulated since 2005 & it's common for folks not to be aware. A look through the archive posts on this forum will throw up many who have made the same mistake & some have got themselves into a real mess over it. Some don't give toss but it really can cause you problems in the future. But make sure that your chosen spark is Part P registered; an ordinary common or garden spark just won’t do! he will do everything that's required as part of the job but make sure you get that vital certificate of compliance.

 

[mikazza]

Found this website: http://www.simplifydiy.com/electrical/extractor-fans it says I should work out the cubic meters of the room and multiply this by 15 to 20 to get the size of fan I need.

2m x 4m x 2.4m = 19.2 cubic meters
x 15
= 288 m3/hr

Do you know if this is true?, i've been searching for extractors based on this and I can only really find 1 i'm interested in...

Vent-Axia Silhouette 150X Fan http://www.screwfix.com/prods/61795/Heating-Cooling/Extractor-Fans/Vent-Axia-Silhouette-150X-Fan

The advert says this is a kitchen fan, it's rated IPX4 which should be fine for Zone 2 where it will be fitted. Is there any reason I can't install this even though it's branded as a kitchen fan?

 

[Richard C]

Found this website: http://www.simplifydiy.com/electrical/extractor-fans it says I should work out the cubic meters of the room and multiply this by 15 to 20 to get the size of fan I need.

2m x 4m x 2.4m = 19.2 cubic meters
x 15
= 288 m3/hr

Do you know if this is true?, i've been searching for extractors based on this and I can only really find 1 i'm interested in...

Vent-Axia Silhouette 150X Fan http://www.screwfix.com/prods/61795/Heating-Cooling/Extractor-Fans/Vent-Axia-Silhouette-150X-Fan

The advert says this is a kitchen fan, it's rated IPX4 which should be fine for Zone 2 where it will be fitted. Is there any reason I can't install this even though it's branded as a kitchen fan?

All I used were the Building regs. recommendations in Part F. You have quiet a large bathroom but I think the extraction rates given out by the calculator seem very high; they are way in excess of the Building Regs. minimum requirements! Out of interest I had a look around & found this calculator from the supplier I used (but there seem to be loads of them around):

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/Ventilation/Ventilation4.html

It gives you a range of rooms to pick from but actually came out higher than the calculator you have used which doesn’t help much!

If the benefit of my experience is of any use, I have 5 fans altogether; 3 of them are Icon units + one Marley & all 4 are 21 l/sec. Our utility is 4.8 c/m, cloaks 8.2 c/m, en-suite 8.5 c/m & bathroom is 24 c/m. All the fans work very well & the bathroom & en-suite both have power showers fitted; the bathroom would have benefited form the larger 32 l/sec unit but the smaller units does cope adequately. Kitchen is 42 c/m & has 1m wide cooker hood directly over the hob. I can’t remember the extract rate but it’s the highest I could find from a single fan unit &, on max, sounds a bit like a jumbo taking off; it struggles when I do some serious cooking on the hob & if starting again, I would go for a twin fan unit. Hope this helps.

I don’t see any reason you can’t use a “kitchen” fan I the bathroom as long as it conforms to the appropriate IP rating for the zone you’re installing it in.

 

[voodoochile]

Great stuff ....Thanks very much for the help.....