Bathroom extraction

[HuggyBidston]

Couldn't for the life of me work out the best place for this post , so here goes.

For reasons I won't bore you with I can't put a bathroom extractor fan in my bathroom wall.

So I have two choices.

1. Extractor in ceiling above shower and run approx 4.5 metres of corrugated extraction pipe to gable end wall and vent there.

2. Extractor in ceiling above shower and run pipe into some sort of catch tank a bit like you can get for some tumble driers.

or a 3rd option ?

Option one is my favourite but I worry what happens to the steam once it cools and turns to water in the long pipe to the gable end wall ? Will I potentially have water running out of the gable end vent ? If so is that an issue ?

Any input gratefully received.

Thanks

 

[amfisted]

In my last house I had an inline extractor in a false ceiling above the shower, the fan itself being screwed to a piece of wood fixed across two joists. There was a short length of ducting from the ceiling to the fan inlet, and a longer section from the outlet across the loft floor, venting through the gable end eaves. Total length of ducting about five, or six metres.

In 18 years of using this arrangement I never experienced any issues with water dripping from the duct terminal, so in my (admittedly inexpert) opinion your option one should be fine.

I did read somewhere that inline extractor fans are capable of venting through up to 50m of ducting.

 

[omega015]

There is this product which solves the issue with water/condensation in ventilation ducts:

(Requires solid ducting to connect to this so take that into consideration if using)

Just ensure you have the right fall so that condensation flows into this then the water can be pumped/flow to an appropriate place. Also use insulated ducting to further reduce the amount of condensation in the ducting. As for distance, get a decent inline fan and not some crappy one from one of those shower kits.

Example of the product above:
http://www.fantronix.com/acatalog/P...1xSvvIXo52Y7xaf4HJ4SyGGsVZwTqck1VHxoC1vjw_wcB

 

[The fan man]

There are a couple of things to take into consideration, the noise from a fan fitted in the ceiling would be greater than an inline fan, with the inline fan you are able to wrap a blanket around the casing to reduce the noise breakout form the casing and also fit a silencer before it to reduce the noise level in the bathroom. The ceiling fan would not move as much air as the inline fan. For the fan to be effective you would want it change the air 10 times every hour, not just 15 l/s to meet building regulations (depending on the size of the bathroom).

 

[omega015]

I wouldn't wrap a blanket around the fan or any loft insulation etc... as this will not allow heat to dissipate and could cause premature failure or worse. Dampeners/carpet/rubber etc... underneath should be enough to reduce any/all vibrations from an inline fan.

 

[JohnD]

if you use rigid pipe, it will not trap puddles of water mixed with fluff, and you can put a slight slope to the exit in the eaves, encouraging any condensation to drip out. You only need a short vertical piece rising from the ceiling.

Inline fans are very quiet so I doubt the sound will be significant.

You can buy insulated duct, or flop loft insulation over it.

 

[The fan man]

The blanket itself would not cause the fan to fail, an inline fan for this type of application has air passing over the motor when its running and will provide adequate cooling, you could mount a concrete enclosure around the fan and it wouldn't cause any problems. The fan in my bathroom has been wrapped in a blanket for years with a silencer on the inlet and is whisper quiet and very effective.

 

[Doggit]

There is this product which solves the issue with water/condensation in ventilation ducts:

This type of condensation trap is normally used with ceiling fans, not inline ones. With a ceiling fan, the moisture can condense and run back down into the fan, and blow the motor, so these are placed just above them, and the water then diverted away with an overflow pipe. If you use plastic corregated tubing, then any water that condenses out normally just sits in the tubing, so never drips outside, but they seem to work, even though in theory, they shouldn't. I've got to do an inline fan soon, and I was intending to use aluminium tubing, and create a fall to the ouside wall by using plastic ties to fix it to a base rail; but I might use rigid ducting instead now.

 

[endecotp]

Prefer rigid ducting rather than flexible corrugated. Mount the inline fan at the highest point so that it runs downhill from the fan to the bathroom ceiling vent and the wall vent. Any condensation will run down to and drip from one vent or the other. Put insulation around the duct and most of the vapour will still be vapour when it leaves the house i.e. there won't be much condensation to worry about.