Inline fan insulation Question

[gazzamc]

Hi Everyone. This is my first post here. Just looking a few opinions on the inline extractor fan i had updated in my loft. It runs from the ensuite bathroom to a roof vent tile. We noticed some water dripping back into the bathroom from the vent so the electrician came back to insulate the ducting. He has covered the ducting as you can see on the picture but has also completely covered the inline fan. I am a bit worried this might not be safe. Could it overheat and cause a fire risk? Ive put the before and after pics side by side for comparison. Thanks in advance.

 

[stem]

Personally, I wouldn't have thought so. First, as it's an inline fan, when the motor is running, ambient temperature air from the bathroom will be passing through the fan and over the motor which will provide it with a cooling airflow. [Bathroom fans that have an integral light are installed so that the light can't be operated without the fan running for cooling purposes.]

Secondly, in the summer I imagine that it could reach temperatures of 40 degrees in your loft so it would need to be fairly heat resistant anyway and the insulation may even keep it cooler during the summer.

Maybe someone will be along that can give you a more definitive answer, but if you have the instructions for the fan, or know its make and model an internet search may provide you with more information regarding its installation.

 

[gazzamc]

Thats good to hear , thanks very much for the response.

 

[danechip]

Did he charge you for the extra work insulating his insulation? If not, what an excellent tradesman. A+++.

Give him a 'big up' in your social media !!. Looks like a good job done from where I am sitting.

Dan.

 

[SUNRAY]

Personally I would have used a length of rigid pipe for that long straight run, yes it costs a bit more but in the long run it will save future maintenance/cleaning

 

[gazzamc]

Did he charge you for the extra work insulating his insulation? If not, what an excellent tradesman. A+++.

Give him a 'big up' in your social media !!. Looks like a good job done from where I am sitting.

Dan.

Cheers, Just charged for the materials when he did this part so pretty good yes

 

[gazzamc]

Personally I would have used a length of rigid pipe for that long straight run, yes it costs a bit more but in the long run it will save future maintenance/cleaning

Thanks for the reply. Yes i did ask would that have been better but both the guy who did the survey and the electrician seemed to think this was ok.
Thats actually a piece of rigid pipe in the picture sitting to the left. Its a fairly new build and the cowboy builders had that just shoved into the corner of the roof space as opposed to going outside through a vent tile. Never realised until a couple of years after moving in when i had to go into the attic for something during a really cold spell and the entire roof space ceiling was dripping.

 

[ptarmigan]

I had something similar although not dripping back out the vent when you turned the fan on you could hear the blades hitting water, covered all the rigid pipe up and no problem since so guess was condensing in the pipe due to the cold loft.

 

[SUNRAY]

Thanks for the reply. Yes i did ask would that have been better but both the guy who did the survey and the electrician seemed to think this was ok.
Thats actually a piece of rigid pipe in the picture sitting to the left. Its a fairly new build and the cowboy builders had that just shoved into the corner of the roof space as opposed to going outside through a vent tile. Never realised until a couple of years after moving in when i had to go into the attic for something during a really cold spell and the entire roof space ceiling was dripping.

Well yes it is OK however I've found a number of times the moisture and lint settles in the corrugations and forms a pad of fluff which builts up then eventually there's a big ball of fluff which then simply gets bigger and backs up.