Stereodude
Not really a
Has anyone replaced a bathroom exhaust/ventilation fan with a quieter unit?
I'm nearly certain that the unit in my master bathroom is undersized. I can't find a CFM rating on it anywhere, but it's small (compared to the units with a proper CFM rating) and quite noisy. From the calculation based on the CFM of the bathroom I should have ~120CFM. I'm guessing the one there is maybe 70CFM. After a trip into the attic this morning I was able to determine that I have 4" flex duct. The quiet 130CFM+ models generally are intended for 6" ducting and the reviews say they get noisier if you use a 6" to 4" adapter. I don't want to mess with trying to put in a 6" outlet in the side of the house and have to deal with fixing/messing with the siding, so I'm pretty sure I will stay with the 4" ducting.
This 110CFM Delta Breez unit caught my eye. It's for 4" duct, should have a decent CFM increase from the existing fan, is quiet, not too expensive, & pretty power efficient. It is physically larger (there's no free lunch). It looks to be 4" taller than the existing fan housing as well as being longer and wider. I will need to enlarge the hole in the drywall, but I can handle that. Of course the existing fan is located pretty close to the edge of the roof and there's not a lot of height above it so working on it in the attic will not be ideal, but it looks like most of a retrofit install is done from below.
I'm nearly certain that the unit in my master bathroom is undersized. I can't find a CFM rating on it anywhere, but it's small (compared to the units with a proper CFM rating) and quite noisy. From the calculation based on the CFM of the bathroom I should have ~120CFM. I'm guessing the one there is maybe 70CFM. After a trip into the attic this morning I was able to determine that I have 4" flex duct. The quiet 130CFM+ models generally are intended for 6" ducting and the reviews say they get noisier if you use a 6" to 4" adapter. I don't want to mess with trying to put in a 6" outlet in the side of the house and have to deal with fixing/messing with the siding, so I'm pretty sure I will stay with the 4" ducting.
This 110CFM Delta Breez unit caught my eye. It's for 4" duct, should have a decent CFM increase from the existing fan, is quiet, not too expensive, & pretty power efficient. It is physically larger (there's no free lunch). It looks to be 4" taller than the existing fan housing as well as being longer and wider. I will need to enlarge the hole in the drywall, but I can handle that. Of course the existing fan is located pretty close to the edge of the roof and there's not a lot of height above it so working on it in the attic will not be ideal, but it looks like most of a retrofit install is done from below.