On other shows we talked about wiring in ceiling fans -- today we dealt simply with how to attach it to the ceiling so that it does not come down on top of the bed like a giant blender.You cannot just attach it to the ceiling drywall.You cannot just attach it to a simple electrical box in the att...
Larry in Calgary has the problem that the wind makes a lot of noise with the damper on his bathroom exhaust fan.The banging noise of a duct damper can be reduced or eliminated by carefully placing the self adhesive foam insulation strips as soft bumpers against the damper. Make sure that the d...
Exhaust fans are the minimum necessary in houses for taking out stale air. You may have a fan, but it may not be working. It could be clogged up, improperly installed or simply too noisy for anyone to turn it on. Quiet fans, with good controls are a must in our energy efficient and often stuff...
Paul from Ajax, Ontario writes:Two years ago I had a ceiling ventilator fan with lights installed in the bathroom. During a very cold spell, water was dripping from the reflector into the bath tub. It has a 4" aluminum flexible pipe connected from the discharge opening into the attic straigh...
There is no simple answer to this one. Let's narrow the field and talk only about exhaust fans that do not use things like the air-to-air heat exchangers for heat recuperation.Government literature from the Prairie provinces do not recommend them if they must be installed in the attic (the st...
A balanced air-change system is a fan operated system that forces out stale air through exhaust ducts and forces in an equal amount of fresh air through controlled intake ducts. The difference between this and a central exhaust system is that the input air is under active control and balance...
If it is a plastic flexible duct, it can be very difficult to clean precisely because it is so flexible. But all ducts can be cleaned with "duct brushes". These are round brushes similar to chimney sweep brushes but much softer, with either a string pull or a rod on the handle. If you can't fi...
Annia asked about getting rid of some mould in her basement bathroom. I have often discussed mould and mould clean-up and in every case I point out that you must have an exhaust fan in the bathroom. So today I thought I would talk about just how you get the exhaust fan duct through the base...
There are many things to consider when installing a bathroom fan, but when we went to install one in a viewer's home, we were stopped short when we discovered that the old one had no duct at all attached to it. It just shot right into the attic. You must get that hot moist air beyond the at...
John in Scarborough wanted to put a ceiling fan above his stairwell, but the existing electrical outlet was not in the middle. He tore the whole ceiling up (attic insulation and all) to manage to move the box over to the middle.We talked about his project and then I showed him the new light weigh...
