A lot of water down an exhaust fan/light vent from roof with a hose

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DBriz

Member
Location
Marina Del Rey
Occupation
retired
We just finished a remodel of our bathroom and the electrical fixtures have not yet been put in except for the new exhaust fan/light over the tub. The ceiling fixture and switch were not yet installed and the breaker is off at the panel for this circuit. The sink was just put back but was draining slow and because, before the plumbing under the sink was installed, we saw what looked like an animal nesting debris where the pipe came out of the wall and removed all of it and then snaked it. Because the tub next to it drains fine, my husband thought that the vent to the roof was clogged and, per instructions on several sites online, decided to run the garden hose through the plumbing vent to unclog it. But, rather than figure out which specific vent and do just that one, he decided to run water through ALL 4 vent pipes above the bathroom. One vent was for the toilet, a second for the bathtub, a third for the sink (which is what was needed) and a 4th for the exhaust fan/light over the tub.

He actually ran water from a hose turned all the way on, down the vent with the exhaust fan light and water came pouring down through the exhaust fan AND through the ceiling light metal box about 3 feet away. There is no fixture installed yet and no power to circuit, thankfully. Just the metal box with the wires hanging out (yes, breaker is off).

I was in the bathroom when it happened and immediately ran out to stop him so I estimate he ran the water down the vent for about 30 seconds. In my panic to stop him, I didn't get a chance to notice every spot where the water came out but, as I write this water was still dripping slightly from one side of the hole of the fan/exhaust and just stopped. If I can figure out how to attach pictures of both the exhaust fan and the ceiling fixture box, I will.

So, my question is how bad could this be? Because my brilliant husband insists that it only needs to dry out and will be fine.
Is it possible that he would have damaged the wiring and the junction box for the ceiling fixture permanently somehow? The wiring is single strand in conduit? According to google AI, he did but I have been given a lot of misinformation on that so why I am now here.

And what about the exhaust fan/light above the tub? I am not sure water was dripping from under the metal enclosure box and on one side. When I look up into the box, I see no sign of water or wet inside the metal box with the motor and bulb socket but not sure if it just already dried.
Another question is why would the water not just come through the exhaust fan but also come out of the ceiling fixture box? I would think it would only come out at the fan.
Thanks for listening. :(.
 
I approved this only for the purposes of advising what steps should be taken, on the assumption that any required work will be done by a qualified electrician.
 
So obviously either a bad glue joint / open tee or wye / break on one of the vent stacks in attic.
First locate and address vent leak ( you don't need sewer gasses venting out of a crack into attic ).
Any penetration in the ceiling drywall is a quick path for the water to pour out. Water could have poured out of vent much farther away, pooled, and then poured out around edges of fixtures (this is only a guess). I.e. it collected of back side of drywall.
This would also be a good time to have a qualified electrician verify that your remodel meets prevailing electrical code and is protected where necessary with GFCI.
 
@DBriz Just to make you aware new posters can't attach photos until they participated for a while. Don't remember the exact qualifications. But, you should be able to upload them to some other hosting server and then paste the photo links into your post here.

Kind of sounds like the fan exhaust pipe got put through the roof with some pluming PVC pipe with no rain cap, otherwise how would you get the hose placed in there? That is somewhat better than just venting it into the attic space You should probably investigate that issue before you go about addressing any internal issues that the hose incident caused. or likely with the next rainstorm you'll likely be back to square one.
 
You must not ever get rain in your area if the bath vent was done that way. PP application. I would not expect a bath fan to be vented that way. First I’ve heard of it. Give your husband a pass, unless he installed it that way.

I suspect a simple dry out would suffice for the wiring. Sheetrock and insulation. That’s a different issue.
 
ptonsparky said:
You must not ever get rain in your area if the bath vent was done that way. PP application. I would not expect a bath fan to be vented that way. First I’ve heard of it. Give your husband a pass, unless he installed it that way.

I suspect a simple dry out would suffice for the wiring. Sheetrock and insulation. That’s a different issue.
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Well she's lucky enough to live in Marina del Rey so they don't get much rain. 😉 But yes, unlike plumbing vents, fan vents need to be raintight. Maybe this is just a case of hubby mistakenly rinsing out a fan vent as if it was a plumbing vent. It certainly shouldn't just be a straight pipe.
 
I gotta ask, what is your hubbys profesion? Then we will take about how his utube tutorial was completely wrong! Or at least misconstrued...
 
Thank you for the replies. Regarding the vents, the tub, sink and toilet vents are all original to the house. the fan vent was put in by a professional electrician who installed the fan so I would think he did it right but, who knows. I have a lot of fiberglass insulation up there that I know has soaked up the water so I am going to fight my husband and pay a company to come out and remove it and replace it and make sure the vents are all working correctly. I am thinking an attic inspection company that does heating and cooling that they would be able to also check the venting and fix that, too? Perhaps he water from the hose caused something to disconnect.

I was especially worried he might have destroyed the new exhaust fan/light that has not even been used yet and created issues with the wiring. When I asked google AI about it, it kept repeating that it would cause corrosion, short circuits, seep into the insulation of the wires, ruin all the electronic components etc. So I did panic. Since Ptonsparky thinks that I will be ok I feel a little better about the electrical.
 
Sounds like the mess is the worst of it, Verify everything is dried out and not holding any water in it. Fresh water is not going to do much harm in most cases, that said I would have a qualified electrician come and validate there is no damage. I have taken fan motors out in the past and cleaned them under the faucet, then dried them out completely. No harm done. I love the "Very Stubborn" comment! I'll bet he said "I am NOT!"
 
acrwc10 said:
Sounds like the mess is the worst of it, Verify everything is dried out and not holding any water in it. Fresh water is not going to do much harm in most cases, that said I would have a qualified electrician come and validate there is no damage. I have taken fan motors out in the past and cleaned them under the faucet, then dried them out completely. No harm done. I love the "Very Stubborn" comment! I'll bet he said "I am NOT!"
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"I bet he said, "I am NOT!" is an understatement. :). He is lucky I love him so much. Thank you so much for making me feel better. He will live to see another day. lol
 
I've yet to see an exhaust vent fan/light listed for submersion, and amount of water coming through via a garden hose can be at 9 gal/min, so without actually seeing level of damages would never presume to suggest it is "SAFE". Also most likely wiring method for a residential is NM and very little water is needed to cause water damage to the fiber internal wrap, it will wick a long distance up a conductor.
 
Ive never seen an exhaust fan vented through the roof. Usually the soffit. Or in pvc. Always flex duct. But I don't get out much anymore....;)
 
Fred B said:
I've yet to see an exhaust vent fan/light listed for submersion, and amount of water coming through via a garden hose can be at 9 gal/min, so without actually seeing level of damages would never presume to suggest it is "SAFE". Also most likely wiring method for a residential is NM and very little water is needed to cause water damage to the fiber internal wrap, it will wick a long distance up a conductor.
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Now I am getting worried again. Tomorrow I have a guy coming out to inspect everything in the attic and will take pictures of the electrical for me. I hope it isn't going to be bad new or you might hear in the news that a 72 year old man was murdered by his wife.
 
Fred B said:
I've yet to see an exhaust vent fan/light listed for submersion, and amount of water coming through via a garden hose can be at 9 gal/min, so without actually seeing level of damages would never presume to suggest it is "SAFE". Also most likely wiring method for a residential is NM and very little water is needed to cause water damage to the fiber internal wrap, it will wick a long distance up a conductor.
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one question. the wiring in the attic is all single strand and inside conduit. would the conduit protect the wiring? I know that the exhaust fan will be another story but I am praying that the wiring will be ok since in conduit and junction boxes.
 
DBriz said:
one question. the wiring in the attic is all single strand and inside conduit. would the conduit protect the wiring? I know that the exhaust fan will be another story but I am praying that the wiring will be ok since in conduit and junction boxes.
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and to clarify it is single strand, copper wiring and inside flexible metal conduit - think it is galvanized steel? And I believe the water that got near any electrical outside of the fan/exhaust went under the metal junction boxes and conduit and out the hole in the ceiling.
 
DBriz said:
Now I am getting worried again. Tomorrow I have a guy coming out to inspect everything in the attic and will take pictures of the electrical for me. I hope it isn't going to be bad new or you might hear in the news that a 72 year old man was murdered by his wife.
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If it was my house I would let it dry overnight and not give it any more thought. The fan is made of metal and plastic, not cotton.
 
Flood damaged wiring should be replaced. Yours was not flood damaged.

The installer of the fan is the guilty party, if it must be assigned. Not your husband. (At least not this time.)

I don't know if your area requires conduit in homes. Not typical, but that would be even better.
 
As others have said, let it dry out and don't look back. I would suggest not doing it again though.
 
Where I'm at we have a lot of electrical items get submerged and in most cases after things dry out everything keeps on trucking, even if flooded by salt water. Panels, breakers, and control type equipment may or may not get replaced. A friend called the other day wanting to replace all of his breakers, not because things weren't working but he figured after the panel had been submerged by three hurricanes it would be a good idea.

BTW, here is one of our bath vents


1725018192455.jpeg
 
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