Bath Fan Motor swap info

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bullheimer

bullheimer

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WA
hi, rather than spend all day rnring a fart fan i would rather just spend an hour or two rnring just the motor. ran into two probs the other day. one fan needed a longer shaft than the el cheapo replacement motors had, because it had a squirrel cage lookin fan, and the other had a propeller, needed to spin counter clockwise in order to work. the el cheapo motors only turn clockwise, if you are holding the motor looking out towards the fan.

killed two birds with one stone by getting the Broan 162 one bulb heater ventilation fan. it has a longer shaft, so the squirrel cage fan will fit on it and also turns counterclockwise. this might help you out if rnring the motor doesnt work so well. one with the propeller went into a fan with about a 6 inch hole ducted straight up, the other was more conventional. both were at least 30 years old. btw, if you aint never done this, almost all those fan motors got the same hole centers for their mounting screws, and sometimes you can reverse their direction, but that does take time. good luck either way
 
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Now days with the texting the words are getting cut back and that screws up the ability of our ability to spell. It is a shame and our younger generation will be in deep trouble. :(:(

No work ethic and no spelling ability, where are we headed??
 
Broan 162 fans cost ~40$. No way I'd spend any time removing and replacing/refurbishing (r & r) the fan, you can buy the motor/fan/mount assembly separately for many models and pop it in the existing housing. The 162 has an exterior squirrel cage fan so that's not possible from below.

Most times the cover will be nasty as all too; in those cases, it's often cheaper/less time consuming to buy an entire new fan and install the motor/fan/mount assembly, light/grill, and pitch (throw away) the housing than to buy the parts separately. It also requires no rewiring or drywall repair. Many HOs ask for an entire new fan because they dont know you can fix/repair the old ones.

At 30+ yrs old, there is no way the ductwork to the existing fan will fit a modern housing. I bet it has 3" flex.
 
i'm 61. would maybe R&Ring make it easier? no the 162's are NOT cheap. i paid $62 for one, charged $75. last thing i want to do is deal with sheet rock, and ducting. esp in this modular (mobile) that had NO attic access, and the other lady whos fan was in an accessible attic, but about 3 feet from a wall with little eve next to it which means i'd be lying face down in insulation, snorkel may or may not be required. hey, if you would do it for the extra $300-$400 have at it!:sick: i've had enuf. (that's myspeak for enough, for the abbreviated impaired).
 
bullheimer said:
i'm 61. would maybe R&Ring make it easier? no the 162's are NOT cheap. i paid $62 for one, charged $75. last thing i want to do is deal with sheet rock, and ducting. esp in this modular (mobile) that had NO attic access, and the other lady whos fan was in an accessible attic, but about 3 feet from a wall with little eve next to it which means i'd be lying face down in insulation, snorkel may or may not be required. hey, if you would do it for the extra $300-$400 have at it!:sick: i've had enuf. (that's myspeak for enough, for the abbreviated impaired).
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I agree with ya that getting in a tight/non-existent attic in 18" of blown-in and spider crawling joists is only slightly more fun that having teeth pulled. $62 for a bathroom fan is lower end. I google'd the 162s, you can get them for ~$45 online. Compared to a 300$ 4 function bathroom fan with a new, dedicated circuit, even 62$ is inexpensive

If I can change out the guts I'll do it and save the customer some money and me a giant headache. Very few of the bathroom fans I've installed are direct replacements; most times, the HO wants an upgrade of some sort (heat, higher cfm, nightlight, etc). Tearing out the existing fan is often done, tho putting in a new housing is often a pita (and more $$$, like you noted).
 
To this oldster, r-and-r means rest and relaxation, which I take seriously in the bathroom. It's my sanctum sanctorium because nobody bothers me there.

The fan is an important aspect of any bathroom, skimping on it can lead to a lot of bigger problems down the road. I don't do residential work any more, but when I did, I never replaced only the inner parts if there was an issue, I always recommended upgrading. 99% of the time when a house was built, the fan was the ABSOLUTE CHEAPEST one that would minimally meet code. Once the duct starts to get a buildup of dust, flow reduces and you can start getting mold, rust, all kinds of secondary effects. I just finished a remodel for a friend last summer and discovered the new class of "quiet" fans which are amazing to me. I'm gutting my own this summer to replace them, even though two of them are less than 10 years old. The fans are around $100 retail, worth every penny to me. I think that if you can't sell that to a customer, you need to sharpen your sales skills.
 
JFletcher said:
I agree with ya that getting in a tight/non-existent attic in 18" of blown-in and spider crawling joists is only slightly more fun that having teeth pulled. $62 for a bathroom fan is lower end. I google'd the 162s, you can get them for ~$45 online. Compared to a 300$ 4 function bathroom fan with a new, dedicated circuit, even 62$ is inexpensive

If I can change out the guts I'll do it and save the customer some money and me a giant headache. Very few of the bathroom fans I've installed are direct replacements; most times, the HO wants an upgrade of some sort (heat, higher cfm, nightlight, etc). Tearing out the existing fan is often done, tho putting in a new housing is often a pita (and more $$$, like you noted).
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I agree $62 is a low end fan, maybe not at the bottom, but still low end.

If it don't work, get exact replacement parts, even if that means stealing parts out of a new unit. If you are going to replace it, owner needs to know what it might take to do so before you commit to doing it. Most of these units were not intended to install after drywall is up, so choose replacement carefully.

You can find OEM parts for many units online. And usually can get them faster and less cost then an electrical supply house would charge for them.

If you spend $40 for a motor and blower wheel for a unit when there might be a $62 replacement unit for it, you still have to consider how much labor will go into repairing vs replacing. those replacement parts usually don't involve replacing any drywall.
 
yes yes Rest and Relaxation! esp in the crapper! yes, i think as been pointed out that those cheepo fans i use, (which are the only ones i can ever find to put into these old old unit, cut i could be wrong), the they are cheap, which equates to LOUD. so yes that needs to be discussed. If anybody knows if the quieter motors will bolt up to those existing brackets, please let me know, i would appreciate the knowledge! Hate to say this but I haven't even looked! and btw the 162 says it is merely 3.5 scones and let me tell you it sounded like a 5. loud as hell. i have noticed too a correlation btwn (sorry, between), volume of air moved and noise.
 
bullheimer said:
... and btw the 162 says it is merely 3.5 scones and let me tell you it sounded like a 5. loud as hell. i have noticed too a correlation btwn (sorry, between), volume of air moved and noise.
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Well there's the little trick then... fan sound is rated in "sones", if they said 3.5 "scones", which is a dry English pastry, I guess they technically aren't lying!
 
bullheimer said:
yes yes Rest and Relaxation! esp in the crapper! yes, i think as been pointed out that those cheepo fans i use, (which are the only ones i can ever find to put into these old old unit, cut i could be wrong), the they are cheap, which equates to LOUD. so yes that needs to be discussed. If anybody knows if the quieter motors will bolt up to those existing brackets, please let me know, i would appreciate the knowledge! Hate to say this but I haven't even looked! and btw the 162 says it is merely 3.5 scones and let me tell you it sounded like a 5. loud as hell. i have noticed too a correlation btwn (sorry, between), volume of air moved and noise.
Click to expand...
Part of what makes them quieter is they are larger, better balanced, but run at a lower rpm. That alone usually means they are too big to fit in the other housings.
 
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