Bath fan roof venting kits

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jeff48356

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Livonia, Michigan
Have any of you installed a roof vent kit for a new bathroom exhaust fan, such as the one shown below? I've only installed a few of them, and with marginal success (some of them leaked). I usually have the carpenter or roofing guy install those. But I may need to install one myself on an upcoming job. What is the proper way to install those so they don't leak, and without damaging the shingles? Or is this part of the job beyond the scope of what an electrician would normally have skills to do?
 

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I've installed many of those including in my own home and never had a leak. Having said that I can't think of a way to adequately describe how they're installed. I would check YouTube.
 
General rule of shingled roof - each "row" must overlap the row that is next level lower so water "runs off" and onto next row. Top part of plate of your vent hood must go under the shingles that are higher and bottom part needs to go on top of shingles below. If close to a valley or anywhere "ice dams" may form it may leak anyway.

Other possibility is your roof isn't leaking but instead you are getting condensation in the duct and it runs out the vent fan. That would only happen on some of the coldest days, actual roof leaking can happen any time of year.
 
Other rule is avoid penetrations (e.g. screws or nails in particular) in the part of a shingle or flashing that is not covered by something else. If you must do it, take great care to waterproof the penetration.
 
Outside the development of ice dams, the steeper the pitch of the roof the less particular you can be with sealing things and get away with it, main rule is make sure water runs on top of the next lower roofing item and not under it.
 
I install the fan and power and tell customers they will have to get someone else to vent it!
If it's a new house or addition, I either ask the framers/roofers to do it or have the contractor ask the HVAC guys to do it.
 
Little Bill said:
I install the fan and power and tell customers they will have to get someone else to vent it!
If it's a new house or addition, I either ask the framers/roofers to do it or have the contractor ask the HVAC guys to do it.
Click to expand...

Exactly! That's what I normally do, but in this case, the customer is wanting me to vent it, because he doesn't have any carpenters working on the house (a rental). This is definitely pushing the boundaries of the scope of an electrician's work, in my opinion.
 
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