Exhaust Fan

G

guschash

Senior Member
Location
Ohio
A friend of mine brought an apartment and it has a washer and dryer in the same room as a toilet and shower. A inspector told him that the exhaust fan has to be hard wired because if not there will be moisture problem. I never came this and can’t find anything in the code to support this. Has anyone come across this , if so where in the code does it address this.
 
Bathroom fans would be a building code issue not an electrical code issue. I am not an expert on the building codes, but I think most require one if there is a shower and there is not an openable window. I'm not really clear on the hardwired part. By this does he just meet a permanently installed fan vs a plug-in fan sitting somewhere?
 
Aren't all bathroom fans hardwired? What type of inspector a home inspector? Some clarification is needed. Maybe the inspector is suggesting that the fan cannot be on its own switch?
 
I can agree with needing to be hardwired assuming it is a fairly typical bathroom exhaust fan, his reasoning that was mentioned is invalid though, they really not intended to be cord and plug connected.

Moisture problems is the reason they are required, by other than electrical codes.
 
infinity said:
I would think that with all of this focus on the energy code no one would want the fan to run when the room wasn't being used.
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Here in Seattle there is some building code about having a certain amount of ventilation, and the way it is typically met in residential occupancies is a fan on a programmable timer, often a bath fan. Some sort of heat recovery ventilator would be more efficient.
 
electrofelon said:
Here in Seattle there is some building code about having a certain amount of ventilation, and the way it is typically met in residential occupancies is a fan on a programmable timer, often a bath fan. Some sort of heat recovery ventilator would be more efficient.
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I was going to mention if they want that kind of run time usually a heat recovery unit would be required if energy codes are also enforced.
 
What they are doing is taking the switch out and just connecting the wires. Their reasoning being moisture and mold, so they want the exhaust fan to run continuously. This is apartment building. I don’t see why an occupancy sensor wouldn’t work .
 
electrofelon said:
Here in Seattle there is some building code about having a certain amount of ventilation, and the way it is typically met in residential occupancies is a fan on a programmable timer, often a bath fan. Some sort of heat recovery ventilator would be more efficient.
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That happens in California, the ventilation requirement is met by having the bath fans run continuous but at a very low setting when not being actively used.
 
guschash said:
A friend of mine brought an apartment and it has a washer and dryer in the same room as a toilet and shower. A inspector told him that the exhaust fan has to be hard wired because if not there will be moisture problem. I never came this and can’t find anything in the code to support this. Has anyone come across this , if so where in the code does it address this.
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Panasonic whisper green select or comparable is what you need , there’s also multiple manufacturers that make switches that will run the fan for 15,20,30 min every hour to accomplish the energy rating needed , it’s a energy/building code not electrical
 

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electrofelon said:
Ya know not all remodels are done by hacks. Did you have some childhood trauma in or from a hack remodel? 😂
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All real-estate sales use underground house-flipping hacks, with home inspectors, to avoid property-tax assessment that comes with building permits, never invited to the real-estate party.
 
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