Heating the house. Some things overlooked.

[Fredkrueger100]

Yes sirs those flaps will help shut off the cold air from the fart sucker when properly working.
All mine are working perfectly.
My neighbor needed me to replace his suckers and one was covered in insulation that was blown in back in 1976 when his house was built.
Never did work.
He said that bathroom always fogged up really bad when taking a shower and now it stays un fogged.
Amazing how well those work when they are put together properly.

Wait a minute! I have the suckers in my bathrooms. Both bathrooms fog up extremely bad. So bad that water runs down the walls and water will build up on the air vents on the ceiling and my light fixtures. I’m wondering if this is the problem??! I went up into the attic and our master bath vent had insulation all around it so I moved it where it could properly vent. But it’s still fogging up bad. I don’t know what else to do. What do I need to check on the vent itself to make sure it’s working right? Knowing the idiot that built my house, it’s probably not hooked up correctly. When I had my HVAC system replaced about three weeks ago, they told me my air handler in the attic wasn’t properly installed. It didn’t surprise me one bit.

 

[Chief Sapulpa]

Its not THAT moist of air. It disperses quickly.
Not even as bad than what you get when you take a hot shower.
You won't get a flash rusting of anything any quicker than if it normally sat in the garage or back porch.

au contraire mon frere; I bought a house where the dryer vented into the garage and that rusted my vise, work bench, garden tools, etc.

 

[SlugSlinger]

Some of you are solving life's problems while sitting on the shtter.

That’s one of the best places to ponder.

 

[SlugSlinger]

Wait a minute! I have the suckers in my bathrooms. Both bathrooms fog up extremely bad. So bad that water runs down the walls and water will build up on the air vents on the ceiling and my light fixtures. I’m wondering if this is the problem??! I went up into the attic and our master bath vent had insulation all around it so I moved it where it could properly vent. But it’s still fogging up bad. I don’t know what else to do. What do I need to check on the vent itself to make sure it’s working right? Knowing the idiot that built my house, it’s probably not hooked up correctly. When I had my HVAC system replaced about three weeks ago, they told me my air handler in the attic wasn’t properly installed. It didn’t surprise me one bit.

Our shower in the master bath does this as well, especially when the kids use it. They turn the water temp up to scorch and stand in there for an hour and a half. The exhaust fan just can't handle and move enough air to dehumidify the room.

The bathroom is 12'x12' with 11' ceilings. That's about 1,584 cubic feet. The fan may move 100 CFM. Those aren't good odds for removing enough of the the moisture before it condensates on the walls and other surfaces. Amazon lists some bathroom exhaust fans that move 300 to 400 cfm. I may look into one of those. Can you have too much exhaust fan? It may start slamming doors and make eyeballs start to protrude.

 

[swampratt]

Wait a minute! I have the suckers in my bathrooms. Both bathrooms fog up extremely bad. So bad that water runs down the walls and water will build up on the air vents on the ceiling and my light fixtures. I’m wondering if this is the problem??! I went up into the attic and our master bath vent had insulation all around it so I moved it where it could properly vent. But it’s still fogging up bad. I don’t know what else to do. What do I need to check on the vent itself to make sure it’s working right? Knowing the idiot that built my house, it’s probably not hooked up correctly. When I had my HVAC system replaced about three weeks ago, they told me my air handler in the attic wasn’t properly installed. It didn’t surprise me one bit.

The exhaust fans in the bathroom need to fit against the sheetrock very well. If there is a big gap you can use aluminum or duct tape to seal the void.
The fan as we know pulls in air and exhausts it through that flapper tube and that tube needs to have some length of vent pipe attached to it.
DO NOT just let it blow at the insulation a few inches away.

I will not debate weather or not it should exit the attic.

The grills on these fart suckers need to be cleaned when they get dusty.
If yours is sealed well and exhausting well it should easily hold up a few layers of bounty paper towels.
My cheap one will hold up 7 layers of those paper towels.
Select a size rolls not the full square ones.

Easy test.

I bought a house where the dryer vented into the garage and that rusted my vise, work bench, garden tools, etc.

I loaned my drill press to a friend and his dryer vented into the garage and in less than a month it rusted my drill press.
Everything in his garage was covered in rust and lint.

But his washer and dryer were 30 years old and clothes came out dripping wet almost.

My washer will spin stuff very dry.
In fact some of those small fleece blankets come out of the washer feeling dry as will some of my Merino wool socks.

 

[TerryMiller]

Some of you are solving life's problems while sitting on the shtter.

What do you think this guy is doing? Do you really believe that he is sitting on a tree stump?

We have a powered vent in our RV, but when we researched for buying the RV, a number of folks on the RV forums spoke of those fans simply blowing the air from the bathroom into the "attic area" of the RV. Since that area is only inches high at best, we have never used that vent because of the danger of mold. When we shower, we generally don't stay in the shower very long, so any moisture ends up helping humidify the interior of the RV. In the Summer, if we want to vent out the moisture, we just open the roof vent in the bathroom and turn on that fan. (Its a much bigger hole for venting and the fan is much bigger as well.)

 

[HoLeChit]

I had a home built and told the builder to vent the bathroom exhausts via a hose to an outside vent and he'd never heard of that. I had to splain to him that if it isn't vented the moisture ends up in the attic and creates mold etc. And the electrician couldn't figure out why I wanted a on/off switch on the ceiling beside the drop down ladder. I'm giving serious thought to having some company come out and inject foam insulation behind the outside walls, you sure can feel the cold air creep in at night.

This precisely. Venting that humid air can absolutely destroy an attic or crawl space. Running your vents to the outside through the wall or a soffit with a one way flapper or spring loaded trap door is the way to go.

Our shower in the master bath does this as well, especially when the kids use it. They turn the water temp up to scorch and stand in there for an hour and a half. The exhaust fan just can't handle and move enough air to dehumidify the room.

The bathroom is 12'x12' with 11' ceilings. That's about 1,584 cubic feet. The fan may move 100 CFM. Those aren't good odds for removing enough of the the moisture before it condensates on the walls and other surfaces. Amazon lists some bathroom exhaust fans that move 300 to 400 cfm. I may look into one of those. Can you have too much exhaust fan? It may start slamming doors and make eyeballs start to protrude.

The biggest issue you’ll find with a larger than necessary fan is noise. Sizing the fan to the room, and ensuring the vent pipe leading outside is also adequately sized will keep things quiet and dry. Going too big means bigger vent piping, more electrical draw, and a unnecessary noise.

 

[PanhandleGlocker]

“The hot water heater”

Hot water don’t need heatin’, boss.

 

[HoLeChit]

Energy saving idea 1: air sealing outlets and switches. Typically this is a technique used within the audiophile and home theater folks to prevent sound leakage from a room. So your house might be a tiny bit warmer, and quieter! Pull your faceplate off the outlet or light switch on one of your exterior walls, feel the air that comes through there, especially on a cold night. How to stop it? Two steps: seal and insulate. Chances are your Sheetrock isn’t cut perfectly around your box, seal that up with some caulking or even better, a small amount of expanding foam. Then, insulate the faceplate. You can buy kits for dirt cheap, or the old school method is to cut up old styrofoam egg cartons for this. The kits I find fit perfectly and insulate better than the diy option. Give these pictures a look for reference.

 

[HoLeChit]

Idea two: sealing up the attic. Using the same idea of sealing the outlet and switch boxes, seal up your ceiling box gaps between them and the Sheetrock with expanding foam. It’s easiest from the attic. While you’re up there, check your roof for penetrations. Best way to do this is to go up on a sunny day, look around with no lights on. Pay attention to your roof ridges, soffit, and around all your vents, vent stacks, etc. seal them up with aluminum tape, caulking, expanding foam, etc as necessary. Check your insulation depth in the attic. Use this website for reference: Attic Insulation | How Much Do I Need?

Make sure that when inspecting your attic you cannot see the tops of your rafters. if you can, you’re losing heat/AC through inadequate insulation AND thermal bridging. More on that here: What is Thermal Bridging, and How to Stop It In a Home


adding insulation isn’t as hard or as expensive as it sounds. Up until a few years ago the city of OKC offered grants to individuals wanting to insulate their attics. I don’t think they offer it anymore, but worth looking into other sources of these grants, via your local power or gas company maybe. My attic needs some fresh insulation blown in. To add at least 6-7” of insulation to my attic (putting me way over what’s necessary) it would cost me 3-400 bucks buying the materials from my local Home Depot. If you buy enough bales of the blow in insulation they’ll let you borrow the blower for free, it’s a one day job with two people.