day before yesterday the fan in my bathroom died. leading up to its death it would start out at a low hum then slowly get up to speed. this morning i was getting out of the shower and it was really bugging me so i took the cover off and cleared about half of the dust and crap out. only to be left stumped. i walked into my local mom and pop hardware store and they didnt have anyone knowledgeable about bathroom ventilation systems. how hard would it be to replace this? could either myself or me and someone else replace this in a few minutes to an hour?
About an hour if you replace it with the same one/kind. I just replace three, on like that one, and two with heating functions in them too. Total, it took 2 hours because I had toredo some joist framing. alot is going to depend on the way it's mounted between the joists and the ducting and wiring. if you can clean that sucker up real good and hit the bushings with WD-40, you may be able to coax anothe year out of it. Usually, though, once they start to vibrate, the bushings are gone. people do not take the initiative to keep those clean. When they get gunked up like that, they draw 3-4 times the amperage and waste alot of electricity. same with any fan, if they have to work harder, they draw more current and waste alot of power, let alone build up heat. best case scenario, would be to get your hands on just the motor, those are a snap to replace. Two screws on the model you pictured, it swings down and out and plugs into the fan housing like a hair dryer does into your wall.
it didnt look hinged to me, the way it looks is like its a fan with what looks like an air filter off a V8 big block carb. thats welded inside of a 14'' drainage pipe that should be at the culvert in my driveway. so basically i take those 2 screws out and the entire unit falls down or does it swing open/down like your gas tube door on your vehicle? if i have the time, money, and hopefully the tools if the monkeys didnt steal my wrenches it should take an hour to two? how much does one cost?
That's a Broan, verticle discharge, (new 6", about 30 bux) if you have to replace that whole thing, an hour or two, if just the motor, 1/2 hour. The motor/squirrel cage should come right out and you should be able to find another motor like it. just pull the squirrel cage off the motor/fan assembly, remove the fan from the mounting plate, install new motor, and puty the squirrel cage back on after cleaning it up really good. While the motor/fan assy. is out, clean the housing and duct really good. you might even try pulling the fan assy. and giving it a good cleaning and lube with WD-40 and reinstalling it to see if it works well enough while you find another motor. you can get the model/part number off of the motor while you have it out for cleaning. just google "surplus or replacement AC motors and you'll probably find a suitable replacement. I've seen small AC motors go for 7-29 bux. It'll probably be similar to this motor: Nutone Replacement Bath Fan Motors This place is high priced, shop around and you may find it for 1/2 that price. To replace the whole fan itself....prepare to spend time in the attic crawlspace. scroll towards bottom of page: vert discharge Nutone Ventilation Fans
You don't have to be a smoker for it to look like that, it's in the bathroom so lent/dust+heat+humidity= what you see. At least ours looks like that after not being cleaned for a while and we don't smoke.
Replacing the motors in those things doesn't take very long, but depending on the placement of the nuts can be a bitch to get tight. I replaced the motors in two of my Broans and I could never get them tight enough to stop the rattling. Ended up replacing them with the ultra quiet, turbo-suck Nutone models. No shit, 150 CFM fans that are virtually silent.
im gonna head to the hardware store in just a few minutes to talk about replacing the entire unit, the blades were fucked up and i dont have a real problem replacing a 22 year old unit no i dont smoke...when if i smoke its outside
if you want i could probably get you one a hellova lot cheaper that a hardware store. let me know if you need something. hardware stores are a fucking joke, i went to one today because i needed some 4" elbows and i was in the middle of nowhere, 5 fucking bucks a piece, i can get the for 70 cents a pice at the wholesale house, idk how that guy can sleep at night.
If you choose to replace that unit don't upgrade to a heat / light/ vent w/o checking to see that the wiring of the house is adequate to run it. The heater units I won't install on anything less than a lightly loaded 20 amp lighting circuit w/ no outlets.
To start with the circuit breaker will be labeled 20 amp, next the wire will be 12 gauge solid copper, not 14. When you shut off the breaker find everything that has been shut off around the house, check all rooms that have adjoining walls, ceilings and floors. Many times I've found hacked electrical and overloaded circuits. Today I added 2 new circuits to a house that had 3 bathrooms and an attic fan on 1 15 amp GFI. If your unsure stick with what you have, for a heat, vent light unit you'd need to pull another wire from the unit to the switch to accomodate the second fan.
