Picked up a bath fan that was quieter. The existing fan is rated at 3.5 sones which is fairly loud but also some vibration transmits through the ceiling and framing making it much more objectionable, at least to me. We picked up a 0.8 sone fan and my wife said it was too quiet, that the louder fan would cover the noises of people using the bathroom. I guess I can understand that. But for best impression, resale, etc I had thought a quiet fan was better. After hearing the new fan in a quiet room (the store had them so they could be turned on but there was so much noise I could only hear the loud ones) I am starting to agree it sounds too quiet - it's hard to even tell it's on although it does move a good amount of air. I am now thinking something in the middle would be best. Something loud enough to give a low but noticeable, reassuring sound so you can tell it is on. But well balanced so it doesn't vibrate. What do others think?
Bath fan too quiet?
- Thread starter JimS
- Start date
Bzncrewjr
Active Member
We have a fan in the downstairs bathroom that is so loud it can be heard in the room above. My wife finds that much more irritating than any possible bathroom sounds that might penetrate the ceiling.
Modern home build techniques are to make houses very tight and have central exhaust systems. We were going to install this on our previous house build. A single silent exhaust each bath as part of the fresh air system. This is what many hotels use now. No sound.
I don't like the fan sound. I would much prefer soundproofing the walls in the bathroom. However, if that's not an option, I guess a noisy fan would be good. Maybe install a white noise generator to simulate a fan.
For resale, I seriously doubt the sound of the fan will be an issue. Who is going to turn on a fan and say, "Sorry honey, we can't buy this house, the fan is too loud." So get a fan that suits YOUR needs. Our last house, we painted the powder room a crazy faux purple color. We were experimenting with colors and never repainted it. The buyers came and the husband said "I love this bathroom color". Go fig? So live in your house the way you want.
--Russ
Modern home build techniques are to make houses very tight and have central exhaust systems. We were going to install this on our previous house build. A single silent exhaust each bath as part of the fresh air system. This is what many hotels use now. No sound.
I don't like the fan sound. I would much prefer soundproofing the walls in the bathroom. However, if that's not an option, I guess a noisy fan would be good. Maybe install a white noise generator to simulate a fan.
For resale, I seriously doubt the sound of the fan will be an issue. Who is going to turn on a fan and say, "Sorry honey, we can't buy this house, the fan is too loud." So get a fan that suits YOUR needs. Our last house, we painted the powder room a crazy faux purple color. We were experimenting with colors and never repainted it. The buyers came and the husband said "I love this bathroom color". Go fig? So live in your house the way you want.
--Russ
I think most of the noise is from unbalance and vibration, the fan air noise is reasonable. So I am going to try to balance the existing fan and see what improvement I can get. I have used a simple 4 run method with a test weight before on a furnace blower with good results. Used a piezo buzzer element as a vibration sensor since only relative amplitude is needed.
pete_c
Guru
Here it's been a few years now that I removed the contractor installed (cheap junk) bathroom fans and replaced them. My whole thing was function over sound. The second floor bathrooms fan / ducting was done incorrectly such that I redid the ducting which was a real PITA to do as I have 8-9 foot ceiling in the attic. I also redid the electric such that the built in exhaust fan lighting was run to a separate switch.
The bathrooms here and there though are separated by rooms, hallways, solid core doors such that you do not really hear the bathroom fans much at all.
The bathrooms here and there though are separated by rooms, hallways, solid core doors such that you do not really hear the bathroom fans much at all.
Bzncrewjr
Active Member
RAL said:Instead of a noisier fan, add a ceiling speaker and a white noise generator. Put a volume control on the wall, and everyone will be happy.
In the spirit of HA, you should place an occupancy detector in the room that triggers the white noise generator to the speaker.
Then get crazy and install prox detectors so that the white noise can be customized to each "user". Perhaps jungle sounds, ocean waves, rain, deep woods...and white noise.
Install a large flat screen with camera as a "mirror" and have the noises match some video such as a window to the ocean. When the "user" stands in front of the "mirror" switch on the camera. Just be sure to reverse the image selfie style so it looks like a mirror.
