Upgrading a regular bathroom fan to a heater unit

[electron]

I currently have one of those basic NuTone fan/light combo installed in my bathroom ceiling, and am wondering how easy it would be to swap it out with a fan unit which also contains a heater (using those IR bulbs). I currently have 2 switches wired to control the lights, and the fan. Is this an easy project, or do I have to worry about things such as exhaust location, wire upgrades, etc. ?

 

[drozwood90]

I currently have one of those basic NuTone fan/light combo installed in my bathroom ceiling, and am wondering how easy it would be to swap it out with a fan unit which also contains a heater (using those IR bulbs). I currently have 2 switches wired to control the lights, and the fan. Is this an easy project, or do I have to worry about things such as exhaust location, wire upgrades, etc. ?

Yes and no. Depends on your wiring.

MOST new homes have all the bathrooms chained together. If this is the case, what is the worst case load...can the wires handle it?

My house has 2.5 bathrooms. So, it's likely my worst case (if all lights were wired together) is:
3x Exhaust fan on
3x lights on
1x IR bulb (when I put mine in there)

(plugs are not in my list as I had all the lights wired on a different circuit in my new house)

Total up the wattage, make sure your wires can handle it. Otherwise, you'll need something new.

IF you are wired separate, then I wouldn't worry. You SHOULD have 12AWG in there...which can surely handle all that power.

You figure if it's wired with 12, you can put a 20A breaker on there. Even if it's not, and it's 15, that's still 1800W. Temperature derate it...say 1600W. So (for my house), 3 60W bulbs, 1 15W fan, 1000W IR bulbs (I guessed on the high side...I've see IR bulbs from 200W each to 500W each...usually there are 2 in the fixture) = 1195W

Just make sure your automation switches can handle it!! Simply Automated UPB switches: 11-40's are 900W; US 2-40s are 900W, but each are derated based on how many switches are in the junction box.

My last set of IR bulbs in my last house had 250W bulbs in there. So, when I added the switch, I just put it in it's OWN box on the opposite side of the stud that was holding the junction box for the FAN/light switch. It gave me 900W output power from the switch, was easy to do, and (I feel) showed people which switches to use (the closest to the door was lights, the next one was fan, the offset one was the IR bulb...which is annoying to try to find when you get out of the shower...that was until I automated it! The no one needed to push any buttons to get it!!).

HTH

--Dan

 

[aehusted]

I recently added two of these to my upstairs bathrooms when I was having the attic floor put in. (I am pretty sure this is the same model.)
Anyway, I was lucky that the electrician did not charge extra after finding out he had to pull two additional dedicated circuits. He did not read the specs up front and the heater is 1500W by itself.
I am quite happy with them. The IR light variety feels good on your shoulders when you stand under it, but it does not really help heat up the room. I was looking for a heat-the-room model because my master bath is on the corner of the house and the hall bath is where my toddler takes a bath. In the hall bath, we can only keep the heat on for a few minutes before it starts getting uncomfortable. Perfect for bathing babies in the winter time.

Also, make sure you exhaust to OUTSIDE the house. Otherwise you are asking for moisture problems.

I currently have one of those basic NuTone fan/light combo installed in my bathroom ceiling, and am wondering how easy it would be to swap it out with a fan unit which also contains a heater (using those IR bulbs). I currently have 2 switches wired to control the lights, and the fan. Is this an easy project, or do I have to worry about things such as exhaust location, wire upgrades, etc. ?

 

[electron]

Thanks for the responses, lot's of good info!

I have 2 bathrooms, but only 1 is in use in the morning (when I would use the heater). I am pretty sure it's 14AWG wiring, since the breakers are all 15A (and the wire jacket is white if I remember correctly). The bathroom isn't that big (56sqft), so I guess I need to figure out first what size lamp I would need. Also, is there some sort of standard when it comes to the exhaust location on these units? I am avoiding having to get in the attic to install this.

That Panasonic model is really nice, but I was hoping not having to spend that much.

 

[aehusted]

The link I found for it was just the first one that came up when I googled.
You can get it for much less than MSRP if you shop around on sites that sell to contractors.

That Panasonic model is really nice, but I was hoping not having to spend that much.