Installing Bath Fans

Bath fans are fairly easy to install, though they can be tough. First you have to find a fan that is suitable for you, I suggest buying a bath fan with less sones because they are much quieter but you are going to pay more for it because it is made with much better quality. Now, if you buy a fan with a 3" vent and you have a 4" duct in the ceiling then you have to buy a reducer or vise versa your fan has a 4" vent and you have a 3" duct then you need to buy a reducer.

Step 1

If you are going to install a bath fan in existing drywall, you need to make sure the fan is square with the ceiling joist that you’re going to fasten the fan to then cut out your hole. You can make the hole a little bit bigger than the actual fan size as the fan cover will cover the hole. When you have that done, you are ready to fasten the fan to the joist, to do this you should use screws because they will hold much better than nails or staples. 

Step 2

Now you have to hook up the electrical and that is easy, black to black, white to white, and the ground wire around the ground screw. If you have a fan light combo, you will have another red wire in the fan so if you have two switches hook the fan to the red wire and the light to the black wire. If you don’t have two switches available, hook both wires in the fan unit to the single black wire feed comming in. Now the last thing to do is hook up the vent.

The most common types of bath fans are:

• Broan Fans
• Nutone Fans
• Panasonic Fans