timer to control just fan or fan and lights?

11 years ago

In each bathroom of my current house, I have a timer that controls both fan and lights. The fan is turned on for another 60 minutes after shower to have good ventilation. So it's kind of waste the electricity for lights.
In my newly bought house,. The two bathrooms have good lighting due to the two venting skylights. I am thinking of using a three gang wall plate, with a switch to control the lights, a timer to control the fan, and a GFCI outlet. But I have one concern.
Since the fan will be the Panasonic 80CFM one, the sound is low, I am afraid my kids would forget to turn on the fan or my daughter takes more than the timer's maximum setting of 60 minutes if she is slow (often she is).

So would it be better to have the timer controlling just the exhaust fan or both fan and lights?

Any input or sharing of experience if greatly appreciated.

Comments (6)

enduring
11 years ago
I have always had the light and the fan independent of each other. In my new bathroom I have a timer, which I have never had before. If I use the bath in the daytime I don't need the lights, so the separate functions are good for me.
oshnwavz
11 years ago
I just put in a fan with lights and heat. I put in timer for the fan (never had a fan before) and I like putting it on before the shower, knowing it will "time out" afterwards. Timer for the lights? Not sure why since you typically turn the lights on and off without thinking - at least I do. I also put a special "whisper" control which has 3 sets of controls - I am using it for fan light (and night light), fan heat, and additional light fixture over the medicine cabinet.
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MongoCT
11 years ago
Look at this switch from EFI.

Turn the switch ON, it will turn the light and fan on. Turn the switch OFF, the light will turn off but the fan will run for a set amount of time, you set the "DELAY" so the fan can run for up to 60 minutes after the switch is turned off.

If you don't want the fan to run for it's timed DELAY cycle, then cycle the switch ON then OFF and the light and fan will turn off.

It also has a "VENTILATION" function that you may or may not want to use. That function turns the fan on for a set amount of time per hour. You can set it to zero.

EFI also offers this switch, which is slightly different than the one above in that it doesn't have the VENTILATION function.

I prefer the first switch, though I almost always have the VENTILATION function set to zero.

EDIT to fix link

This post was edited by mongoct on Sat, Feb 16, 13 at 0:08
djlandkpl
11 years ago
Leviton sells push button timers with different preset time increments. In the case of your daughter's long showers, the timer function can be overridden by pressing the top button until the indicator light on the front turns red. It will run to a max of 24 hours then shut off.

Here is a link that might be useful: Leviton Timer
janesylvia
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you very much for all your help.

Mongoct, thank you so much for the information. The first link does not seem to work.

djlandkpl, really appreciate your information, which is very helpful. The old models of Leviton timer switch do not have this feature. I ordered Panasonic timer switches, but received Leviton ones. I'll take a look at the instruction to verify this timer function overridden feature (I put the materials in the newly bought house).
MongoCT
11 years ago
My mistake. I wrote the HTML but never inserted the URL within the HTML. Fixed via the edit function.