60 is better. The fans don't use much electricity and if you get a nice quiet one you will barely be able to hear it. Better to have the fan running more than less when it comes to moisture in a bathroom. We have a Panasonic Whisper Quiet one that we can barely hear. Noisy cheaper ones just won't get used, then you defeat the whole purpose.

-Babka

Thanks Babka, I think you are right about 60 minutes.

You know, I'm surprised there is such a demand for super quiet fans. I think a major purpose is to mask sounds of bodily functions! Well for my B&B purposes anyway since the bathroom is inside the guest room/suite.

I know some people do want the noisier fans for white noise. I agree with the 60min timer. I've heard that fans should run for 30 after the shower is done.

I'd go 60. It is more likely people will turn it off when they leave, or forget to turn it off. So at least it will be a max of 60 min. I like our set up, we did not split the light and fan, so if you want to see in the shower, by default it gets vented. The vanity light is almost always adequate for other uses.

60. Sometimes, I have to even "extend" my 60 by waiting for it to get to 30 and hitting the button again.

For guests in a B&B, I would use a humidistat. That way it turns on automatically when the humidity hits a certain level. Not sure if these also have timers to turn them on for smell removal n

I'd say 60 over 30. If you have guests that like to luxuriate in the shower or guests with long hair, they may take showers longer than 15 minutes and 30 minutes of fan might be insufficient to clear the humidity.

I've used two different Intermatic timers: For the exhaust fan 5/10/15/30 minute timer - just click the button for the desired time. For the shower drying fan the 15/30/60/120 timer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Intermatic timer

Thanks everybody!

I purchased the Lutron maestro 60 min timer. my new bathroom will be complete in about a month and so I will post pictures!

We're about to start our bathroom and I just bought a quiet Panasonic vent/heater. (Our other bathroom has a fan that's loud and heater that's insanely loud, and we didn't want to do that again. It seems like the choice is between very quiet and very loud.) I'm concerned about the fan, and especially the heater, being left on, and so was wondering about timers. In my old house I had a clunky mechanical timer for a whole-house fan that you turned, but I didn't want that; I didn't know that there are easier-to-use timers now available.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had any specific brand/model recommendations? (That Intermatic link is helpful, but I think it's more complicated than we want. A single fixed time would be fine, as long as you could manually shut the fan/heat off if you didn't want all the time to play out.)

The Leviton one is easy-peasy. On-off or pick a number.

-Babka

Here is a link that might be useful: Leviton timer

Thanks for the info! Reading this thread has been really helpful.

Thanks everybody!

I purchased the Lutron maestro 60 min timer. my new bathroom will be complete in about a month and so I will post pictures!