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dinahv_gw

Exhaust fan placed in the floor?

DinahV
9 years ago

We have a half-bath without any exhaust fan (it has supply air vent only). So it stinks on occasion. We'd like to install an exhaust fan, but the half-bath is located in the middle of the first floor, and there is absolutely no way to vent it outside through the ceiling (long to explain why but really, no way)

The house is pier-and-beam though, and it would be very easy to install the exhaust fain in the floor and vent outside of the house by running the duct vent through the crawl space under the house (this is how our dryer is vented, it's located in the room next to the half-bath).

Do you know of any code such floor-installed exhaust fan might violate? Have you ever done or seen a floor-installed exhaust fan?

Comments (8)

  • snoonyb
    9 years ago

    Since "hot air" rises, the practicality will depend upon your ability to create a relatively closed system, like the dryer.

  • _sophiewheeler
    9 years ago

    How on earth did it pass inspection? Rooms without windows are required to have mechanical ventilation. Through the roof, or through the wall up high. Not the floor.

  • DinahV
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    hollysprings - this is a good question. It's a 100year old house and I suspect a lot of renovations were done by prior owners without pulling a permit - and this halfbath was one of them, I'm sure.

    So you are sure that it would be against code to vent through the floor?

  • DinahV
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    snoonyb - hot air rises, yes. but what about stinky air? That's the one I want to get rig of :)
    (heat is taken care of by a supply air vent in the ceiling...)

  • snoonyb
    9 years ago

    Methane is lighter than oxygen;

    Methane, CH4,16.044

    Oxygen, O2 31.9988

    So, you would need the supply to operate the length of time, your olfactory senses are "assaulted," winter and summer.

  • sdello
    9 years ago

    Can you put a powered vent through a wall into another room just to disperse the concentrated fouled air in the bathroom?

    If you got supply air in, then I don't see why you couldn't put an exhaust out the floor, it would force an exchange of air beyond the exchange from just the supply in.

  • rwiegand
    9 years ago

    Put the vent opening high on the wall or in the ceiling and then route the exhaust pipe down and out underneath to the outside wall. You may need to use a bigger fan to overcome the resistance of multiple bends and increased length-- doing as much of the run as possible in smooth rigid pipe will help. There are tables online to tell you how much to de-rate the fan for a longer run.

  • woodbutcher_ca
    9 years ago

    Hi. I have seen units with the same problem. These were
    3 plexes 2 story with the problem bath down stairs in the middle of the unit. The units were built about in 1990. In construction they installed a re circulator fan that filtered the air through a charcol filter. This was new constructiun public housing in Ca that was inspected. I did not live in the units so I can't say how well they worked. If you go this route make sure you can get replacement filters for it.
    Good Luck Woodbutcher