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Re: Bathroom Fan/Light/Heater?

To: "PJ" <pj_mcgarvey@hotmail.com>, <shop-talk@Autox.Team.Net>
Subject: Re: Bathroom Fan/Light/Heater?
From: "Arvid Jedlicka" <arvidj@visi.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005 15:08:14 -0600
I think I'm on my third or fourth NuTone [or similar] fan/light/heater. The
fan
and light part works forever but the heater usually lasts a year or two,
burns out,
and it then takes me three years to get around to replacing it.

I have mine wired on one dedicated 20 amp circuit to run all three items -
the
light is 75w max, the fans are negligible, and the heater is 1500 watts.
Obviously
there are three switches on the circuit - fan, light, heater.

The nice thing about it is the compact 'single hole in the ceiling'
'everything is
installed at one time' nature of it.

The not so nice thing is that it heats the top half of the 5 by 8 foot
bathroom
but doesn't do much for the bottom half - or by the time the bottom half
is reasonable the top is REALLY WARM.

The real pain is that the heater only lasts a year or two. The heater [and
it's
air circulation fan] is right next to the exhaust fan and some small
percentage
of what ever is in the air [baby power, hair spray, who knows what...] and
is
being drawn towards the exhaust seems to end up in the heater. After a
while all of the stuff builds up on the heater coils and the "don't burn the
house
down protective thingy" and they burn out.

I'm remodeling the bathroom and am putting in a wall mounted unit. It should
not get as dirty as quickly and I will not have to go into the attic to fix
it when
it does fail.

Arvid

> I want to add a bathroom vent/fan, and was thinking of adding one of the
> fan/light combos.  The Panasonic Whispher line seems to be the best
performing
> in my research so far, people say it's the quietest.  I was in HD today,
and
> noticed NuTone carries one with a fan/light and heater, 1500W.  We have an
8'
> x 8' bathroom, so I'm wondering how well the heater would actually work.
> There are no heat vents in there, only in the bedrooms, so it does get
quite
> cold this time of year after you step out of the shower.  Would I need a
> dedicated 15A line to power this guy, with the heater?  Would the heat be
> noticable enough for a bathroom of this size?
>
> Next question is, I'm not sure how these are wired, but I want to have the
> light and fan (and heat) on separate switches, not sure how the NuTone
works,
> but would it also be possible to incorporate a dimmer on the light like I
have
> now?  I hate waking up to bright light in the bathroom.   Any other brands
you
> can suggest?
>
> On a separate topic, has anyone noticed there messages being delayed or
never
> being delivered to the list?  I have replied several times in the past and
> haven't seen my replies come across the list.  For instance, I replied to
the
> wireless networks post around 6 hours ago, and I still don't see my reply.
>
> Thanks,
> PJ






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