Heating and Ventilation

Certain elements of your bathroom's climate, such as excess heat, steam, and early morning chill, can be annoying and unpleasant. When you redesignl, consider adding an exhaust fan to freshen the air and draw out mould-producing moisture, and a heater to keep you warm on cool days. Installing such climate controllers is usually simple and it can make a big difference to your bathroom.

Heating the Bathroom

Perhaps nothing spoils the soothing effects of a long, hot soak or shower faster than stepping out into a cool room, or even one of average house temperature. A small heater in the wall or ceiling may be just what you need to stay warm while towelling off. Bathroom heaters warm rooms by either of two methods: convection or radiation. Convection heaters warm the air in a room; radiant heaters emit electromagnetic or infrared waves that warm objects and surfaces.

Electric Heaters:

As electric heaters are easy to install and clean to operate, they are the most popular choice. Besides the standard wall- and ceiling-mounted units, you will find heaters combined with exhaust lights, fans, or both.

Wall- or ceiling-mounted convection heaters typically have an electrically heated resistance coil and a small fan to move the heated air. A toe-space heater—recessed into a vanity below the sink—helps in warming or drying the floor more quickly. Options include timer switches, thermostats, and safety cut-offs.

Gas Heaters:

You will easily find heaters for either propane or natural gas. Though most are convection heaters, there is one radiant type—a catalytic heater. Regardless of how they heat, all gas heater models require a gas supply line and must be vented to the outside.

Heated Towel Bars:

Besides gas and electricity, one more heat source has reappeared on the bathroom scene: hot water. The original idea was to warm and dry bath towels via a towel rail , but now these hydronic units, wall- or floor-mounted, are being billed as ‘radiators’ as well.

Ventilating the Bathroom
Even if you have good natural ventilation in the bathroom, an exhaust fan can exchange the air faster, and in bad weather it can keep the elements out and continually remove stale air. Some exhaust fans include lights or heaters or both.

It is important that your exhaust fan has an adequate capacity. The Home Ventilating Institute (HVI), U.S.A., recommends that the fan should be capable of exchanging the air at least eight times every hour. To determine the required fan capacity in cubic feet per minute (CFM) for a bathroom with an 8-foot ceiling, multiply the room's length and width in feet by 1.1. For example, if your bathroom is 10 by 7 feet, you would calculate the required fan capacity as follows:

10 x 7 x 1.1 = 77 CFM
As shown above, you will need fan capacity of at least 77 CFM. If your fan must exhaust through a long duct or several elbows, you will need greater capacity to overcome the increased resistance. Follow the manufacturer's recommendations in such cases.

Most fans nowadays have a noise rating measured in sones: the lower the number, the quieter the fan.

Next >> Back to Introduction

1. Introduction
2. Decoration Trends
3. Getting Started – Planning
4. Professional Help
5. The Focal Point of Bathrooms: Showers and Bathtubs
6. Bathtubs
7. Whirlpools and Saunas
8. Flooring
9. Decorating the Bathroom
10. Bathroom Taps and Accessories
11. Lighting
12. Heating & Ventilation
    

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