BROAN FAQ’S ON VENTILATION FANS

BROAN FAQ’S ON VENTILATION FANS How big of a fan should be installed in a bathroom? What is a SONE? These and many other FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) are handled by customer service personnel at BROAN. Some of the answers may help our contractors when selling and installing bathroom fans:

What size fan should be installed? For bathrooms with 8 ft. ceilings, determine the square footage of the room (length X width) and multiply by 1.1 (Example: a 50 sq. ft. room requires a fan of at least 55 CFM). If the ceiling is HIGHER that 8 ft., multiply by .1375 and then multiply by the room’s square footage to get the correct CFM (Example: the room is 120 sq. ft. with a 10 ft. ceiling height. So 10 ft. x .1375 = 1.37; 1.37 x 120 sq. sq. ft. = 164 CFM).
What is a CFM? This stands for Cubic Feet per Minute (the volume of air moved per minute). For bathroom fans, it would relate to the amount of air EXHAUSTED from the room. Importantly, this same amount of CFM’s must be brought INTO the room (make-up air) to maintain sufficient ventilation.
What is a SONE? This is a measure of the loudness of an item (the lower the SONE rating, the quieter the unit). 1 sone is equal to the sound of a quiet refrigerator in a quiet kitchen. Many customers are looking for the quietest (lowest SONES) fans and fanlights possible. Yaun Co. stocks the QT series of BROAN models to meet this demand.
What type of ductwork should be used? Rigid galvanized duct is recommended, where possible. This pipe has less resistance to airflow, allowing the fan to work efficiently. If flexible plastic is used, always be sure the duct is stretched out and straight.
Can a fan/fanlight be installed over a tub or in a shower? Only models that have been listed (approved) by UL (Underwriter’s Lab. Inc.) for these applications can be used. These models are allowed when installed on a ground fault circuit (GFI) protected branch.

These are the most commonly asked questions regarding bath fans. Yaun Co. is a stocking distributor of BROAN products.