The bathroom vent fan has started dripping. We hit very cold weather in NJ, its obvious that the moist air vented up into the duct in the atic is condensing, and dripping back down.
Are there tips to prevent this? the vent has a fairly long run, about 15 feet to the outside, I wonder if the moisture makes it to the outside.
Currently it just uninsulated sheet metal duct work .
thanks in advance.
Should I replace with one of these:
http://www.rewci.com/infldu.html
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Replies
By all means insulate the ductwork. Can you change to an in-line fan installed in the attic?
Couple of short term fixes. Check to make sure the pitch of the duct is such that condensation drains away from the blower and out of the duct. Until you can get up there to check this, run the fan for 10-15 minutes BEFORE turning on the shower. This wastes tons of energy, but warms the inside of the duct and will hopefully reduce the amount of condensation. Also, run it for another 15 minutes after each shower to get as much moist air out as possible.
Long term fix will include correcting the pitch and insulating the duct to keep it as warm as possible.
Insulate the ductwork. Also, make sure the flapper on the vent fan is closing as tightly as possible, and if there is an external flapper make sure that's closing tightly too.
Also, be sure to run the fan until all the moisture in the bathroom is gone -- another ten of 15 minutes after a shower ends.
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