Replies

1. 
   CAGIV | Jan 20, 2003 08:15am | #1

   Sure Ive seen lots of them people install them but do not bother to vent them to the outside :)

   Seriously Ive never seen one personaly

2. 
   BossHog | Jan 20, 2003 05:32pm | #2

   Never heard of such a thing.

   Maybe she's confused bath fans with range hoods - They often use some sort of filter, and just blow the air back into the room.

   Prevent death on the road. Drive on the sidewalk

3. 
   rjw | Jan 20, 2003 05:46pm | #3

   A charcoal filter will remove odors for a short period of time.  It will not remove moisture.

   Building codes typically require some form of ventilation in bathrooms; an operable window (lousy choice) or a fan vented out doors.

   So far as I know, code writers don't really care about the olfactory consequences of not putting in new filters, they are concerned about health effects (and some folks leave behind some health issue lingering in the air {G}) and effects of uncontrolled moisture in a building.

   That is to say, she's wrong.

   _______________________

   "I may have said the same thing before... But my explanation, I am sure, will always be different."  Oscar Wilde

1. 
   tenpenny | Jan 20, 2003 06:00pm | #4

   The problem with the concept is that the filter, if it worked, would gradually collect the moisture; then what?  You have a soggy filter, and it does what with the water?  The whole point of the fan is to get the moisture OUT of the house.  Ideally, a kitchen fan should do the same.  Otherwise, you still have all the moisture in the house.

4. 
   Ragnar17 | Jan 21, 2003 12:05am | #5

   Zen1,

   Like the others here, I have never heard of such a beast.  And when you think about it, the water in the air has to go somewhere.  Like the last poster said, any filter, if it actually removed moisture, would become saturated.  This excess water would have to be discharged outside or down a drain;  just allowing it to re-enter the air would defeat the whole purpose.  Think of a de-humidifier, for example.

   Ragnar

5. 
   booch | Jan 21, 2003 01:26am | #6

   Yea if it works as well as the carbon filter on my microwave-over-stove fan I wouldn't want to be at your house after taco night.

   My GE microwave fan is a POS. to direct vent the stove I would have to pierce 8-2x12 floor joist or befoul the blown in rockwool from 1940 for 12 foot. It had to be ventless.

   Now for a bathroom maybe it would neutralize a couple "efforts". However it wouldn't touch the moisture which is the big problem in a bath.

   Ask the MIL where the moisture goes. That ought to bring the topic back to why you aren't providing for her daughter and get it out of your world of building.

   Jack of all trades and master of none - you got a problem with that?
6. 
   BillHartmann | Jan 24, 2003 04:28pm | #7

   Well your MIL is at least partially correct.

   There are ductless bath fans that have carbon filters. However, they don't say anythign about removing moisture.

   http://www.qmarkmeh.com/web%20pages/products/BathroomFans/Q645.html

   I assume that it was designed for 1/2 baths. But neither the web page or the installation instruction have anything about usage or application.

7. 
   sedarch | Jan 24, 2003 05:45pm | #8

   She is wrong. But if you are smart and tell her she "won" you might be able to get a couple free beers out of her. Besides it NEVER pays to argue with the MIL.

   Never a problem, just an opportunity to create a solution... :~}