Bathroom vent

[bhland]

I have a half bath I'm installing where a closet butted next to an old firplace that had been walled in. I want to vent the exhaust fan through the fireplace opening but it only goes up three feet off the floor next to the back of the toilet. To drill a hole up high into the chimney stack would be extremely labor intensive and I'm not sure about structural integrity as this is a very old house. I'm not worried about moisture builup in the room but rather ventilation for odors. Would this be acceptable to vent the fan this low to the floor or are there other solutions.

Thank You,

bhland

[Bob53]

Greetings, bhland and welcome to the DIY forums. Are any of your "new" bathroom walls exterior, if one happens to be, then you would be much better off venting up higher and to the outside. Is the present chimney you speak of being used in any other applications? 3 feet seems awfully low. Give a call to your local code inspector. I am assuming that you pulled a permit for this job and doing the work yourself. Here in NH, we must have a bathroom vent mandatory. Also, I read that you are not worried about moisture? Unfortunately, the moisture will cause you more of a problem in the long run than the odors will. Mold love bathrooms. Your post was interesting to me. Post back.
-Bob

[Dons]

Bob,

Bhland mentioned a half-bath. Do such rooms also normally require exhaust fans? I have a small bathroom 3'x7' that has just a sink and a toilet and was wondering about the need to put in an exhaust fan - there is none currently. It doesn't seem to my admittedly non-expert eye that the sink and toilet cause moisture problems in the room. Thanks for your thoughts on this.

Don

[Ed Imeduc]

Call and check code where you are about that vent fan. Here if it has a window you dont need a fan. No window then you need a vent fan.

I dont think Id try and tie in to and old flue. You could get a bad down draft from it. Even with the flipper damper in the vent fan

ED ;)

[bhland]

Bob53,

Thanks for your interest. There are no windows on the room. The end where the toilet backs up to is an old fireplace that has been walled in. The are actually two separate flues in the chimney stack that are separated by brick and mortar. One flue is used to exhaust the gas furnace in the basement. The other flue is not being used so I had planned to exhaust a vent stack through it along with the vent fan. I will separate the two openings of the vent and fan so a downdraft into the fan (if it can occur) would not bring in vent odors. The room will only have a toilet and a small pedestal sink and will be used as a "powder room." I know about moisture concerns and will monitor once the room is complete ( I have a humidity guage). I do not think it will be a concern and will address it as a problem if it becomes one. My concern will be will the fan be effective at that height to remove odors (heat rises) or are there any unforseen problems that I have not addressed with this issue. The fan will be placed off to the side of the rear of the toilet so it will be in close proximity to where the "odors" are created. Thanks bhland

[bhland]

Thanks EdImeduc,

I had planned to run the vent fan all the way to the top of the chimney and out. I assumed this should prevent any downdraft concerns and would be similar to vent out the roof. Am I wrong in this assumption.

bhland

[Ed Imeduc]

I think it would work. Would it just be less work as this is no bath to just put in are hang any of the" NEW LITTLE STINK POTs" and plug in's???

ED :thinker: