Ventilation is one of the essential factors to consider when deciding on the bathroom interior.
How Long Can You Run a Bathroom Fan? You can run a bathroom fan for 10 to 15 minutes after a bath and 15 to 20 minutes after a hot shower to remove the excessive moisture. It helps to remove the humidity, allows air circulation, and reduces the smell due to mold and bacteria. It can damage the motor, cause sparking and fire, and consume more electricity if you keep it running for a long time.
Interior designers and home decorators always recommend having a proper source of ventilation in your house, especially in your bathroom, because it needs appropriate ventilation and air circulation due to excessive water use.
How long should you run a bathroom fan?
It requires special precautions and attention when dealing with any electric device in your house, especially in the bathroom, because of the damp environment.
Professionals recommend avoid using bathroom fans for a long because of many safety reasons for you and your device.
However, you can keep the fan running for approximately 10-15 minutes daily for normal ventilation and 15-20 minutes after a shower to remove the steam and condensation.
It can cause damage to this ventilation device if you keep the fan running for many hours.
You can use other ventilation options, such as opening the windows and door.
It is better to wipe the floor and countertops after taking a shower or using the vanity, as this can also reduce the time to remove moisture.
The time for it also depends on the size of the bathroom and the fan, such as it takes more time to remove moisture if you have a spacious place.
You can turn it off after a few minutes if the fan size is large and the area is small because it will take a short time to reduce the humidity level.
However, it needs more usage of an exhaust fan if you have a busy household and more traffic in your bathroom.
You can turn it off after a few minutes and then allow it to run again instead of keeping it running for several hours.
Why would you leave the bathroom fan On?
You can use it for many reasons in the bathroom, as it has become an essential requirement of every house and serves different purposes.
Moisture and humidity
Moisture and humidity are the primary reasons to install them in your place because they cause many problems if you do not remove them for a long time.
For example, steam and fog accumulate all around your shower area after taking a hot shower or bath in winter.
This causes steam and blurred vision on all the window mirrors, which looks annoying and untidy.
The light fixtures and other mirrors also get blurred, which affects the light in your place. It can help reduce the humidity level and remove the steam quickly if you use the exhaust fan.
A damp environment leads to the growth of mold, bacteria, and fungi, which can thrive in this atmosphere.
In addition, the wood furniture and floors are at more risk of getting warped and twisted if they are exposed to moisture for a long time and do not provide proper ventilation to keep the moisture at bay.
Air circulation
Air circulation is also essential for the bathroom’s humid atmosphere because it can help you fill the space with healthy and fresh air from the outside.
A place with not any source of air circulation can cause condensation on the wall and ceiling due to water vapors from hot and cold water.
It can make the paint on the walls peel off over time and make the bathroom’s overall appearance unpleasing.
The exhaust fan or ceiling fan can allow the air to circulate in all the corners and sides and remove the condensation from the walls and ceilings.
It reduces the temperature and sweating, especially in summer when you are doing your makeup or other activities.
Remove the smell
The nasty smell of mold and mildew after using the toilet can be irritating. The unpleasant smell from your toilet area is because of mold, germs, and mineral buildup inside the toilet seat.
The exhaust fan in this place can help to remove the foul odor and bacteria, which can cause different diseases to spread. In addition, it can bring fresh and odor-free air from the outside environment as soon as you turn it on.
The moist places often smell bad as compared to the dry places because of the mildew and bacteria in dust particles that accumulate in these places.
This might take a long time to deodorize the nasty smell using this ventilation device because the smelly air does not rise faster to the ceiling where the fan is installed as compared to the water vapors and humidity.
What are the disadvantages of keeping a bathroom fan running for a long time?
It is an electrical device, and you know that dealing with electricity devices needs special care and maintenance to avoid any damage and accidental situation.
Motor damage
The motor of the exhaust fan gets damaged if you keep it running for a long time continuously without giving its machine a rest. It can sound louder than a normal one because of the bear failing inside its motor.
It creates noise every time you turn it on and makes the motor challenging to work. In addition, the motor belts and nuts can get lost due to excessive use, and this causes the spin to block or get stuck after regular intervals.
Different components inside the motor can get overheated and burn out, which leads to the repair or replacement of the device. In addition, it can disturb your budget and cost the repairing money if you hire an electrician.
Cause sparking and fire
It can get sparking and even a fire inside the machine if you forget to turn it off and it keeps running overnight.
In addition, it extracts dirt, moisture, and bacteria from the bathroom, and these particles can accumulate on different components of the motor, which causes it to overheat.
You can smell like something is burning when you turn it on, and you often see sparking on the outer side of it.
It can be due to a layer of lint that accumulates on the plastic blades and start sparking when the motor gets overheated.
It can happen because of the electrical wiring inside the machine when high voltage appears on the power lines, and the circuit inside it gets damaged when it starts sparking.
More electricity consumption
Bathroom fans usually consume more power, depending on the size and quality of the ventilation device.
However, it can consume average electricity of approximately 10-30 watts, depending on the manufacturing and model.
It can cost you more electricity if you keep it running for several hours a day and overnight.
For example, a small fan can cost $5-$10 per year if you keep it on for a few hours daily, and a medium-size fan can cost around $45 to $64 per year if you keep it running for a long time.
It is better to run it for a few hours a day to save energy and avoid any damage to the device because it can cost you fewer electricity bills if you use it nicely and consume this energy for other useful purposes.
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