Installing a fan inside your steam shower: Good idea or bad

[JohnfrWhipple]

I have for as long as I can remember never liked the idea of installing a fan in a steam shower. That was up until yesterday. Yesterday I get an email from a lady in California who is working with me to design a steam shower and she asked me what I thought about steam shower fans.

I told her it was a bad idea. I told her none of the steam company's like it. I told her I don't like it. I explained how the steam uses the vent lines as a chimney. She told me about a waterproof fan. She told me about a powered tamper. OMG the Holy Grail of steam shower fans!!!

So I'm pretty stoked about this new fan and was wondering if anyone has used it yet?

I have send out some probing questions to some key people in the steam shower industry for feedback. Hopefully I hear back today. I also plan to call the maker and learn some more there.

Steam Showers are crazy popular this past couple years. This fan I think a real winner. And I love the shower trim for the vent opening. it looks so cool.

 

[ShowerDude]

and a link to the fan??

rigid watertight pitch venting would be a MUST.




i have built a steamer with a fan . The client? an electrician!

i fought long and hard to talk him out of it. I hid the fan , i lost the trim kit, framed the celing to not fit the fan.

he reminds me its his home and he writes the check.

I let him install , wire and vent it, i warned him to only use pvc ridgid venting and pitch it accordingly as to run off vapor/moisture.

he opted for dryer flex line! i say no way ......

he reminds me again who writes the checks!

about a month later he is whining the steam unit is not sized properly for cubic footage/glass/tile material vitrosity.

I remind him he has a fan sucking his steam right out the shower.

he does not believe this of course so be starts researching steam shower tile choices.....

I remind him he has a large format low vitrosity porcelain suited for steam showers and a FAN not adviasable for steam showers.



I tied the vapor barrier poly to the flange with silicone, then CBU and hydrobanned the inlet later.

surely it condenses and water is sitting in the flex line, at some point the innerds will fail and we will build him steam shower number 2 and replace likely some rotted framing.

In the end i bent my rules for this client......My crazy couisn who takes FULL liability for any issues forthcoming.

i should go open up some walls and and take a look ....

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jadnashua]

I could see using the fan at the end of the shower to help dry things out, but nobody in their right mind should have the thing on while taking the steam shower - it would defeat the whole purpose!

None of the fan manufacturers recommend the flexible ducting (like a dryer vent), only rigid, smooth walled stuff.

If the fan is run long enough a the end of the shower, it should dry things out, including itself. Most people do not run them long enough.

 

[JMac]

What if the fan is also controlled by a humidity sensor? ie turn the fan on after the shower and it runs until the sensor turns it off.

Just a thought...

 

[Jadnashua]

What if the fan is also controlled by a humidity sensor? ie turn the fan on after the shower and it runs until the sensor turns it off.

Just a thought...

That would work in a 'normal' shower, but while it's possible, it defeats some of the convenience of having a humidity controlled fan as you'd have to essentially disable it before any steam shower. At least the one I have, turns itself on and off automatically (although you can turn it on manually, it then won't turn off until the humidity level drops).

 

[JMac]

That would work in a 'normal' shower, but while it's possible, it defeats some of the convenience of having a humidity controlled fan as you'd have to essentially disable it before any steam shower. At least the one I have, turns itself on and off automatically (although you can turn it on manually, it then won't turn off until the humidity level drops).

This is just mental masturbation as I don't see a steam shower in my future, but I was envisioning a master kind of switch that you would flip when you left the shower that would turn it on and then the humidity switch would turn it off when it got to a preset dryness point; but then the next user would have to flip that master switch back off so that the fan wouldn't turn on via the humidity switch while they were using the shower.

 

[JMac]

A little three way four way wiring. When we get that technical you have to bow down to the Sparky's and ask them to figure that out. I have seen some clever wiring before. I don't touch it....

I started school in EE and EET, but then switched to CompSci, so I have some sparky in me, but ultimately, somebody with more knowledge will have to say it is possible or not... but I feel like going even further out on a limb here.

What turns on the steam generator, and does it run the whole time the shower is being used? If so, I can see running a relay from the generator that would supply power to the fan when the generator is off, and at that point the fan's humidity controller would tell the fan when to shut off. What I am envisioning here is fairly simply wiring if the fan and generator work the way I think they do (and that is a big IF).

 

[Jadnashua]

There are lots of ways you could wire things up...god forbid you sell the house as the next person will have a problem fixing it! Getting UL approval won't happen unless you can find something already designed for it, and that can be problematic, even though it could be made to work well. I know Panasonic sells some fans with built-in humidity sensors (well, actually, they are moisture sensors - condensation triggers them, not high humidity), and I put in one of their branded wall switches in a bathroom I remodeled for my mother. It is an all-in-one thing, though...the switch and sensor in one fixture. I have not looked for these, so I do not know what is out there off-the-shelf. You have to think about safety, certification, and insurance plus, it also being fixed eventually, as parts do wear out or fail. You have a better chance with something that has already built for this, but it may not exist.

 

[Vegas_sparky]

There are lots of ways you could wire things up...god forbid you sell the house as the next person will have a problem fixing it! Getting UL approval won't happen unless you can find something already designed for it, and that can be problematic, even though it could be made to work well. I know Panasonic sells some fans with built-in humidity sensors (well, actually, they are moisture sensors - condensation triggers them, not high humidity), and I put in one of their branded wall switches in a bathroom I remodeled for my mother. It is an all-in-one thing, though...the switch and sensor in one fixture. I have not looked for these, so I do not know what is out there off-the-shelf. You have to think about safety, certification, and insurance plus, it also being fixed eventually, as parts do wear out or fail. You have a better chance with something that has already built for this, but it may not exist.

Adding a relay that opens the fan line power circuit while the steam generator is operating has nothing to do with a UL listing. Electrically, it's no different than having a fan switch on the wall, and shouldn't even affect the warranties on either piece of equipment.

 

[Jadnashua]

Adding a relay that opens the fan line power circuit while the steam generator is operating has nothing to do with a UL listing. Electrically, it's no different than having a fan switch on the wall, and shouldn't even affect the warranties on either piece of equipment.

How you add a relay to a circuit, how it is protected (electrical box, equipment chassis, etc.) all affect whether it will pass an electrical inspection. You can't simply add a relay to a circuit without taking these things into consideration. Functionally, yes, it works fine, and I already said that. Don't confuse function with safety and code.

 

[Vegas_sparky]

How you add a relay to a circuit, how it is protected (electrical box, equipment chassis, etc.) all affect whether it will pass an electrical inspection. You can't simply add a relay to a circuit without taking these things into consideration. Functionally, yes, it works fine, and I already said that. Don't confuse function with safety and code.

I don't have anything confused. You're simply trying to add useless information.

 

[ShowerDude]

as silly as it seems the vapourproofness and cubic ft of the vent line pre-damper would need be considdred to determine unit.

A fan asssembly and vent line that does not lose vapour pressure?