How to clean bathroom exhaust fan

Bathroom exhaust fan is made to pull out the moisture before the growth of mold and mildew. If it is not working as it should the bathroom floor can be a little bit more slippery, bacteria grow much faster, mold and mildew are starting to grow, and that can cause nasty bathroom odors and eventually can become dangerous for health.

There is a lot of cleaning jobs in the house which are not the easiest to do. That kind of cleaning usually involves unplugging and unscrewing things, and the hardest job begins after you've already done all that. This kind of cleaning isn't simple and fun but is usually more important than most cleaning jobs, and it's a must.

One of the examples is cleaning exhaust fan in your bathroom. If you are not cleaning it regularly, you can have problems with moisture and because of that mold and mildew can grow faster than it would if the fan was clean.

Bathroom fans are usually installed in the rooms were environment is wetter and damp so if you are not cleaning it every now and then it will become less effective, and the prime function won't be as effective as it would be if the fan were clean.

If you want to know all the steps for the quickest and simple cleaning of the exhaust fan, you should read forward, and when it comes to cleaning, you should follow steps below.

How to clean bathroom exhaust fan?

1. My first tip is to take a picture of every step that you do because putting the fan back together will be a piece of cake for you, and you won't be having difficulties with remembering where you should put the parts.
2. First, you have to remove the cover. Do that gently. Sometimes there are metal pins on sides, so you need to squeeze them together to remove the fan.
3. After you took off your fan the best way to clean it is that you put it in the bathtub or shower, put a few drops of the dish, wash soap and let it soak. It is important that you soak the fan in warm water.
4. Now when you have removed the cover, you must unplug the fan because if you don't, you can get burned and shook with electric current.
5. Now you have to remove all the screws that left for securing the fan and motor assembly.
6. You remove the motor and fan. Now the most difficult part begins. You have to clean this surfaces precisely, and the best way to do it is with a microfiber cloth which was a little bit pre-moistened.
7. Now when all the moving parts are clean, you have to take a look if the exhaust vent and fan housing are dirty too and then clean that too. You can clean that with pre-moistened microfiber cloth too, or you can also use a vacuum attachment.
8. Now you cleaned everything that was able to be cleaned.
9. Now you have to be to do everything you did again, but now you need to do it backward.
10. If you took pictures like I told you before, it wouldn't be as hard, but if you didn't, putting it together again will last a little bit longer.
11. All the parts are cleaned now, and you only have to put back on the cover.
12. The exhaust fan will now work properly and much better than before. It will also be less noisy!

Proper Installation

They are usually ceiling or wall mounted and are made to pull out warm and moisture air and making room for fresh air. If your fan is properly installed, it should be connected to an insulated metal duct which is leading directly outside.

That duct needs to be as straight and as short as possible because in some older houses with older installation there are installations which vented that humid air into the attic and the mildew grew there instead of in the bathroom.

Small Bathrooms

If you want your fan to be effective you have to get a fan which is able to move 1 cubic foot of air per minute and that for each square foot of floor area. If your bathroom is smaller than 100 square feet than you have to measure the length and the width in feet, then round up inches to the next whole foot and after that multiply the two measurements.

The number you got is the minimum number of cubic feet of air the fan must be able to suck out of the bathroom every minute. An average smaller bathroom needs a fan which is able to move around 70 cubic feet of air per minute.

Large Bathrooms

If you have a larger bathroom, for instance, larger than 100 square feet than you have to count 50 cubic feet per minute for every toilet, shower or tub or anything else and then add all that together.

For instance, an average large fully equipped bathroom needs to have a bathroom exhaust fan which is able to move around 250 cubic feet of air per minute, and that is pretty much a lot more than bathrooms which are smaller than 100 cubic feet.

Using the Fan

There are few important things you should have in mind if you have an exhaust fan installed in your bathroom. The first thing is that you should leave the fan running even after you have exited the bathroom because the removal of muggy air will be much more efficient within 30 minutes after you have already left the bathroom. There will be a lot of heaves and moist air and removal take time.

There are also newer models on the market which have a timer installed, and it is made to turn off the fan after 30 minutes after you left the bathroom. If you invest into a quiet fan, you won't be having any trouble with leaving it turned on.

If you would like a quieter fan you should buy a fan with a lower number of sones; there on the market you can buy them even around 1, 2 sones and up to 4 sones, but those are quite noisy.

That's it. It's not enough that you own and use your bathroom fan the right way. You need to clean and maintain it also.