Exhaust Fan

MSSI

Is a Fart fan a code requirement for a powder room?? (no shower/bath) and no window.

This is for a Relo company inspection. The fart fan is not vented properly.
My suggestion is take it out and patch the hole rather Than tearing several walls apart to vent it properly...

Thanks

rbsremodeling

You could put in a ventless fan. They use a charcoal filter

__________________

mdshunk

A bathroom is required, by code, to have either a window or a fan vented to the exterior. Lacking a window, there is no exception that will permit the use of the vent-free fan.

MSSI

*Even though the house was built in 1971 ???
*Does the homeowner have any sort of arguement??


Thanks again

mdshunk

Who knows. All I know, for sure, is that if there's no window, it needs to be vented to the exterior if you were doing the work today. If this is just an ordinary home inspection, the neither the buyer or the seller has to do any of the work the home inspector finds if they don't want to. The home inspector just writes down a list of observations. Nothing legal can compel the owner to "fix" any of that stuff.

Magnettica

I believe the window/bath fan thing is a requirement of the Mechanical Code.

__________________
Electrician service in Rahway, Cranford, Clark, Westfield, Mountainside, Scotch Plains, Fanwood, Roselle, Roselle Park, and New Jersey | Same day electrical service and repairs | Licensed and Insured Electrician in Rahway

mdshunk

It's there too, but it's mirrored word-for-word in the IRC.

genecarp

you can always try, catch the right inspector on the right day, and you could put an outlet in a shower

__________________

Reseman

Article 100 states that a bathroom is an area including a basin with one or more of the following: a toilet, a tub, or a shower. If the powder room has a basin plus one of these items then it needs some sort of ventilation.

Make sure to do the installation correct.....because it will bite you in the ass if you don't.

Sparky Joe

explain "not vented properly"
As I understand a typical attic is vented to outside air, thus a fart fan venting to the attic can be considered vented properly.

Of course this is not standard practice, but when ideal conditions are not present it may be the only option?

Teetorbilt

I would think that most folks would WANT a fan.

I have seen closet/powder room conversions without them but could not tell you when they were done.

__________________
You can't solve you're problems with the same level of thinking that created the problems.

Albert Einstein

mdshunk

Actually, if it doesn't terminate outside, it's a code violation. If a fan is code required, it must terminate outdoors. If you have a window to get your code compliance, then the fan is now optional and you can terminate the exhaust however you want to.

Sparky Joe

Thanks MD,

I have been instructed in the past to "just run it half way up one of the rafters".
Asking if that was legal I was given that explanation of "attic air is same as outside air"
Of course I wondered why others went the lengths of penetrating a watertight exterior, but so long as I raised the question it was off my conscience.

Mike Finley

[quote=mdshunk;493104]Actually, if it doesn't terminate outside, it's a code violation. If a fan is code required, it must terminate outdoors. If you have a window to get your code compliance, then the fan is now optional and you can terminate the exhaust however you want to.[/quote]

You sure about that? I'm under the impression it can't terminate in the attic (or soffit anymore around here), no excuses.