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You need an exhaust fan in your bathroom. If you don’t have one, you need to call a qualified Vancouver, WA electrician. Or if you are on the south side of the Willamette River call a Portland, Oregon electrician, but get a fan put in.

Excessive moisture in your bathroom can cause paint to peel and wood to warp. At Amp Electric we see a lot of mold build up in otherwise clean homes.

Often people feel exhaust fans are put into bathrooms to eliminate embarrassing odors from the room. This is not the case. (Light a match or spray a scent if you want odors gone.) Fans are there because warm showers and hot baths create a lot of moisture and something needs to move this moisture out before permanent damage is done to the room.

Many owners also believe that the overhead light and the exhaust fan are wired separately so that the fan can be ignored. Actually, qualified electrical contractors wire the fan separate so that it can still be run when the bathroom is not in use.

To protect your bathroom you need to get the right sized exhaust fan for the room.

A ceiling-mounted exhaust fan is the best option. Because they are heavy, they must be mounted directly to the ceiling joist and powered from a 120-volt circuit. This fan is vented to a pipe or flex hose leading outside the house.

Bathroom exhaust fans are rated by the amount of air each one can remove per cubic feet per minute (cfm).

A bathroom that is 6 X 10 or 60 square feet would require an exhaust fan of 60 CFM or higher.

If a bathroom is over 100 square feet then the fans are rated per fixture. For example:

• Bathtub—50 cfm
• Jetted tub—100 cfm
• Shower—50 cfm
• Toilet—50 cfm

Add the number of fixtures in the room to get the fan size.

Enclosed toilets or showers require a separate exhaust fan.

If you need help installing the proper exhaust fan, call Amp Electric. For a Portland, Oregon electrician or electrician in Beaverton call (503) 896-3171. For an electrician in Vancouver, WA call (360) 910-5805.