The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Do it Yourself Discussion! => Topic started by: Vicster on November 04, 2018, 05:24:13 AM
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Hello
I was just wondering how easy it is to replace an extractor fan? I've cleaned it in the past as it gets blocked up quickly and know how to turn off electricity to area. It's an icon extractor fan....any tips, advice or should I get a pro to do it?
Thanks in advance?
Vicky
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Its pretty easy - Do you have attic access in addition to working from below the fan?
We've replaced two of them. The only variables that have bothered us is mounting the replacement fan if the holes are different sizes and disconnecting/reconnecting the vent if it vents to the outside vs. venting into the attic. Go for it yourself, worse case scenario is you hire a pro after giving it a good try with youtube.
Have you ever replaced a light fixture? Wiring is similar
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Thanks ever so for the reply.
Unfortunately I don't have attic access as it's in the attic, it's a bedroom / en-suite attic conversion. The fan extracts to outside.....
I was planning on getting an identical model so as holes the same etc and hopefully just a case of disconnecting old and reconnecting new?
May watch a few you tube videos.
Thank you
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Give it a shot.
This is a complete rookie comment: Make sure you have one of those couple dollar electrical testers on you. The only way this goes bad is if you think the power is off to the fixture and its still on.
Best of luck, it can be done
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It should be an easy swap, especially since it’s the identical model. The more difficult part is running the venting if you don’t already have it in place, but since you do, I wouldn’t think it should take more than 15 minutes to make the swap.
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Er... maybe.
Sometimes they have been screwed into the joist in a place you cant see and cant access. Ask me how i know!!
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After you test to make sure you turned power off at the breaker, retest. Re-testing a third time is ok too.
Its super doable. Conservative electrical safety habits will help you reach FIRE.
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do you know if the ventilation is rigid or not? I would be concerned about re-attaching the hosing ventilation if it's rigid and you can't access it.
Also, why are you replacing the fan with the exact model? won't it continue to get clogged?
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I've done it on mine, it was fairly straight forward.
I did upgrade the model to one with a humidity sensor which has worked out really well as the rest of my family seem unable to turn it on before they get in the shower.
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I have opened mine and looked at it twice in hopes of replacing it. I will give it a third try this weekend. Have looked at the videos. I'm mostly concerned about ripping up the sheetrock on the ceiling as I remove the existing one. It has a housing nailed to the joist and then it somehow clips in place to the housing so hard to unclip. Housing is properly caulked to sheetrock which is also an issue. Pray for me.
BTW, I check on TAKL and it quoted $93 for a professional to do the job.
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Er... maybe.
Sometimes they have been screwed into the joist in a place you cant see and cant access. Ask me how i know!!
Yup! Happens all the time. In concept, this should be easy. But it never fails me that it’s a HUGE pain in the ass and I end up bringing out the wrecking plybar or sawzall and that SOB come out in pieces.
Then you realize the fan wasn’t hooked up to the vent line. Or there was no vent line. On and on and on.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Thanks for all the replies...
- yes have an electrical tester
- I did think about a more powerful model as this one does seem to get clogged up very quickly
At the moment I'm going to leave it for a while, we are just opening the window after showing, but mould is appearing on walls. We may get a quote from a cheap handyman we use who is an electrician for repainting, and doing the fan if it's reasonable may go with that.
In the meantime, the toilet flush broke yesterday so that can keep me busy with a DIY project :) The toilet keeps running water. Luckily have an isolator valve so have stopped it for mo, but will have to look at videos for that. Doesn't seem to be typical float valve that most videos show, nor typical dual flush - it is dual flush but has a cable to another part as opposed to pushing down on two parts. Looking forward to hopefully sorting it at weekend.
Thanks once again