How To Fix A Noisy Bathroom Fan

If the bath fan in your home is more than 20 years old, chances are it’s pretty loud. A loud fan may be good for masking bathroom noise, but the jet engine roar is downright annoying the rest of the time. Worse yet, your old bath fan may not be moving enough air to keep your bathroom free of mold and mildew.

Replacing a noisy bath fan

Newer-style bath fans, on the other hand, are so quiet you can hardly hear them running, and they cost very little to operate. It’s easier than you think to swap out that noisy, inefficient bath fan, especially if you choose one that’s designed to be installed without ripping out the bathroom ceiling.
Of the many replacement models to choose from, we picked the NuTone No. RN110 Ultra Pro Series because the fan can be installed from inside the bathroom. It’s not the quietest model available, but at 0.6 sones (about 25 decibels), it’s a huge improvement over the old 4-sone (about 60 decibels) fan we’re replacing. If you can locate a joist, cut drywall and handle basic electrical work, you can do the whole job in about two hours and save about $200 on the installation. You’ll need a stud finder, a drywall saw, a drill and screws, and aluminum duct tape.

Buy the right size for your bathroom

There’s no such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” bath fan. For bathrooms up to 100 sq. ft., calculate the required cubic feet per minute (cfm) by multiplying the room’s length x width x height. Multiply that result by .13 and round up to the nearest 10. Example: 10 ft. wide x 9 ft. long x 9 ft. high x .13 = 105. Round up to 110 and buy a 110-cfm bath fan. For bathrooms larger than 100 sq. ft., simply add up the cfm requirements for each of these plumbing fixtures: toilet, 50 cfm; shower, 50 cfm; bathtub, 50 cfm; jetted tub, 100 cfm.






Find the joists
Slide a stud finder along the ceiling until you find the joist nearest the old fan. Mark the location. Then find the joist on the opposite side of the fan.








Disconnect and remove old parts
Unscrew the old fan housing from the joist. Then disconnect the electrical cable from the housing. Finally, slice through the duct sealing tape with a utility knife and disconnect the duct.








Mount the bracket
Slide the bracket through the opening and extend it so it contacts the joists on each side of the opening. Secure both sides to the joists with drywall screws








Connect the duct
Pull the old duct through the housing and into the room. Then tape the duct to the damper assembly. Slide the damper onto the flange and secure with aluminum duct tape. Push the duct, damper and flange back into the ceiling and secure the flange to the housing using the screw provided.








Connect the wires
Secure the hot (black), neutral (white) and ground (green/bare copper) wires with wire nuts. Then slide the metal electrical box into place in the housing and attach it with the screw provided.








Install the fan and grille
Slide the fan assembly into the housing until it snaps in place. Secure with screws. Plug the electrical connector into the electrical box mounted earlier. Then screw in the noise-reducing muffler. Squeeze the grille springs and snap the grille into place.






Install the new, quieter fan and motor assembly inside the existing fan housing.






Look at your fan's grille to determine the fan type






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