Tech Drive Very Quiet 80 CFM, 1.5 Sone No Attic Access Needed Installation Bathroom Ventilation and Exhaust Fan with Humidity Sensor

This fan is very quiet, installation is easy, humidity sensor is a great feature

Funciona perfectamente, se instaló en un cuarto de máquinas de alberca.

I was lured by the low sone rating, the humidity sensor, and "No Attic Access Needed." It is very quiet, and I can verify that you can install it from below, i.e., without attic access. The humidity setting seems to work. I have now installed four of these. There is little on this fan to accommodate installing it from below as when replacing an existing fan. Just a few holes in the metal box. I admit to having installed the fan without reading the instructions first; I do that. As it turned out, I fumbled through figuring out what the instructions would have told me. I did install the fan as intended, but I'm handy enough. Nevertheless, this was a challenging project. I would have only been a little faster if I'd read the instructions. So... If installed from above, it is intended to be held in place by "ears" that stick out from the body of the box; you can see one in the picture. There is no way to install the fan from below using those ears for support. You can't get there. So to attach the fan from below, you'll need to remove the fan mechanism from the housing so you can attach the housing. Here's what I did. I removed the existing fan, which was held in place by the same kind of "ears" as mentioned above. But you likely can't reach them easily. I had to pry the ears loose from below with a pry bar. Then I was able to remove that existing fan housing from below. Noting that there was no way to use the "ears" on the new fan, I cut them off. That's not necessary, but they won't help you putting the fan through the hole in your ceiling. I removed the fan mechanism from the housing box by removing two brackets, brackets that both hold the fan's mechanism in place and provide slots for the grille to attach to. Fortunately, there are three screw holes in the back of the box on the side where it attaches to the joist. But before attaching your box up in the ceiling, there are two things you need to do. First, you connect your wiring, and for that you'll need some sort of stress-relief collar for your house wire to go through. It shouldn't just go through a hole in the sheet metal; vibration will eventually cut through the insulation. So, get a stress-relief gadget (there are several kinds) and hook up. Awkwardly, you'll have to do this up on your ladder with no other support for the metal box. Your stress-relief gadget might be able to hold the box up once you clamp it on the wire, and it will help that it will be hanging there. Next, you'll have to hook up the exhaust pipe, and that can be a trick. The exhaust of your new fan is 4", but my exhaust pipe was 3", so I needed a reducer, and the reducer I bought wouldn't fit on either end. I had to cut it, force it together, and duct-tape it in place. Before connecting the exhaust pipe, you'll need to push the fan's metal box up into the ceiling. But I was working in an area with insulation falling out of it, and my exhaust pipe was not really long enough. If I let go of it, it retreated into the insulation. It was a mess; I could have used a 3" coupler to add a little length. After getting the wiring and the piping all hooked up and hopefully stable, you then put three screws through the holes in the back of the box. That's not easy; it's not a big box. I used a small ratchet screwdriver, straining to get the screws in far enough that the heads wouldn't prevent the fan mechanism from sliding into place. I finally managed to push the fan mech up into the box, where I secured it with the brackets I mentioned earlier. That was harder than I expected. Wear gloves; sheet metal can cut your hands to pieces. After all that, I was gratified that the fan worked and it IS quiet! Nice! And I didn't damage the sheetrock so much that the grille couldn't cover it. Done! I didn't expect this to be easy; I've replaced several fans, and it never is easy, probably a 2-trip job (trips to the hardware store). Attic access obviously isn't required, but maybe it could have flanges and ears that you can easily use from below. As I say, the instructions describe how to attach the box, but I figured that out. I'm an engineer, after all, and we're notorious for not reading instructions. ;) Update: I bought another of these to continue replacing the OEM fans in the bathrooms in this house. There's always a learning curve, and the first is the most difficult, especially if you don't read the instructions (ahem). The second one went up in a matter of hours. This one, though, didn't have solid wood backing, only the bottom rail of an i-beam joist. Yuck. So, none of the three pre-drilled holes in the back of the box could do me any good, and I had to drill three holes near the bottom of the box for attaching. No fault of this fan, but that arrangement didn't provide enough support. On subsequent installations with the I-beam joist, I installed a board on the I-beam to give my fan more support. Someday I may revisit the one without enough support, but I'm tired of fiddling with them for now. One more thang: I chuckle at instructions that underplay how difficult a small step is to execute. In this case the final step (snapping on the grille) can be exasperating. Instructions say where to feed the wire springs through, but it can be a struggle to get the springs to expand into place they need to go to flatten the grille out on the ceiling. All I could figure to do was to be persistent. Be careful not to let one of the wires get into the fan; it will make an awful noise.

Great fan for small bathroom. No issues installing as a replacement. I am impressed on how quiet it is. Goes a great job!

Petit ventilateur silencieux avec capteur d humidité