Question Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 (edited) An electrician fitted a fan in an upstairs shower/bath room and there is no grill on the outside wall, and no grill added to the soffits. So I am concerned that the air is being extracted into the attic and could cause mould and perhaps damage the wooden roof structure. The attic has a very small height (39cm height, floor joist to the joist under the flat roof) and from the entrance of the attic in the ceiling below, the fan is about 180cm down horizontally and close to the sloping room on the left. Please see picture. The electrician has gone and been paid, and is certainly not interested. I wouldn't trust him anyway. Grateful for any advice. I don't fancy crawling along the attic to check it. Edited April 16, 2023 by Question Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyT Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 Get crawling in the space and have a look! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMo Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 As @TonyT says, then as you come out of the roof, leave behind another couple hundred mm of insulation. It looks very thin in the photo. Before you start looking have a watch of this video. He could have also installed a rubbish fan as shown on here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 What were his instructions? What did you agree with him before giving him the job? I always make it clear I am an electrician not a roofer. If there is no suitable point to connect e vent hose to, I discuss this with the owner first and it may involve a roofer to fit a roof vent tile or someone else to provide some other place to vent it. I would not just leave the hose in in the roof space and say nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbeard Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 Is the fan in a stud wall or a ceiling? Can you see any ducting in the loft? If not, i suggest isolating the supply (or asking a 'trician to do so) and removing the fan to have a look. It sounds as if you suspect that he's just fitted the unit and left it to fill the void with steam. Is that what you think may have happened? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Question Posted April 16, 2023 Author Share Posted April 16, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, ProDave said: What were his instructions? What did you agree with him before giving him the job? I always make it clear I am an electrician not a roofer. If there is no suitable point to connect e vent hose to, I discuss this with the owner first and it may involve a roofer to fit a roof vent tile or someone else to provide some other place to vent it. I would not just leave the hose in in the roof space and say nothing. I wouldn't trust the electrician. He tried to save time and hope I wouldn't notice that he hadn't done an EIC. I had to threaten going to the NIC EIC and he provided the right paperwork. I guess with the ceiling fan, he replied on us NOT knowing what to check. this is what we agreed with the electrician: SUPPLY & INSTALL 1 x EXTRACTOR FAN WITH TIMER SUPPLY & INSTALL 1 x FAN ISOLTOR SUPPLY & INSTALL 1 x WHITE FIXED GRILL & 4” FLEXI DUCT Edited April 16, 2023 by Question Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Question Posted April 16, 2023 Author Share Posted April 16, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, Redbeard said: Is the fan in a stud wall or a ceiling? Can you see any ducting in the loft? If not, i suggest isolating the supply (or asking a 'trician to do so) and removing the fan to have a look. It sounds as if you suspect that he's just fitted the unit and left it to fill the void with steam. Is that what you think may have happened? Yes that I would suspect that is what happened. It is a ceiling fan. As mentioned above, he tried to save time and not do a EIC or register his work on line. this is what we agreed with the electrician: SUPPLY & INSTALL 1 x EXTRACTOR FAN WITH TIMER SUPPLY & INSTALL 1 x FAN ISOLTOR SUPPLY & INSTALL 1 x WHITE FIXED GRILL & 4” FLEXI DUCT Edited April 16, 2023 by Question Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Question Posted April 16, 2023 Author Share Posted April 16, 2023 1 hour ago, Redbeard said: Is the fan in a stud wall or a ceiling? Can you see any ducting in the loft? If not, i suggest isolating the supply (or asking a 'trician to do so) and removing the fan to have a look. It sounds as if you suspect that he's just fitted the unit and left it to fill the void with steam. Is that what you think may have happened? It is a ceiling fan. I can't see any ducting in the loft but it is quite far away. the only way is for me to see is to crawl along the loft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jilly Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 (edited) He would have needed to crawl into the loft to fit it. Can you remember him doing that? Edited April 16, 2023 by Jilly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Question Posted April 16, 2023 Author Share Posted April 16, 2023 38 minutes ago, Jilly said: He would have needed to crawl into the loft to fit it. Can you remember him doing that? I can't remember. It seems that someone (probably me) need to crawl into the attic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbeard Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 Or drop the fan off the ceiling. If it has a duct attached you know it has one (though you do not know where it goes to), and if it doesn't.... If it is the cheap wire-wound plastic duct make sure it does not go up and down (over uneven insulation, for example) or else each dip can become a slime-sump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted April 17, 2023 Share Posted April 17, 2023 (edited) Get a packet of marlboro, get one of your youngest kids to strike up in the bathroom, get heaf up in loft and start sniffing. If you only have teenage boys in the house, a tin of Lynx. Edited April 17, 2023 by SteamyTea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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