If you consider using a ductless bathroom fan as an air conditioner replacement, you must understand the difference between all options.
The best models have high-powered motors and blades that efficiently circulate air throughout your home without creating drafts.
It’s impossible to run an exhaust line outside of a building under some circumstances. It is, however, necessary that you do so, regardless of how you intend to ventilate your bathroom.
This is to ensure that no moisture from the shower is trapped in the bathroom. Mold, wood warping, and peeling paint and wallpaper can all be caused by moisture accumulation in a bathroom.
Ductless bathroom fans are good at their main job, which is to mitigate odors. The good thing about them is that they are quiet and energy-efficient solutions. However, they don’t remove moisture as one would anticipate.
Do Ductless Bathroom Fans Remove Moisture?
Unfortunately, ductless bathroom fans don’t remove moisture. Instead, they circulate air through an activated charcoal filter to remove dust particles and odor.
The only way you can remove moisture is to vent it out or utilize a dehumidifier to collect the moisture in a container. If you want to remove moisture, you need to install a ducted bathroom fan.
These fans are intended for rooms without showers or bathtubs where it makes it possible to install an entire duct system to get the air outside. But, because of that, they tend to lose the ability to remove the moisture from the room.
The best they can do is to keep the air circulating inside the room. If that’s the only option you have for your bathroom, your best bet is to pair this with an open window or bathroom door. This will prevent the trapping of the moisture in the room after a shower.
This helps keep fresh air moving and prevents the growth of mold or unwanted moisture damage to items inside your bathroom.
It is essential to remove any form of moisture from a bathroom for it to be healthy. This is because accumulated moisture might wreak havoc on wooden, wallpaper, and other bathroom-related objects if allowed unchecked.
This could mean spending money to repair the items more often than you would have needed to if the room had proper ventilation.
Mold can even grow in the bathroom, causing respiratory difficulties, allergic reactions, and other possible illnesses just by utilizing the contaminated space.
The most effective technique to eliminate dampness from space is to open a door or form a cross breeze between a pair of open doors and windows without using an exhaust fan.
However, it does create a major concern about privacy. An open door by itself may not be the best alternative if others are in the house or apartment at the time.
However, if you only leave the door and window open after you’ve finished your shower while using a ductless bathroom fan, it might be enough to keep the space adequately ventilated.
Shower Ductless Bathroom Fan
You should never install a ductless bathroom fan in a shower. That’s because they don’t remove moisture, as we said previously.
You can use a bathroom with a shower to increase the apparent temperature if you use a ductless fan. However, this might even result in hidden mold and dampness in the construction.
Mold is one of the many reasons why lacking ventilation in the bathroom is terrible. A ductless fan is considered no ventilation.
This means they are useless when installed in a shower cabinet or corner.
Note that the bathroom should be vented to the outside and never to the attic or another room in a shower.
If your bathroom happens to have an exterior wall, you can avoid installing ducts in the attic by installing a through-wall bathroom fan. But they are quite rare in North America, but you can find some of them on Amazon.
Pro Tip: You need to be cautious because most of them are loud. That means you need to conduct in-depth research to find a quiet one.
If you live in cold areas, consider buying one with a heat recovery system.
Why Should You Use a Ductless Bathroom Fan?
Ductless bathroom fans don’t ventilate, so what’s the point of them? The most basic answer to that is to help reduce and eliminate bathroom odor.
Ductless bathroom fans assist in “cleaning the air” of any unpleasant/unwanted scents, but they don’t remove moisture from the bathroom if it also has a shower or a bath in it.
But you need to keep in mind that they will not remove moisture from the air, even when some product descriptions say so. They can’t do that.
These types of bathroom fans work best in a room that has a toilet and sink only. These are the rooms that need more help with odor control.
If you do not have an exhaust fan, use a bathroom vent. You can put air fresheners or candles in the bathroom if you want to. However, the best way to keep odors down is by using a vent.
How a Ductless Bathroom Vent Works
Ductless fans use a fan to circulate air through a filter. The filter will trap some bad stuff, but it won’t take away moisture from the air.
Charcoal filters have long lifespans and are incredibly easy to replace. Activated charcoal can do many things – from whitening teeth to purifying water and for bathroom ventilation fans.
Activated charcoal air-purifying filters are ideal for removing any unpleasant odors wherever you need them to.
You can use activated charcoal to help rid bad smells in the bathroom, kitchen, and even in rooms you are repainting to make it smell better.
Charcoal activated by baking absorbs gases and odors. Because activated charcoal is so permeable, it captures gases and aromas. They’re also utilized in military gas masks because of their ability to attract and retain poisons within their millions of tiny, porous cells.
Why Do You Need Bathroom Ventilation?
As previously stated, a bathroom without some ventilation may create significant problems and damage the entire bathroom.
It is also worth noting that, in most areas, building codes require some ventilation.
Surprisingly, the bathroom code does not require bathroom fans in all building codes, although ventilation is addressed in other ways.
Some may want a ventilation fan; others may believe that a bathroom window is enough. Bathroom code requirements will vary by city.
Some people believe that you’re good to go as long as you have any form of ventilation.
You’ll need to check your community bathroom code before constructing a new bathroom or adding ventilation to an existing one, as the requirements will vary from place to place.
Each community may have diverse requirements based on the age of structures, climate, and other circumstances that make them unique from one municipality to the next.
A fan that removes smells and water can help. Even if your city doesn’t require one, it is a good idea to have one.
If the moisture doesn’t move, it will cause problems. If there is too much water on the walls or in the corners of the bathroom, it can damage your bathroom and make mold grow. It could also weaken rafters and joints.
However, some bathrooms lack this capacity. As a result, it is strongly suggested that you contact your city’s building code to discover a ventilation solution to avoid future problems.
Ductless bathroom fans are effective at removing unpleasant odors and pollutants. But they don’t aid in moisture absorption.
When it comes to ventilation in a bathroom, making sure you don’t trap moisture within the space is critical. It’s also critical to ensure that your bathroom is up to code and safe from condensation damage.
The most important defense against mold and damage to the rest of the room is ventilation.
Ductless bathroom fans in charcoal/marble filter remove unpleasant scents while maintaining the air in the bathroom moving. They are also energy-efficient and frequently quiet.
To get the most out of ductless bathroom fans, you’ll want to use them in rooms where traditional dehumidifiers might not work as effectively.
They’re effective in locations with an alternative method of dealing with the build-up of moisture or locations that don’t experience a lot of humidity and dampness to start with.
Conclusion
Ductless bathroom fans can’t remove moisture, but they are better than nothing.
If you can, ensure that your bathroom fan is not ductless and has a way to remove the moisture from the room.
Another benefit of these fans is that they are cheaper than buying an entirely new bathroom fan, and some are also quiet, making them ideal to use in your home.
I hope this post has answered some useful questions you may have had about ductless bathroom fans.
If you happen to have any more questions or feedback regarding our post, feel free to reach out through email. We’ll be happy to help!