DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

I've recently bought my first home,a newish Barrett 1998. The bathroom extractor is on the outside wall and operates by a switch beside the light switch. This extractor is open you can see right out it,and with the comes a permanently cold bathroom. How do I fix this/ change this and who do I source to do the job? Does it tamper with electrics? Help appreciated!

Hi StacyS1
Some bathroom fans have a shutter, and can be very unreliable. I wonder if yours has this, and has stuck in the open position.
One thing you can do is to change the outside grill for one that has anti-draught flaps, most DIY stores have them.

Thanks. I was hoping it would be as simple as that and not an electrical refit. Now I just need a grill and tall ladders!

There are two problems with bathroom extractor fans.
One, you loose a lot of heat through it 24/7, even if it has a shutter, shutters are normally useless. Your warm air rises and disappears through the shutter.
Two, the fan blasts your expensive hot air into the sky, and at the same time it pulls freezing cold air into your home, to replace the hot air, you then have to heat the fresh cold air at great expense.
A better solution is to buy and fit a bathroom fan fitted with a heat exchanger, this will save you about 80% or more on the heat lost to the sky. There will be no cold drafts. There are a number of fans on the market, all of them are fitted from the inside, take a look on the net.
I like and use Silavent.

thanks! the one in at the moment is silavent. I will look into this ,much appreciated!