Recommended Sizing Of Exhaust Fans

To ventilate your home effectively, it is important that the exhaust fan you choose
has the capacity to exhaust the intended space completely. To ensure this, you must
select the right sized fan
for your needs. Here�s a look at how to size exhaust fans properly.

1. Location of the Exhaust Fan and Air Changes Per Hour:

Where you intend to install the exhaust fan will have a direct bearing on its size.
As per the Home Ventilating Institute (HVI), different locations in your home
require varying Air Changes Per
Hour (ACH) in order to be ventilated properly. Here are the ACH requirements
recommended by HVI.

8 ACH for bathrooms

15 ACH for kitchens
6 ACH for rooms other than bath and kitchen

ACH refers to the number of times the air should be completely changed in an hour.
Thus, an 8 ACH recommendation for bathrooms means the exhaust fan should have the
capacity to completely change
the air in the bathroom 8 times in one hour.

All exhaust fans are rated in CFM, which refers to Cubic Feet per Minute. To
determine how large an exhaust fan you need (in other words, CFM rating of the fan)
here�s what you need to do.

Sizing Bathroom Exhaust Fans:

First and foremost, measure the dimensions (length, width, and height) of the room
and then calculate the volume of air in the room by multiplying all these 3
numbers. For instance, if your
bathroom has dimensions of 6 x 10 x 8, then the air volume in the bathroom is 480
cubic feet. Thus, the exhaust fan needs to ventilate 480 cubic feet of air in order
to achieve 1 ACH. But since the
recommended ACH for bathrooms is 8, the fan will effectively need to ventilate 480
x 8 cubic feet, which equals 3840 cubic feet in one hour. Fan ratings are per
minute, thus by dividing
3840 by 60, you can achieve the desired CFM rating for the fan which in this case
is 64.

A simpler way of determining the CFM rating for bathroom exhaust fans is to simply
multiply the length of the bathroom by its width. For every 1 sq. ft. of floor
area, you need 1 CFM. Thus, in
the above example, area would be 6 x 10 = 60, thus recommended fan size would be 60
CFM.

However, if your bathroom is more than 100 sq. ft. in size, you have to add the
different fixtures in your bathroom to reach the desired CFM rating. The
recommended CFM for different fixtures is:

� Shower � 50 CFM
� Toilet � 50 CFM
� Bathtub � 50 CFM
� Whirlpool tub � 100 CFM

Thus, if your bathroom is more than 100 sq. ft. in size and has a toilet and
shower, you will need an exhaust fan with 100 CFM rating. If a bathtub is also
present the CFM rating will increase to
150 and so on.

Sizing Kitchen Exhaust Fans:

When sizing an exhaust fan for the kitchen, you have to take into account the
location of your kitchen cooking range (if without range hood) or the size and
location of the range hood
if there is one. Here are the recommended CFM ratings for kitchen range hood
exhaust fans:

Generally speaking, for every 10,000 BTU of the range, it is recommended a minimum
of 100 CFM. So if your range is rated at 50,000 btu's, you would consider getting
a fan with at least 500 CFM.

2. Understanding Static Pressure and Measuring Equivalent Duct Length:

When sizing an exhaust fan that does not open directly to the outside but is
ducted, it is important to ensure that the exhaust fan has the capability to move
stale air throughout the duct
and ultimately to the outside. Here, we first need to understand what static
pressure and equivalent duct length is.

Static Pressure: Inside every duct, there is a constant pressure being exerted at
any point from all directions. When an exhaust fan moves air through the duct, the
air counters resistance
from this pressure which is known as static pressure. Thus, an exhaust fan has to
have the ability to overcome the static pressure in a duct so as to effectively
duct stale air to the outside
of your home. This can be done by calculating the equivalent duct length of any
duct.

Calculating Equivalent Duct Length (EDL): Simply measuring the length of a duct is
not enough to know how much static pressure an exhaust fan has to overcome. Ducts
may have one or more elbows,
turns, or wall caps which add to the static pressure in a duct. Thus, you have to
calculate the equivalent duct run and not the actual duct run so as to size an
exhaust fan properly.

The static pressure in any duct run differs according to the material of the duct,
number of elbows and turns, exterior wall cap and wall jacks etc. Listed below are
the standard values for
different duct components.

Smooth metal duct: Actual duct length x 1

Flex aluminum duct: Actual duct length x 1.25 (for 4�diameter duct)
Actual duct length x 1.50 (for
6�diameter duct)
Insulated flex duct: Actual duct length x 1.50 (for 4�diameter duct)
Actual duct length x 2.00 (for
6�diameter duct)

Wall caps and roof caps: 30 feet for each cap (for 4�diameter duct)
40 feet for each cap (for 6�diameter
duct)
Elbows and turns: 15 feet for each (for 4�diameter duct)
20 feet for each (for 6�diameter duct)
Using the above values, you can calculate the equivalent straight duct length that
an exhaust fan has to overcome so as to push stale air outside your home and
counter static pressure effectively.