What Are Extractor Fans?
Extractor Fans are wall or ceiling mounted fans connected to a venting system that draws air from inside the room and expels that air outside. In the home, Extractor Fans can most often be found in bathrooms, used to remove excess humidity caused by steam from the shower or bath to manage humidity that, if unchecked, can lead to mould. They also have the added benefit of removing odours from the room and circulate air through the room at an increased rate.
Extractor fans are also commonly found in kitchens, in particular in cooker hoods to remove steam and food smells from cooking.
Extractor fans are essential in every home. Mould and mildew will grow in conditions where it is both warm and damp, and a lack of airflow such as an open window or door can exacerbate your damp problem. Damp can cause serious structural problems for your home as well as reducing the air quality for occupants, particularly anyone with asthma or allergies. Installing an extractor fan can help to alleviate these issues by removing moist air from the home, leaving you with more tolerable and manageable moisture levels.
There are 3 kinds of Extractor Fan:
Axial: Most common. Best suited in situations with short ducting required (2m-3m). Axial fans work by pulling air through an impeller and then out through the whole in an external wall. As such, they can be ducted straight through the impeller and then outside.
Centrifugal: More power than standard axial fans and can therefore be used with much longer ducting solutions. Centrifugal fans pull air through at right angles to the fan's intake and then moves the air away using centrifugal force. They are therefore capable of extracting more air than standard axial fans.
Inline: Ideal for rooms without an external wall, or where the noise of your extractor fan is an issue. Inline Extractor Fans can also be used to prevent heat loss as the need for a hole in an external facing wall is removed. Inline fans often sit in ceilings above the room and therefore make less noise and can be used in situations where extremely long ducting is required.