Electrical – What could cause the bathroom exhaust fan to stop working

bathroomelectricalwiring

I've got a Vent fan with heater in the bathroom, and recently the vent fan stopped working while the heater worked fine. Thinking this might be just a bad switch issues, I took the cover plate off the switch and found that the switch itself was working. When in on position there was no voltage reading across the terminals, and when off I got standard 120 reading from the common hot to the heater terminal. From the common hot to the vent fan terminal, I was getting a fluctuating reading from like 60 to 80 volts (and yes my meter was in the AC mode)

the heater has its own fan which still works.

Best Answer

It may be unsafe to run the heater without a working fan.

Drop ALL the power to the room and remove the guts from the assembly. Usually the fan will have a short cord with a plug. Power it up and try to get it to spin (don't get shocked or bitten).

If it is fail you might be able to get a replacement from the manufacturer. IME this is hit or miss; sometimes I end up buying a completely new (same) fan and swap the guts so I don't have to install much. Manufacturers may not sell you replacement parts but they sure will sell you the whole thing...

Don't throw anything away. You may need the squirrel cage off the old fan motor if you can find its equivalent.

Verify the outlet in the housing is working properly.