Hope everyone is safe and well.
My house came with this old bathroom exhaust fan. The fan works but I feel it is not strong enough for the bathroom as my mirror and bathroom become foggy during a shower. This fan comes with a light and I have three switches – one activates the fan, the other activates the light, and the third one doesn’t appear to do anything. I would like to replace this fan with something new and higher CFM, with a light, however, I do not want to replace the housing of the fan. There is no attic above the fan (flat roof above it) and hence it will be a challenge for me to replace the housing and ensure the venting is properly connected. Ideally I’m looking to replace the fan motor and light fixture. I have emailed Broan to see if they have a newer model of the fan I have and they have confirmed that they do not make this model anymore. I have searched in Home Depot but couldn’t find one. Any recommendations for me? Can you please help me find a fan that will fit into this housing that I can easily replace.
Bear in mind there's a bit of margin for error in this trick but as you can see, the diameter of the cutout would be roughly 13 1/2". You may have to ream out your drywall a bit but that's better than having a hole that's too big. And remember your grill is 15" so you'll have aprx. 3/4" of fudge room all around. In all likelihood the drywall cutout won't be an issue, but you'll probably have to modify the blocking to accept the new unit, which (as long as your framing is as it should be) won't be too much hassle.
Best Answer
This looks like the same fan I put in my master bath when I built my house 22 years ago. That fan came with a "life time" warranty, so when I wanted to replace the blower fan I was advised that Broan considered lifetime to be 10 years. I read the warranty words to their representative and asked where in the statement did it say that "lifetime" was defined as 10 years. I was able to get them to send me a replacement squirrel cage fan blade but that was all they would do. Here is what I would do for your fan, remove the motor and the fan blade by taking out the whole metal plate it is mounted too and carefully clean the fan blade. Use a small screw driver and air compressor to remove the built up dirt (there should be a lot) from the cupped vanes, reach up into the air discharge area and make sure that the discharge flapper is free to swing open. Go outside to where the discharge air exits the house and make sure that there is nothing in the discharge duct that will affect the air flow. If the discharge duct is laid horizontally make sure it is laid flat. Mine is laid with-in the soft insulation and has now formed a partial trap in the vent hose. During the winter the high humidity air causes the water to condense a partially block the air flow. My solution is to run the fan for a few hours when no-one is taking a shower to remove some of the built up water in the hose. (do not turn the fan off as soon as your shower is finished). Also as @Ed Beal35 said, make sure that the bottom of the door has a gap. I have found out that the gap should be at least 1/2" and that3/4" is even better. By the way, that 3rd switch is probably for a night light bulb which mine has. Great for night time when you need just a little light. Lastly, that 80 CFM should be large enough for almost any size bathroom.