Changed out the Broan/Nutone 8663RP

[washman]

motor unit.

Welcome to home ownership right?

There are two of these units, the one in the master bath which is where I shower, was getting awfully noisy. So noisy in fact I thought rodents were trying to escape.

I posted a review on Broan/nutone site, within 24 hours, I got a call from a customer support rep wanting my address. Why? So she could ship me a new motor unit free of charge.

It arrived and I just changed it out. Easy peasy. Broan thoughtfully included a plug for the light fixture and motor. Just take off 7/16 nut, remove shield, unplug the cord, unplug the motor cord, remove 1 chintzy sheet metal screw and the whole motor assembly comes out.

Put the new on back in, align the mounting tabs to the slot in the housing. Plug in motor, plug in light fixture, put lens/grill back on. Good to go.

Well sort of. It is quieter to be sure but still it makes more noise that I would like. I suppose I cannot expect too much from a made in China device these days.

These units are for sale at Home Cheapo(!) for $129.00. Which I consider to be way overpriced given the pathetic engineering and cheap construction. Still I suppose at 100CFM it does the job in removing excess moisture from the shower each day.

 

[tomturbomatic]

On a trip to Atlanta back in the 80s, John and I stayed in some motel off I-85. John worked late and then we had to prepare his van for the trip so we did not get on the road until close to midnight. We stopped around three somewhere in VA and got a room. I woke up first the next morning and went into the bathroom. I turned on the fan and it sounded like a fanfaronade of flatulence. In addition to a very irregular motor speed and very bad bearings, it was loud. I started laughing so hard, I could not breathe, but the noise was too funny for me to shut off the fan. The fan and I woke up John who wondered what all of the noise was about. While this fan was probably nearing the end of its lifetime of no maintenance, excess moisture and lethal gases, I think part of the reason that bathroom fans are sort of noisy is to mask the noises that might be occurring behind the closed door while the bathroom is in use. I think back to an unfortunate soul at an inaugural meeting of Fairfax gay men in the early 80s at some nice guy's townhouse in Annandale. Someone at the front had objections to and questions about everything that was brought up. Then he got up and my friend said, "That's the obnoxious guy," as he passed to the back of the room and went into the powder room off the foyer. The poor thing, powder room was the apt term. It sounded like he was setting off gunpowder in there and we all would have been grateful for a louder fart fan which is what standard bathroom fans are called in the trade. The high capacity, almost silent ones for bathrooms with steam showers and other features that generate humidity on the scale of the Trevi Fountain run into serious money.

I am glad that you experienced good customer service.

 

[supersuds]

Just installed two new Panasonic fans to replace some Nutones that were over 40 years old. They're so quiet I keep leaving them on and will probably need to invest in timers! Big improvement, though.

 

[washer111]

I think the thing with any of these bathroom fans is that they actually need oiling... Yeah, theres often a space for it on the motor, or you can cheat and place it on the motor shaft.

I have a Chinese 45cm desk fan - its now 14 years old. It and its identical match have outlasted plenty of other fans. I just oiled mine, which really quietened down the hum it had to it.

Then there's the fan my grandfather has, an old Australian thing (a Revelair Gyromatic), from the 1950s or 1960s. Supposed to be oiled, yet still going strong years and years later. On high speed, those metal blades seriously JET the air around the room, even on low speed. That thing is quiet as a Church-mouse, even on high speed. And the bearings are still good as gold. It takes a good half a minute or so for it to stop spinning!

 

[washman]

Before I tossed the old uni

I took it apart. The motor is sealed, no way to oil the bearings. In fact, it is pressed together so there is no practical way to take it apart lest you ruin the housing.

A true throwaway if I ever saw one

 

[gusherb]

I've not seen one of those round fan/light combo units that didn't make all sorts of vibrations and other noises.

I replaced the original 50 CFM combo in my bathroom with an updated 70 CFM model that sounded like a jet engine or something. I eventually tired of it and put in a super silent 80 CFM Broan fan-only unit with a separate light fixture 7 years ago and can't praise the thing enough to this day!

I will never deal with a noisy fart fan again if I can help it.

 

[washman]

breaking dirty wind

is something that should always be done in private.