Fire Caused by… Bathroom Exhaust Fan?

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A lot of people do not think about the bathroom as a very important part of the home. It is just a place where people perform certain functions that is necessary within a home. However, the truth is that because people spend a lot of time in the bathroom, they want it to look as nice as possible. This is why bathroom remodeling services can be very important. You might want to remodel your entire bathroom, or you might just want to focus on a few areas within the bathroom. Whatever you want to do, you want to make sure that you are hiring the right person to do the job in the best way possible.

There are many bathroom pieces that you might not have that you might want to consider getting. In addition, there are many bathrooms remodel styles, bathroom renovation designs, and bathroom restoration ideas that you might want to consider before you set anything in stone. Because you likely do not want to make temporary changes to your bathroom only to have to do more remodeling within a few months, you want to really think about your decisions here and make sure that you are making good ones.

Updated 3/18/2021

Fires can cause an extreme amount of damage to a property, so it’s always best to take whatever steps you need to in order to prevent a fire from occurring. For commercial buildings, this often means getting and installing commercial fire alarms. These often have a commercial fire alarm panel that allows you to call for help from the fire department immediately. It may also show you where the fire is located so that you can make sure to get that area evacuated quickly. Fires spread fast, so early detection alarm systems are recommended to give you and others enough time to escape a fire before it gets too big and dangerous.

If your building has an electric fire alarm system, it can help to warn everyone that there is a fire in the building. A standard fire alarm plus the blinking lights that so many of them have will leave no doubt in anybody’s mind that there is a fire on the premises. It’s important to have this kind of emergency fire alarm system so that it will automatically go off when there is either smoke or a quick rise in temperature, depending on the type of fire alarm you have.

There are a plethora of things that can start fires. Unattended stoves? Absolutely. Candles left burning? Of course. But bathroom exhaust fan fires?

At the beginning of November, a fire that started on the first floor of a Pennsylvania home wound up doing significant damage to the house, all thanks to the bathroom’s exhaust fan. When fans in bathrooms are supposed to help circulate the air and move steam out, it’s a little scary to think that bathroom exhaust fan fires are a thing. Even scarier, the tenant used a fire extinguisher to put the flames out, which he thought he’d done, but later found that he hadn’t.

The fire actually burned through the ceiling on the second floor, destroying a large portion of the roof and dropping debris into the bathrooms on that level. When the purpose of bathroom exhaust fans is to eliminate shower exhaust, the reality of this fire really starts to sink in. According to Fire Chief George Biggs Jr., the upper floor was “pretty much gutted.”

The incident also caused smoke and water damage, making the home unlivable for the time being. The reality of bathroom exhaust fan fires is that they can cause significant damage.

The tenant “thought he had it knocked down,” said Biggs, yet “It got away from him.”

Fortunately, the fire was under control about an hour after it was reported and no one was hurt.

Fires caused by bathroom exhaust fans are rare, but they do happen. Electric fan fire hazards are nothing to sneer at, even in a bathroom. The National Fire Protection Association reports that in 2010, air conditioning, fans, and related equipment were involved in about 7,400 reported U.S. home structure fires, with associated losses of 29 civilian deaths, 249 civilian injuries, and $207 million in direct property damage. Fortunately, fire sprinkler design has come a long way and can help mitigate some of the damage caused by bathroom exhaust fan fires.

The leading ignition factors for these types of fires are mostly mechanical or electrical failures. About 33% of fires involving air conditioning, fans, or related equipment began when wire or cable insulation ignited. So if you want to learn how to replace an old bathroom exhaust fan, maybe save your energy for another DIY project and let a professional handle that task.

What’s most interesting, though, is that the leading area of origin for this type of home fire is the bathroom. In fact, 23% of fires involving air conditioning or related equipment ignited in the bathroom. Bathroom fan doesn’t work? Maybe it’s time to replace it before a fire even becomes a possibility. That being said, the leading areas of origin for fatal fires are the living room and wall assembly or concealed wall space.

Whether a bathroom exhaust fan fire was due to a mechanical or electrical fire, bathroom exhaust fans are still a fire hazard. To mitigate this hazard, consider replacing your bathroom exhaust fan when you do bathroom remodeling. If your bathroom is out-of-date, chances are the exhaust fan is too.

To get ideas to remodel your old bathroom, the first step is to check out a bath design magazine for bath remodel photos. Get some bath and shower design ideas that you can use to incorporate into your own bath redesign. There are thousands of bath remodel photos online and you can find some in magazines as well. Look through social media sites like Pinterest to find the photos that will help to spark your imagination for your bathroom’s design. Bath and bathroom remodels can be expensive so it’s good to know what you want right from the start.

Once you have seen a number of bath remodel ideas pictures, you can create a design that you like. To make sure that the design is possible to do, hire a bathroom remodeling contractor to take a look at the plan and help you to decide what you want and what you don’t. Then, the contractor can start toward building it the way you want it to be. This may take a few weeks to get it just right, but it ends in a bathroom that you actually like, so it is well worth that time.

From new floors to new above counter bathroom cabinets, you can transform your bathroom and then make it safer with a new exhaust fan. This is not something you want to DIY, however. For replacing a bathroom exhaust fan, you should have the professionals help you. Considering the fact that a bathroom exhaust fan can start a fire, you’ll want to make sure it is properly installed. Don’t leave this up to chance. A bathroom exhaust fan fire is more common than you think and you don’t want to end up a statistic.

The point here is that your bathroom exhaust fan may not be as safe as you think it is. To calculate the minimum size bathroom exhaust fan you need, you must take the volume of your room and divide it by five. Once the proper size fan has been installed, it needs to be kept clean and well maintained, as dust and lint accumulations can lead to fire hazards.

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