ERV – Bathroom noise
user-7653783
| Posted in Mechanicals on
I’d like to maintain the noise of a standard bathroom fan for privacy when I switch to an ERV bathroom exhaust. Does anyone know of any simple, low energy usage ways to do this?
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Replies
User...783,
The era of being able to rely on fans for privacy is over. Even the standard bathroom fan isn't noisy anymore. My Whispervent is almost inaudible. The two strategies I'd suggest are sound-proofing the room, or if that's not feasible adding a portable sound masking device..
The sound privacy of a noisy fan mainly benefits the user, not those outside the room who likely can't hear the fan anyway.
i have a fantech hero 200 and it is about the same fan noise of the panasonic bath fans (or slightly louder as far as motor noise). It is only this way in 1 room as it is a straight run from the unit to the air inlet and i hate it so i am having some acoustically insulated duct made up to kill the noise (insulated on inside of duct so it will stop echoing the motor noise).
I am somebody that really wants a constant noise source in a bathroom, to the point that I purposely bought a cheap (read: loud) fan when I replaced it a decade or so ago -- I don't want the fan to be quiet!
But the other replies are correct that this isn't an effective way to mask noise. The typical bathroom noises you'd want to mute are individually notably louder than the constant noise source can be while still being comfortable, and notably different enough from any constant noise source that it would certainly stick out.
No, I want the noise for MY benefit, not for the benefit of anybody unlucky enough to be outside the door of the bathroom.
I will likely need to be coming up with an alternate solution soon since my new mandate is to replace said purposefully loud fan with something much quieter. My current thought process is to put a smart speaker in the bathroom that automatically plays something (maybe just white or pink noise? maybe music?) automatically via a good presence sensor.
Kurt,
There are lots of purpose built sound masking devices in the $70 range.
Those are reasonable options for reasonable people and I've learned that that description rarely applies to me!
My problem with all of the (many) sound generators is that none appear to be "connected" in any usable way. My goal for the master bathroom is almost 100% automation where I manually open and close the door but that's about it -- lights, fans, noise, shower, toilet lids, flushing, faucets, etc, would all be automated based on the right sensor inputs. For instance, the lights are (mostly) motion controlled but the fan is presence controlled -- it only turns on automatically when it detects me, specifically, in the room. I want any fan replacement for sound to work the same -- go on automatically when I am detected.
I could get a dedicated sound machine and automate it with a relay (if it plays sound immediately when turned on) or via a button pusher like from Switchbot (if not)... but it seems more flexible to get a smart speaker. We'll see!
You could go in another direction and look at the fancier Japanese bidet seats that have "nature sound" options. Besides getting a more discreet noise generator, you'd also have a very nice bidet experience.
Yes, that is also a possibility! That's more of a long-term option since I already have a very nice bidet and I'll likely have to replace the fan in a much more constricted timeframe... but they are on my radar.