Why You Should Always Turn Off the Bathroom Fan Before Leaving on a Vacation
Leaving the fan on for an extended period of time can cause dangerous wear to the motor, experts say.
Trying to take care of a house while managing your family’s schedule, your own affairs and an upcoming vacation can be overwhelming. It can be incredibly difficult to keep up with your cleaning checklist and general home maintenance in the best of times.
Besides locking your doors when you’re leaving, the other thing you absolutely must do is turn off your bathroom fan. It may seem trivial, but ensuring your bathroom fan is off before leaving on an extended vacation could actually save your home.
Your bathroom fan could be a fire hazard
It’s pretty simple: we step in the bathroom to take a shower and flip the fan on to help get rid of excess humidity. Then, when we’re done, we’ll usually flip it off and continue with our day. But sometimes, we’ll leave that bathroom fan on a bit longer to really get rid of all the nasty stuff (like moisture that causes household mould). From there, it’s so easy to forget about the bathroom fan completely.
There are consequences for leaving the bathroom fan on too long, though. Running it for an extended period of time can cause significant wear to the motor and may cause a fire. It’s a cause for concern, especially when you’re not home to hear your smoke detectors!
“Put simply, the typical ceiling-mounted bathroom exhaust vent fan is probably not designed or intended for ‘continuous use,'” says one Family Handyman electrical pro.
There are other contributing factors as well, such as lint and dust (which can help ignite the fire) in your exhaust fan. Here’s how to clean a bathroom exhaust fan, according to the experts at Family Handyman.
Next, eliminate potential hazards in every room with our healthy home checklist.
