I got a look at the next generation bathroom fan and I am impressed. They had a guy from panasonic at the contractors lunch today showing off the new DC motor LED, motion activated, humidistat off fan. Quite a gadget.
There is a control panel under the grill to set everything up.
The most impressive thing was how quiet it is. You literally had to hold your hand over the out port to know it was running at 80 CFM.
I assume there are other brands with similar offerings but this was pretty neat.
Sticker shock was a whole other thing tho. The full boat featured unit was $540 list, minus whatever the supplier will do for you. Less features costs less obviously.
Still it might be just the thing for an upscale house.

Wow, $540!!
I can see some builders now....choking!

They love the <$15 'specials'

Sounds like a lot of parts to go wrong inside it instead of just a motor.

They are warrantied for 6 years rated 24/7

The DC motor "scandal" I have been following for awhile... just another way to make things more expensive and more prone to failure, while accomplishing nothing other than pulling a few less watts. Just money wasted with R&D, IMO.

You can get plenty of quiet and plenty of efficiency from 60 and 70 year old fans... I should know, I own some.






Yeah, "warrantied".
"Warranty" can often be taken as a dirty word, depending on the conditions behind it.
People won't maintenance(clean) the things, and no doubt they'll fail early, within a year or two, and then the warranty will be re-drafted to adjust to reality...

I think with the LEED deal and everyone wanting something more efficient we are going to see more technology in household products.
The thing you notice first is how quiet it is tho.
I worked with these DC motors for many years at IBM and they are actually pretty solid.

My concern is not so much with the DC motor but with the electronics to drive it. Electronic stuff dies.

Panosonic fans are good, quiet, reliable, and expensive. $500 is a bit rediculus though

I would be hesitant to consider that relevant experience, especially if it wasn't recent.



That's the right idea. The physical motor is no more or less susceptible to failure than any other induction motor - it's the driving electronics that are under my scrutiny. It's like CFLs versus incandescent bulbs. The ballasts compromise the service life of the whole bulb, in most cases, and increase the overall failure rate of the bulbs exponentially.

In looking at some sort of schematic for the internals of these units, I would hope that there is at least one built-in form of line voltage protection, like a pair of fuses... at the bare minimum.

These DC motors are using brushless schemes, making them astoundingly efficient and quiet.

They don't toss heat off like the motors we know and love.

The fan action assures good circulation over the electronics -- which is SURE to be encapsulated in epoxy. (moisture-dirt)

The dang thing is going to run a 100 years, no doubt.

It's a terrific retrofit item for the wealthy Green leaning client. Because it's so efficient. One can leave it running much longer after business has been done.

It's also the perfect solution to excessively damp basements. It may pay to have one installed just for human comfort.

Greg,

We have some builders around here who would build a 9,000 sq ft house and install a $15 builder special fan in the master bathroom suite! I did call it a suite, because usually there are at least 2 sinks, bathtub, shower which can fit 3 and has all kinds of shower heads, maybe a bidet (sp?). Yet they will cut corners where ever than can and think nothing of it.

When my wife was building they did not want to leave that money on the table. They had optional upgrades on things like these fans. When a guy is paying $750k for a house, adding another few hundred for some high tech wizz bang is easy to sell.
I do know what you are saying tho. If they didn't buy the upgrade, they got the cheapest thing that would meet the code.
I saw a few of these low ball houses, usually bought by an "investor" and the difference was striking if you really looked. The problem is people don't really look.

On high-end homes there's going to be a market for customer's representative.

This will come.

The opportunity to go cheezy is just too great a temptation.

I've worked commercial jobs where this representation was forced upon the GC.

He needed it.

He wasn't happy, though.

Chronic client abuser -- to cover glaring personal faults.

As long as the fan works for a year and is no longer under warranty, these builders will continue to put in builder special when the homeowner does look carefully or even care about the quality of the fan.