Tag: nutone

DIY: Replacing Ceiling Bathroom Exhaust Fan

What: Replacing an old Nutone exhaust fan (original to the 1989 house) that hadn’t worked for years.

Supplies: Flathead screwdriver, replacement fan (Broan-NuTone QuicKit 60 CFM 2.5 Sones 10 Minute Bathroom Exhaust Fan Upgrade Kit), Wet-dry vacuum, toothbrush (optional)

Time: 10-15 minutes (in theory)

New Cover
New unit, motor side
New unit, fan side
  • Old NuTone Cover
  • Pull it down from the ceiling
  • Squeeze the clasps to pull it from the ceiling
  • Repeat with the other clasp
  • Pull the plug carefully
  • This old one is so clean because I vacuumed it last weekend when I was looking at it, but it was disgusting!
  • Flathead screwdriver
  • Twist
  • Ew.
  • Old dust and grime
  • Vent with flapper
  • Wet-dry Vac
  • Vacuum out the nasty stuff (I also used a toothbrush and suctioned as I went)
  • 1 clasp hole on one side
  • 2 clasp holes on one side
  • Trying to fit it in. I’m doing it wrong in this picture, you should slide the double clasp into place first before pushing up the single side
  • After about 1.5 hours of warring with the fact that the ceiling housing thing was unsecure, I finally was able to snap it into place
  • The key here was to remember to push/fix/bend the metal of the slot towards the motor unit so that it can actually catch the tab. It should make a nice *SNAP* sound.
  • Place the clasps in the slits like the old one and BOOM, you’re done!

Helpful Hints:

  • I had the hardest time snapping the new unit into place because the housing wasn’t secured very well. I don’t have attic access, so it was hard to see up there (and I got stuff in my eyes, so wear safety glasses!). There was a lot of trying to strong arm. Since I managed to dislodge the entire housing from the screw it was sitting on, I figured that having control over keeping the housing still was an advantage, so I was able to snap the new unit into place while it was hanging out of the ceiling before turning my attention to re-securing the housing.
  • If loose housing is an issue for you, the best bet would be to try and attach it to a wood joist if you can get to it. That would have made this so simple. For that I would have needed a drill to get through the metal and screws.
  • Alongside having the housing free so that I could snap in the new unit, making sure that the metal slit where the unit’s metal tab is supposed to snap into place is pushing forward to catch it was really important.