Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Just installed this fan/light. It is good looking and appears to be well made. It's fairly quiet, but you will know the fan is on. I rate it medium for noise. It's not silent, but it's a lot quieter than the jet engine builder grade fans installed in many homes.
If this is a new installation, you will have to run wires to the fan/light and that will mean opening ceilings and walls, and/or getting in the attic. But if you are replacing an existing fan, this fan is designed to be installed into the existing space by working from below. That means you can install it without getting into the attic. Or you can install it on a first floor bathroom of a 2-story house without tearing up a lot of ceiling. But be aware that in order to do this, you have to pay attention to your hole size and where it is located in relation to your ceiling joists.
The fan is about 7.5" square, and one edge has to be flush with a ceiling joist. So if your existing fan that you are replacing has a larger hole than this, or if it is CENTERED between ceiling joists so that one edge is not flush with a joist, then you will have to do some drywall and possibly structural work. In my case, I replaced a 6" can light so my hole dimension was fine. But the can light was 2" away from the joist. So I had to attach a 2x4 to the joist to fill in the gap. That allowed this new fan/light to be centered over my existing hole. I just had to square off my existing hole to the fan/light 7.5" square dimension.
This light measures about 11" in diameter. I had to call Hunter and talk to someone to get that dimension before I bought the fan/light. None of the Hunter literature online gives you any O.D. dimensions for their fans. It's helpful to know that dimension to determine how much of a "hole" the installed light will cover if you make a mistake, or if your existing fan is not flush with a ceiling joist. The way the fan is designed, you really don't want to try to put in a hole much bigger than it calls for because the fan is only secured on one side on one joist.
The fan/light is designed with 2 preloaded installation screws for attaching it to the ceiling joist. Unfortunately, the screws are placed so high and angled that they only work if you are attaching the fan to a 2x8 or larger joist. That's fine for a first floor bathroom in a 2-story house, but if your ceiling joist is 2x4 like mine, then the screws won't hit. There are two holes below the preloaded screw holes that are positioned for attaching to a 2x4 joist, but the instructions don't tell you that. I used these lower holes to install mine.
After you install the fan housing, you next have to insert the fan. This gets a little tricky because when you tighten the fan housing, the housing is pretty light sheet metal and can become a little distorted. That makes it very hard to line up the two screws to secure the fan inside the housing. I was lucky to have had 2 identical but longer screws in my workshop to actually make that work. The short screws that came with the fan/light just could not be angled enough to get a grip to get the screws started in the hole. That was the biggest issue I had with this fan/light.
When you wire the fan/light, there is no strain relief provided. You have to buy that at a hardware store to prevent your romex cable from chafing on the sharp edge of the fan housing electrical knockout. It would have been nice if Hunter had included one of those. Once you get your romex cable attached, the fan/light is designed with plug in connectors for the fan wire, and the light wire. That was simple, but I suspect it will be nearly impossible to pull the connectors apart. You can't get a screwdriver in to depress the connectors to pull them apart because of how the are oriented. So if you ever need to disassemble the unit for some reason, you might end up having to cut the connectors off.
Finally, the light is only designed for A15 bulbs. These are normal base incandescent bulbs, but are the small appliance bulb size. Each of the 2 light sockets have about a 1" square tab bent up that prevent any larger bulb from being inserted. I don't know why. If the tabs were not there, you could place a standard bulb, or possibly even a compact florescent bulb in the sockets.
Overall, I rate this fan/light a 4 out of 5. It's good quality, quiet, and works well once installed. Make sure you follow the instructions EXACTLY. Even so, expect some challenges during installation. If you are handy, and can think through DIY problems, you will be ok.
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Product Description:
The Hunter Ashbury 81003 is a bathroom exhaust fan in the Imperial Bronze finish. This exhaust fan is UL Approved for use over Shower Enclosure / Tub with GFCI Circuit and comes with a Five Year Manufacturer's Motor Warranty.
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