Installing a Bathroom Fan Timer

Would you like to guess what my most frequent piece of advice is for homeowners to improve indoor air quality, comfort, and to help save energy? I can tell you It isn’t air sealing, installing new windows (try dead last for that one), adding insulation, or anything else similar to that. Quite simply it is to install a $20 timer for the bathroom vents. As luck would have it, I had to replace a few in my place (thanks kids…) and I thought I would show you the process of installing a bathroom fan timer.

Before we do get started, please use some common sense and get help from a licensed electrician if needed. While this is a pretty easy DIY task, it doesn’t take much to get shocked, burned or to start a fire if you don’t know what you are doing. If you find that you have aluminum wires you would probably be better hiring an electrician or at least making sure your timer is compatible with aluminum & using the special anti-oxidant cream as needed.

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- Let the game begin – in this case we already had a timer installed, but I will show you both switches.

- If you do have an older timer like this, simply pull the knob off & remove the small nut.

- Once you unscrew the plate, I always like testing my tester to make sure the battery is still good.

- Turn off the appropriate breaker – I generally cover it with electrical tape so no-one comes by & goes, ooh that should be on…

- It always pays to double check that the power is completely off where you are working. As we have shown before, it is amazing what some people will do with electric when they don’t know any better.

- Unscrew the existing fan switch. Tip: I always recommend taking picture of the wiring & the connections before undoing it any further as some boxes can be quite unique.

- The existing timer had a screw accessible from the front for loosening up the wires. Now if you have a switch as shown on the right it will either be back stabbed or screwed into the terminals.

• If it is screwed in just loosen the screws.
• If it is back stabbed you generally will also have to loosen the screws &/or insert a small regular screwdriver into the slot shown to release the wire

- Depending on your timer, you may either have to use wire nuts, back stab, side stab or attach it via side screws. Each package will have directions on what is required & which wire goes where. In our case, we have three stranded wires that one should twist gently in a clockwise fashion.  Going off the timer on the right – the two black go together & the green goes to ground. If the timer was replacing the switch on the right one of the black wires would go to black, the other would go to the white & the green would still go to the ground.

- Once you are done wiring the timer up, reinsert it into the wall & tighten it down. Go turn on the breaker & test it out. If everything works fine, install the plate, pat yourself on the back, & go talk to everyone about how to use it, why & when. Then feel free to relax (or get busy with the next item) and enjoy your beverage of choice – Butterbeer anyone? : )

In case you are wondering, my second & third most frequent piece of advice unfortunately revolves around both bathroom & dryer vents as many are not vented to the outside & they haven’t cleaned in ages.

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