Panasonic WhisperCeiling Bathroom Exhaust Fan, 290 CFM, FV-30VQ3 B00084ZQA2 Panasonic Installation Kit for In-line Fans & ERVs, 6" Duct Single Inlet with Grille, FV-NLF06G

My home has been remodeled over the years, the kitchen ended up being in the center of the house with no window to outside for direct airflow and the self-vent that came with the over-the-stove microwave has been no match to get rid of aroma from cooking. We recently had another remodeling done and I decided to install this FV30CQ3 over the kitchen ceiling and make a Y vent duct join (with damper) to the down stair bathroom to vent it outside of the house. Even though it's only 2 weeks since we have it installed, I am very happy with it. As I have it installed by the contractor, I can't say how easy/hard it is to do that. But I can say this: - Ordering and shipping was a breeze. The fan got here in 3-5 business day as well packed. - This fan has a damper built it - so no reverse air flow through the fan when it is not in use (critical point for me as it uses the vent from Bathroom!!) - Vent pipe from the fan is 6" but Y-join it to a standard 4" to avoid tearing down ceiling to rerun the vent duct. My kitchen is 14'L x 12'W x 9'H with openings to two living rooms (each slightly larger than kitchen). When turned on - it generates some hissing fan noise but not so loud at all. When I sit and watch TV in the living room, I cannot hear that vent fan at all. I am most impressed with the ability to vent the air out (remember it is hampered by a 6-to-4 in. vent duct). We cook a lot of strong aroma food (Thai, Chinese, Italian, American, ...) and with this fan, we no longer suffocated with the aroma. I normally turn it ON when we start cooking then another 15-20 min. after we are done - and the whole kitchen and living rooms are aroma free. Besides, when we just turn it on for 30 min. during the day, it does refresh the whole down stair quite well - I guess 320 CFM is a lot of air circulation (again even with the 6-to-4 in vent duct) I am very happy with this decision. Note: In my personal view, install a real kitchen vent over the stove is an over kill because - They require at least $1,700 in total cost including installation and redo all the vent pipe, modifying cabinetry, redo drywall (in my case) - They all generate a deafening noise when turn on (no matter which brand) Panasonic says in the manual that this model is not meant for use in Kitchen but I use it anyway simply because of the noise it generates, easy installation and overall cost. Even if it will die in 3-5 years from oil clogging up in the motor, I'll just replace it with a brand new one and boldly move on with this approach.

I'm writing this review for the 290 CFM version of this fan. Amazon's offering provides the option of selecting a 190 CFM version, and I believe the product description is for the 190 CFM version since it indicates that an "adjustable mounting bracket (up to 26-in)" is included. Please note, the 290 CFM version does not include an adjustable mounting bracket. However, it does include hardware for suspended ceiling installation if that is your need. Assuming you are installing the 290 fan between ceiling joists, you will need to construct a mounting bracket (frame) out of 2x4's. Building it is easy. Dimensions are included in the instructions. Note that the frame dimensions indicated are "interior" or opening dimensions needed to place the fan housing through, and you will need to increase the size of some the 2x4 cuts by 3 inches to account for the thickness of the 2x4's. I can hear the carpenters out there saying "duh," but if you are like me, this detail may save you some time. ;-) You need nothing more than a hand saw, cordless screwdriver, tape measure, an 8 ft -2x4, and about 16 - 2 ½ inch wood screws to build the frame and attach it to your joists. Once constructed, you secure the frame to your ceiling joists with the same wood screws, insert the fan into the frame opening and secure it by screwing the flanges on the fan housing to the constructed fame. I used 1¼ inch multipurpose drywall screws to attach the flanges in fan housing to the wood frame. Once that's completed, all that remains is connecting the electric supply and duct to the fan. The fan is designed to feed a 6-inch duct. I had an existing 4-inch duct to tie to and had to purchase a 6 to 4 inch adaptor/reducer that I attached directly to the fan housing with aluminum sealing tape. I also recommend using the tape to seal any small gaps between the ceiling sheetrock and fan housing flanges. This will prevent the fan from drawing any air from above your ceiling - just a detail - not a big deal. If you have some flexible batt insulation available, I'd also suggest wrapping a piece of it around the connection of the fan with the duct. It may help reduce some of the fan noise when running it at the highest speed. Now to the fan. This unit is my second Panasonic fan purchase. The first was a lower CFM unit for a bathroom renovation I did earlier this year. The quality of that fan is so good/quiet that there was no question in my mind what brand to buy when I needed another one. I'm going to soon replace an old and almost worthless fan in a second bath I have with the same model. As a side note, I am not inclined to give praise to ceiling fans one way or the other. However, the bathroom fan runs automatically when it senses movement, or when the humidity gets too high, keeping the area, including grout and caulking, clean and mold-free. I'm not a mold freak. The crap I deal with periodically makes mold relatively insignificant in my mind. However, cleaning grout lines or replacing discolored caulking is an annoying waste of time, in my opinion. I'm using the 290 CFM fan to ventilate my kitchen. Due to wiring and plumbing runs in the wall adjacent to the stove, the range hood does not ventilate to the outside and only circulates air through a charcoal filter. It generates more noise than benefit. The primary issue I am addressing with this fan is dealing with smoke from the broiler that will occasionally set multiple fire detectors off. My kitchen is 10 x 12, and I installed the fan approximately 5 feet from the range top (not directly over it) to reduce the potential of vaporized grease getting into the unit. A four-speed wall switch controls the ceiling fan. Even at lower settings, it does an excellent job of removing steam and smoke from the area. Regarding noise, at the two lowest speeds, you can not hear the unit. The switch controlling it has LED setting indicators. Otherwise, I would not easily know when the fan was operating. On the third-highest setting, you can barely hear it. At full speed, you can hear the fan and some light rattling noise, which I would guess is caused by pushing a high volume of air through the reducer into the 4-inch duct. For comparison, the sound is much lower than what is generated by my range hood, and I only need to run it at its highest setting to quickly remove more substantial volumes of smoke. Otherwise, the lower settings are more than adequate. Overall, I'm happy with the purchase. My wife was opposed to installing this fan because she did not like the idea of introducing the fan's vent cover into the middle of the kitchen ceiling. The vent cover is slightly creme-colored, so I spray painted it out to match the bright-white ceiling color. That, combined with the fan's silence and convenience, converted her. However, that's not implying that she thinks I was right, much less smart, in pushing the fan installation. After 35 years, she might reluctantly acknowledge I was lucky that it works well. Like most guys, I work around the house in quiet obscurity and derive sufficient reward when my effort delivers the results I had planned.

Put that in the master bathroom. It is by far not as quiet as the smaller whisper fit units etc...however it is ok when taking a shower and moves plenty of air. I would give it 4 stars after installation. I gave it 3 stars for the amount of effort needed to install it. First of all with the size it can only be used for attic etc...also ..you will need to build a frame with 2x4s to mount it. There are just a couple of things that dont make sense for a primarily attic installation..for example why cant it be screwed on top of the drywall instead on top of the 2x4s ( would make it easier ). Exhaust and the electrical box are in the way for a full circle 2x4 frame. 2nd irritation is the location of the electrical box...again - for the attic it would be more convenient , if the box would be higher up and easier to reach. One comment about the noise...it does sound like mechanical noise on top of the wind noise...that is a little disappointing.. Update 3 weeks after Installation I think the noise is mostly wind noise and not any mechanical noise. It sucks the air out very well..it is a smaller/mid size bathroom and the door is harder to open and you can feel the air flowing under the door. It does a very nice job at getting rid of the moist air. It is not very quiet...but it is on a timer and you cant hear it in the next room. Probably quieter than most builder's grade fans anyway. I think the spec says it is around 2 sons. So we turn it on when done with the shower/bath to avoid noise and cold air draft and it turns itself off with the timer. Works well.

I bought this fan to replace a Broan 70cfm in our primary bathroom. Our bathroom is pretty small, but the 70cfm just wasn't pulling very much moisture out of the air after showers. The old fan would be on throughout everyone's showers and would still take close to an hour to rid the bathroom of moisture. Mold, mostly on the ceiling, was a constant chore to clean and has even damaged the paint in some areas. This unit clears the moisture within 15 minutes. It is much louder than the old unit, but this was to be expected. I can deal with the extra noise if it means a mold-free bathroom. As far as installation goes, I had a contractor install mine since my bad knees no longer allow me to crawl around in my unfinished attic space. But two guys installed it in an hour and didn't seem overly challenged. Overall, I am very pleased.

This fan is great! It moves a great amount of air and I can feel the draft on my legs. While it is still audible, it is quiet enough to have a conversation under it. However, it definitely was not the easiest fan to install. The hole template provided is simply to get you started. Luckily, it was easy to disassemble (to help with installation) and put back together. With the inside cover off, I had a better view of how to line everything up. It has a bit of weight to it, so lifting it up and down 12+ times to get the hole "just right" can be a bit frustrating. You have to allow some additional space (about 1") for the 6" vent assembly (and where it all comes together) at the bottom of the fan. If there is Sheetrock in the way, it won't line up. It took me a few tries to figure this one out. I didn't have to cut an odd sized hole for the electrical box. You will want to wire the electrical box first. There is a quick disconnect between the electrical box and fan wiring. Next, I attached the vent assembly to the fan body after attaching the fan frame to the two newly installed 2x4 braces between my rafters. The end opposite of the vent assembly is attached to the existing rafter. Plug the fan in to the already wired electrical box and you should be good to go. When disassembled, everything inside looked to be quality. No flimsy metal parts and pieces, no cheap connectors and wiring. The interior turbine was plastic, but very sturdy with no wiggles or shakes. This fan looks built to last awhile. I was happy to see this, and the build finish and overall quality is why I'm rating this fan at 5 stars.

My husband and I bought this fan for a basement exhaust. This was replacing the previous owner's fan which was only 50cfm. My husband is an electrician, so before installing it, I had him rig the fan so we could make sure it worked correctly. I'd hate to install it and then find out it's broken or it wasn't what we wanted. Wow, the power on this fan was outstanding and it was so quiet for having so much power!!!!! Exactly what we wanted!!! PLEASE READ ON: We brought the fan with us to Home Depot to make sure we got the correct parts for venting. (I hate having to run back and forth to the store for parts) So anyway, we wanted to reduce it to a 4" out the side wall with a laundry vent. We bought the reducer, a 6" down to 4", a 10 ft. - 4" hose, the laundry vent, some flex tape, and then connected it all. Well, we turned on the fan and it was so noisy, also the output from the outside of the house didn't nearly seem like enough. I kept wondering what we did wrong :( Well, I ended up back at home depot. I figured that we reduced the fan down to the 4" too soon. Instead of putting the reducer right at the output of the fan, we bought a 6" hose and used the reducer (same 6" to 4") right before going to the outside laundry vent. HUGE difference!!!!!!! The fan was so quiet, and the output from the outside vent was awesome. As for the measurements from the other review, they are correct. I now understand what he was talking about. The electrical box on this fan is on the bottom of the unit. It does make it quite tricky with the drywall and I now understand why he had to do a little adjusting when he installed it. The only way I can resolve this (because it is not new construction,) would be to buy a little bit larger vent cover to go over the electrical box on the bottom (wish I had a picture). However, I hope this review helps. I will be buying another fan when I redo my kitchen because of how powerful and how quiet it is. :) Oh, and the opening where you connect your vent hose is 5 1/2". Not exactly an easy size to find so that's why we used a 6" reducer and used flex tape. It worked perfectly!

Unit is well built and designed very well compared to other brands from the big box stores. It has been running in the laundry room since installed, is quiet and not annoying. Using it to keep litter smell out of the house. Its vented to the Soffit outside and moves alot of air from a 12x8 room.. One thing to note is that the the installation instructions are not clear as to how to ceiling mount. . IT DROPS IN FROM THE TOP AND HANGS OFF THE CEILING JOISTS. I tried to mount from bottom and you cannot get clearance for the exhaust manifold or installing the brackets because of the sheet rock.. If you have 2x6 ceiling joists you will have to put cripple joists on the side to raise the unit to about 8 and 3/4 or drill the case and lower the brackets...only bad design feature on this unit.. Mount the brackets before going up to the attic and take off the manifold for the exhaust hose.The manifold screws in from the bottom, a good design.

This is a good fan that moves a lot of air. But as others have said it has a couple of downsides (fairly noisy, and difficult installation). It's almost certainly overkill for most bathrooms. Here's a quick overview in case you're trying to decide which size fan is right for you. Panasonic FV-08VQ5 (80cfm) * So quiet that you can hardly tell it's on. Not loud enough to create privacy. * It's great for my 3x5ft 'toilet room'. It does create a draft in such a small room but it keeps the air fresh so it's worth it. * Easy installation with the included telescoping mounting brackets which you screw into the joists. Panasonic FV-15VQ5 (150cfm) *** MY FAVORITE *** * Has a gentle sound of whooshing air, but still much quieter than a standard-grade 50cfm fan. Not loud enough to create privacy. * It's great for any bathroom from 5x7ft to 8x8ft (personal experience). It doesn't create a cold draft unless you stand with bare feet next to the door. * Easy installation with the included telescoping mounting brackets which you screw into the joists. Panasonic FV-20VQ3 (190cfm) * Has a moderate whooshing sound. Still quieter than a standard-grade 50cfm fan. * It's great for a larger bathroom like 8x10ft, or if you take really hot showers. * Difficult installation because it doesn't include mounting hardware. You'll need some carpentry skills to mount it. Panasonic FV-30VQ3 (290cfm) * Has a strong whooshing sound, along with a metallic rattle that others have mentioned. I would say it's about 50% louder than the 190cfm. Probably louder than a standard-grade 50cfm. * I bought this for my 11x12ft bathroom with 10ft ceilings (1320 cu ft), with two sinks, a shower and a jetted tub. However it may have been overkill. I may have been satisfied with the 190cfm fan and it would've been much quieter. * Difficult installation because it doesn't include mounting hardware. You'll need some carpentry skills to mount it. Also note that these fans require a 6 inch duct which is much bigger than the standard 3 or 4" duct that most fans use. (The 80cfm can also use a 4" duct).