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I get a lot of calls to repair bathroom exhaust fans that do not work. Interestingly, many of these calls come from new homeowners. You are going to need a ladder to troubleshoot the fan, but many of these problems are fixed in under one minute.
Pull down the plastic cover on the exhaust fan. It will come down about 3 inches before you need to disconnect it from the housing. Follow the cord from the motor and make sure it is plugged in. This is the number one cause of the fans not working. I assume that the previous homeowner didn’t like the noise of the fans, and so they unplug them. Plug the fan back into the outlet in the ceiling box and if it runs, you’re done.
The other most common problem is that the fan and/or motor is so clogged up with gunk, it is unable to move. We’ve all seen it, look up and the plastic cover is full of dust bunnies. These can make their way to the blades and motor. You can clean this off using a rag and a compressed air canister. If none of this works, you may have to replace the exhaust fan.
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