Panasonic FV-11VQ5 WhisperCeiling 110 CFM Ceiling Mounted Fan, White Review
Panasonic FV-11VQ5 WhisperCeiling 110 CFM Ceiling Mounted Fan, White Feature
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Panasonic FV-11VQ5 WhisperCeiling 110 CFM Ceiling Mounted Fan, White Reviews
Once I opened the box, the superior quality of this vent over what I was used to from Broan/NuTone was readily apparent. The squirrel-cage fan is much more robust and has a much more solid feel when you spin it by hand. The smoothness of the motor is nothing like that of a Broan/NuTone vent.In 11 years that we have lived in our current house, I have replaced the NuTone vent in out master bath twice. I expect this Panasonic unit to last 20 years.I have been amazed at how the level of quality in Broan/NuTone units has dropped. My parents have two Broan ceiling mount fan forced heaters in their bathrooms. They were installed when the house was built 50 years ago. They still work perfectly and quietly. The new products from Broan/NuTone simply do not last.
The Panasonic FV-11VQ5 is the newest release from Panasonic in the WhisperCeiling series of ventilation fans. Panasonic discontinued the .8 Sone, 110 CFM, FV-11VQ3 for this next-generation, enhanced version. It is essentially the same model with some minor variations, the most noticeable being a reduction in operational sound level from .8 Sone to .3 Sone. The power consumption between the two units has also been reduced from 30.7W to 21.1W (at .1 static pressure), which drops the Amperage from .26 to .18, making this unit more efficient.The FV-11VQ5 is relatively large, but a fantastic performer for the money. The rough-in cut required to mount the unit is 10-1/2" x 10-1/2". The outside grill is 13" x 13". A cardboard template is supplied to assist in drawing the physical layout of the rough-in cut on the ceiling. This greatly enhanced the ease of installation. Opening the unit, there's little that needs to be done other than remove the tape from the internal assembly. The mounting rails and screws are included.Aside from sizing and attaching the ventilation ductwork, all that's required is to mount the unit and wire it up. Wiring is as simple as attaching a white, black, and green wire to an existing AC line and ground source.My wife and I installed this unit together in the attic within an hour. We had complications with the ductwork that vents out the roof not lining up, which required some custom cuts to complete a final mounting. This took about 30 minutes, but aside from this, it is a very simple ventilation fan to install.Following the installation, I turned the breaker back on and had my wife do the honors with the wall switch. She pushed it and after a second looked at me with that look that says, "Uh oh... Something's wrong!" After a few seconds we heard the sound of air rushing, but no motor! Our old fan was a 4.5 Sone unit, which is very loud! This unit almost sounds like it's not even running. It's so quiet, what you hear most is air rushing through the vets.To check that things were venting well, I took half a dozen match sticks and lit them about four feet below the unit and waited for the flame to work down the wood, then blew them out. Smoke spindled its way up and out of the vents. Next, I took a lighter and lit it just below the vent and moved it around the grill. I could see the flame being pulled in the direction of the vent opening. It indeed was working quite well.Overall, we're very happy with this unit and would recommend it to anyone installing it in a residential home or small area. Those interested should realize this is a very quiet unit. Some people like a fan to block sounds that emanate from the bathroom so others can't hear any quiet noises. For those who would like this from a ventilation fan, this is not the fan for you. I'd suggest looking for a fan with a rating of approximately 2 Sones. Anything less than 1 Sone is really very quiet.Panasonic makes very good quality fans with many offerings in their "Whisper" ventilation line. The FV-11VQ5 is a quality unit within the WhisperCeiling series. Prospective consumers should also consider Panasonic's WhisperFit, WhisperGreen, WhisperLite, WhisperValue, and WhisperWarm line of ventilation fans before making a final determination which is right for you.
I bought this for $119.99 to replace my old bathroom fan that wasn't working. I am a novice on installing something like this or doing any construction work. I don't know how its possible for anyone to install this fan from below. I have an attic and I installed the fan from there. It was not easy for me to install it. First, I had to make a hole bigger. Being an amateur at cutting hole, I made the hole a little bit too big. The instructions show 3 ways you can install the fan. I choose the first way where you use the support bracket and install 2 screws from the bottom. The second way uses 1 and 1/2 support bracket, meaning there's a long piece in the back and half a piece in the front (where the exhaust and power box is located). It seems impossible to install using the second installation instruction unless you have a big space between the joist. The third way is for small space between the joist and you are able to screw the fan from the bottom on both sides of the fan.So I had to screw the support bracket onto the wood, which was really hard. I recommend drilling a small hole in the wood first before screwing the screw into the wood. It made it easier to screw it in. Then I had to screw it from the bottom, which was messy since I had to drill through the sheet rock ceiling.As for noise, its fairly quiet. You can still hear it, unless you have hearing problems. Its sounds similar to turning on a regular portable fan at a low setting. The fan is not a typical fan with blades on it. It some sort of turbine fan. Its a long cylinder that spins.There's a limited warranty on the product. Its says there is a 3 year warranty from date of purchase on ALL PARTS. Then it also says 6 year warranty on DC MOTOR from date of purchase. I guess the DC Motor is the fan?Items you will need to install this fan: Power drill and phillip screw driver, jigsaw or reciprocating saw (unless you want to cut the hole manually), 3 plastic wire connectors, goggles, a mask (or something to cover your nose and mouth).
Powerful 110 cfm. Very, very quiet, though at .5 sones, I expected silence. The design is meant for new construction--there are no special brackets to spring into place, etc. This was not clear in the description on line, the reason for 4 not 5 stars. It wasn't hard to improvise to get it up. High quality, well built unit.
As mentioned by other reviewers the quality of this fan is noticable right out of the box. It's not even a fair comparison to anything you buy at the big box stores. My installer (a long-time residential contractor) said he had never installed such a high quaility unit. He honestly could not stop raving about it!I do agree with the other reviewers that the fan is not as quiet as you might expect. After living with the fan for a week or so I agree with another reviewer that you are actually hearing the air movement through the vents, not the fan itself. The fan is all but silent for the 2-3 seconds it takes to spin up.
The fan assembly is large and heavy. Was shocked at how much bigger it was (about 4X) compared to the tiny one i got from builder of the house. The fan looks heavy duty, made with lot of metal and heavy duty plastic. Looks like very good quality. The instructions to install was very basic. It showed 3 different ways to install using their bracket. It may be good to use the brackets if installing from the attic but cannot use when installing from below, inside the bathroom. I didn't want to install from above because it was hard to get to section of the attic where the master bathroom was.Installing in attic may be easy but from below was a nightmare. The unit was big and heavy. The wires were short and i had to get some extra electrical wires to extend and connect. They should have had longer wiring or better yet a plug that snap in/out in for easy install. Since the unit was so heavy, it needed to be supported by both beams in the ceiling. Was trying to improvise by nailing in some extra wood to the support beams to be able screw it from the bottom but but it was very difficult. Took several hrs. to install but got it done. It would have been nice if they had a flat bracket to nail onto a single beam and then hang the unit on it. The brackets supplied went across and needed 2 beams to support. No way to reach in and do that from below.Was happy to see that it worked and it was able to hold a tissue (my old fan could not) when placed on the grill and that it was very quiet. Happy with fan but not the installation.
In this day of flimsy plastic, paper-thin stamped metal, and cheap parts, this Panasonic fan stands well above that level. It is very well built. I was doing work in the attic and figured it was a good time to put a fan in the bathroom ceiling and picked this one based on price and previous reviews. The old fan was in the wall above the tub and was small and extremely noisy. I had an unusual installation in that it's an old house with lath and plaster and the prior owners had nailed sheetrock over the lath in a prior remodel. At least they removed the plaster from the ceiling, but cutting the hole through the lath was not easy. Another problem I had to solve was that I wanted to vent the fan out the gable end and not through the roof, so I needed to turn the fan 90 degrees to the ceiling joists in order to run the vent pipe straight out to the gable end. I have 2x4 joists in the ceilings but the bottom of the fan vent was about 1 inch below the top of the joists, so I had to notch about four joists out to the wall. This is the only negative I have for this fan. I would like to see them raise the vent opening up enough to clear a 2x4 joist.Much has been written about how confusing the mounting instructions are for this fan when retrofitting in existing ceilings. Since my fan was turned 90 degrees to how it would normally be installed, I simply mounted the fan to a piece of 1/2 plywood laid between the ceiling joists and secured with L-brackets. The springs that hold the grill in place are plenty long enough for the added 1/2 inch of ceiling thickness. So, long story short, I had a very unusual installation but it went smoothly, not even using the mounting brackets.After wiring it and installing the exhaust pipe and outside vent, etc., the moment of truth arrived. Turning the fan on, there was a horrible low-level whine that I could not immediately place. Finally, I went outside by the vent and noticed the whine was louder. Turns out the louvered vent I was using was causing the whine. After "fixing" it, the whine went away, and now the fan runs silent enough to not hear when taking a shower. I suspect most of the remaining noise is from the air moving through the vent pipe and the outside vent cover and not from the fan itself.After two months of use, We are very happy with the fan. It's a vast improvement over the old fan and we hardly notice it being on now and it is keeping the bathroom vented and dry without any problems whatsoever.
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Panasonic FV-11VQ5 WhisperCeiling 110 CFM Ceiling Mounted Fan, White
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