I noticed that I still had some old halogen lightbulbs in our bathroom. While I was changing them out for some high efficiency led bulbs, thought why not inspect the bathroom vent fan ?
I noticed some collected dust on the cover. Took that off by pulling down on it and releasing the hinge springs. Inside was even more dust. I cleaned it off with a microfiber cloth and a vaccum but needed to go further.
The light bracket came off by simply unplugging it and removing a single wing nut. Then I had access to the dusty back of the light and the dust around the actually fan.
I removed this dust with the help of a vacuum and an appliance brush like this set I got for our GE Profile Combo washer/dryer. Then I blasted the vent with my portable leaf blower.
The master bath is a busy place that creates a lot of dust. Not only does it get used daily but there is laundry, hair cutting, dog washing, and toliet paper use. Toliet paper gives off a lot of dust as well as small fibers from clothing.
I thought I had gotten to cleaning this vent in the past but I probably didn’t take it apart as much as I did this time. On the back of the light there seemed to be some fine saw dust which probably came from when the house was built 25 years ago!
Another thing I noticed was white spray paint inside the unit from lazy painting contractors who didn’t bother to cover the vent before spraying. I hate that! It probably leads to equipment failure if the paint ends up clogging up the fan motor.
After cleaning the unit completely it sounds and works much better!