Broan 690 60 CFM Bathroom Fan Upgrade Kit

Comment: It is wonderful that there are companies like Broan/NuTone which make parts for fans this old--mine is nearly thirty years old. This kit lets you replace the insides of a bathroom fan without tearing up the ceiling (make sure your old bathroom vent fan is compatible with this upgrade--you can check the Broan/Nutone website if you are unsure.) As others have mentioned, the noise decrease isn't as big as claimed. I think you see the biggest improvement in really old fans in which the bearings have started to go as failing bearing make for a noisy fan. It does seem to pull more air. When I put my hand under the old vent fan when it was on I could hardly feel any air being pulled in--but with the upgrade kit I can feel the air being pulled in.

Comment: I bought this fan upgrade kit to reduce the noise from my current model 696. Hence, my rating is heavily weighted on that aspect.

First, the good news. The fan is a snap to install. It fits in the same old housing as the 696. The fan 'blades' are a different style, more professional looking, and I assume do indeed move more air.

But the sound reduction is minimal. One old 696 measured 68db whereas this new unit was 72db! Another old unit measured 73-74dbdb (at one foot distance) so even if I give this upgrade the benefit of the doubt, the sound reduction was not noticeable, backed up by sound meter results.

I had to install a 'dimmer' to get the required results. If you do this, do not use a light dimmer. One light dimmer I tried had a 100% 75%, 50%, and 25% setting buttons. Only the 100% button made the fan turn at all but it was maybe half speed. You need to get a fan control dimmer. They are more expensive and typically only offer 3 speeds. The HI setting does provide the full fan speed. The MEDIUM setting provided the reduction I was looking for: sound level dropped to 52db - quite noticeable. I do not know how much air was being moved at this speed.

Comment: On the claims made for this upgrade, it is not quieter than the original I replaced. The original was probably 30 years old when it failed. It did take less than 30 minutes to install and the metal needed to be crimped slightly to fit into the space of the original. It seems to be pushing more air than the original. Overall I like it, and would recommend this change only when the original fails.

Comment: In my experience, this is a piece of junk. Two problems. The minor problem first: there is no attached scroll band with this kit. There's a flimsy piece of plastic that will function ONLY if you have a particular type of fan housing (which I, of course, did not have). Luckily, that didn't matter because the MAJOR problem is that the plastic fan rotor was too big -- meaning that it smacked into the metal mount holding the motor. In other words: the fan wouldn't spin. Making it a paperweight, rather than a fan. Look elsewhere.

Comment: I replaced 4 of my bathroom fans with this upgrade. Let's talk about the noise reduction. Yes it is true. I measured the sound level of the fan before and after using a Radio Shack sound meter. The sound was reduced by 3 decibels. Those of you who understand sound and electronics... that is equivalent to 50% noise reduction as they advertised. I could not validate the 20% increased in air flow but I trust their claim. However, I doubt it makes a lot of difference moving from 50 to 60 CFM. In the end, I did it for the sound reduction. I wanted a better fan for my 10 year old house but I did not want to rip the ceiling out. This is a good compromise. Note: check your vents to the outside both in the fan box and the outside. If they are partially blocked (e.g. painted over), it could create more noise as someone noticed. That's because more air is being forced through a partially blocked opening.