It is not a good idea to get a fan with too much CFM. The fan will create a vacuum in the room, or suck air through walls/windows that aren't tight. Also, the fan motor will have to work much harder against that vacuum, which will take a toll on the motor.

Your room is tiny. I think the lowest fans offered have 50 CFM. Even that is more than double than what you actually need (ca 20 CFM). Most 50 CFM fans, not just Panasonic's Whisper series, won't be very loud anyway. (The higher the CFM, the stronger the motor, the louder the fan).

If this is a powder room and it is situated close to the living areas of your house, guest users might appreciate a fan that will mask some of the noises they create by doing their business, so to speak).

I have the 110 CFM fan in a 5x8 bathroom, and I don't think its too much. The bottom of the entry door is cut up enough to allow air flow in, so it works well.

A higher CFM fan is not always louder, unless you are talking about the cheaper brands. If you buy a cheap Broan or NuTone fan off the shelf they will all be relatively loud, and the high CFM ones will be very loud. If you buy one of the 110 CFM Panasonic fans you will have friends who think the fan must be really weak because they can't really hear it running.

Bruce

Set the internal switch in the fan for 50CFM and I think you'll be happy. Panasonic makes nice fans, we are in the process of installing 2 of them.

You must consider more than just the room size. There are charts to help with this. For example, adjustments need to be made if your exhaust narrows from a 6" down to a 4" piping; if you use flexible tubing vs. rigid; if the tubing turns at any point, and the total distance between the fan & the exhaust (i.e., thru the attic vs. straight out the wall). All of these things INCREASE the amount of CFM required.

Even though I like the look of a light/fan/heater set up, I don't think any of these from a big box store really do the job.

We have used these - they cost more, but there's never a moisture issue. (And they are quiet!)

https://www.zoro.com/broan-fan-losone-200-cfm-l200/i/G0891335/

Panasonic makes fantastic exhaust fans! We are using them in our new build based on experience in our previous home (we replaced the builder fans with Panasonic, but fixed-volume ones, not the new selectable ones). I'm not sure about the ones you linked, but the description sounds the same as what we are using (if they accept the moisture, nightlight, etc. modules).

Michelle wants Sophie back, it's been over 4 years since we installed those.

Yours sound like a much needed improvement in product design.

I put one in a basement bathroom. The location of the bath is directly below my master bedroom. I am a very light sleeper and need dark and quiet to sleep. I was worried about renters turning on the fan early in the morning and waking me. I also really want them to use the fan each time the shower runs to get rid of moisture. After install I found that the problem was that the fan was so quiet I was not sure they would remember to turn it off! So i installed a timer on the fan and now they crank the fan on and it will shut off automatically! I cannot hear the fan run when I am in my bedroom upstairs. I will be buying the same unit again when I remodel my master bath.

I bought a Panasonic exhaust fan/light through a showroom that had the humidity sensor and a movement sensor for our small bathroom. It turns on if the door is open and you walk by too closely so we now leave the bathroom door shut (the Toto seat will spray every 8 hours or so, too, and we do want to keep the supplemental heat in the bathroom, so there are other reasons to keep the door closed).

Our builder had to turn our fan around so that the motion sensor was aimed at the wall, not the door. That helped. The fan itself is very quiet, and I can only tell it is on if it is silent in the bathroom. I love that I no longer have to berate myself for forgetting to turn the fan on. The shower does not steam up the mirrors now!

I have had two Panasonic Whispersense fans in two different houses, installed one two years ago and the other probably 6 years ago. The older one had humidity sensing that was wonderful in an interior bath with jetted tub and no windows--took away all of that moisture yay! The newer one I had a heater and two-level light because I didn't need the humidity sensor and it also worked wonderfully--I would run the heater for just a few minutes early morning in my chilly north-facing bath.

However, as pippabean said, these fans were actually too powerful for my two small 5x8 baths. I don't know if the cfm adjustability that disfromage mentions is new but sounds like a great improvement. In both of my baths, the exhaust duct was shared with the adjoining master bath, and unless the door was left ajar, the fan would draw from the duct in the other bath.

If yours will be a dedicated exhaust duct and you can adjust the cfm, I think you'll enjoy the Whispersense every time you DON'T hear it lol.

@Rawketgrl Can you tell me the Whisper model you used that is so quiet?

@zp99 I'm thinking about getting the same model with humidity control. Did you end up getting yours? How do you like it? Is the humidity control feature necessary?

Our G.C. loves these fans and was very excited to report how quiet they were when he first tested them after install. What he didn't know was I like to use fans as white noise, so I was actually a little disappointed to hear how quiet they were! One more reason he thinks I'm crazy... :)

I love my Panasonic. Mine operates automatically when it senses a set level of moisture in the air. It is extremely quiet and very efficient.

I am sure that either Panasonic or the store can advise you on the appropriate size and power.

I doubt that my bathroom is air tight enough so that I would be endangered by a "powerful" fan :-).

Can you turn off the humidity control in case you don't want the fan going on at some point?

@Mittens - Why would you want to as the automatic sensor provides protection for the bathroom? The purpose of a bathroom fan is to remove moisture from the air and vent. If you don't want the automatic function, get one that is operated with an on/off switch.

This isn't a fan that blows or does anything other than vent and remove moisture. When it's on, I can barely hear it.

Mittens Cat there's a model without the sensor, if you don't want the sensor you can order that model. I bought the ones with sensor for all 3 of my bathrooms that are being renovated now, two are alllllllllllllllllllllmost done so I can't speak to the user experience just yet. I bought the one with no sensor for the laundry closet, just to save cost since I am already over budget. If it wasn't because of that I would get the sensor one for the laundry closet as well.

with sensor https://na.panasonic.com/us/home-and-building-solutions/ventilation-indoor-air-quality/ventilation-fans/whispersenser-dctm-fan

without sensor https://na.panasonic.com/us/home-and-building-solutions/ventilation-indoor-air-quality/ventilation-fans/whisperceilingr-dctm

@yeh_yeh I'm considering the lamp model, which lamp model has the with or without sensor one. Where did you order your Panasonic from? Trying to figure out which website has the lowest pricing.

jlpaca I am not familiar with the lamp model, you can browse around the Panasonic website to see what they offer. I ordered mine from DecorPlanet

@Helen, ours are already installed, but I didn't choose them and I don't know yet what model they are, just that they're Panasonic. Yes, I like the idea of it going on automatically when needed, but I just prefer the option of turning something off (i.e. at 5 am after my DH goes to work so I can get back to zzzzz). :) But I guess if they're as quiet as everyone says, hopefully it won't matter.

Mittens Cat, mine came with wall switches and I can turn the whole fan off just like an old fashioned one. But you can not hear it even in the bathroom without pausing to listen for it. You will not need to turn it off.

@Nancy in Mich Do you also have Panasonic brand? Which model do you have? I still like the good old fashioned on where you can turn on or off with switches.

I have this Panasonic Whisper fan over our guest bathtub because we were looking to add lighting anyway. We're very happy with it so far and will be choosing a more powerful panasonic fan for the master bath shortly.

There would be no reason to turn off. You can not hear them unless you listen carefully. They are pretty much like white noise. My air conditioner is noisier

Jilpaca, yes, mine is Panasonic. I ordered it through a bathroom showroom. Mine has a light, nightlight, and fan. This looks like it has all the features mine has. To be sure that a fan has wall switches (don’t they all?), look for installation instructions online.