Sorry this is so long, but hope it helps.

I'm in your exact same situation. My dad is an HVAC engineer and helped me trouble shoot this.

The key question is whether or not your fan is connected to a duct with exterior exhaust and whether the exterior exhaust is working. If there is no duct work with exterior exhaust through which the humid air can be pushed out, then you are merely swirling the humid air around your bathroom and a stronger fan will do nothing.

If there is a duct and it is not properly vented, then chances are you are just pushing the humid air up to the second floor bathroom of the person who lives above you, if they are connected to the same duct. The stronger fan may or may not help you, and will likely suck for the person above you.

Talk to the super, if you have one, other neighbors, management, or the board. See what the situation is in your building. If someone just stuck a fan on your ceiling and it doesn't exhaust, then all you can do is what I have been doing:

Shower with the bathroom door open. Hang your towels somewhere outside of the bathroom to dry. If your bathroom is huge (unlikely in an old apartment building) and you want a big electric bill, run a dehumidifier. We have no space for such a set up. We sit a small moisture grabber container on our sink. It collects a ton of water from the air. All of this helps somewhat. If we were move motivated we could squeegee excess water off the walls of the shower and down the drain and I think that would provide another modicum of benefit - maybe?

Next let me tell you about two different situation in two different apartment we own.

The good: Our NYC apartment is on 12th floor of 13 story, 1938 building. It has a bathroom with no windows. There is a vent in the wall. No fan - just a vent. Every bathroom in the stack above and below us has a vent and it all goes into the same duct. The duct exhausts to the roof. There is no fan on the roof, but somehow there is draw. It passes the toilet paper test - I hold up a shred of TP and it sticks to the vent on it's own. The draw isn't massive. But it works just enough to help eliminate some of the humidity.

The bad: The apartment I mentioned above that my dad helped me trouble shoot. This is a second home, near my parents, also on the humid East Coast. It's a first floor condo, 1949 three story building. No windows in either bathroom. Each bathroom has a vent in the ceiling, each vent is connected to a duct that goes to the roof. The duct on the roof has a mushroom cap fan. There is no draw at all - you hold up the shred of TP to the vent and it just falls. We told the super three weeks ago. He had the fans on the roof replaced with a more powerful fan. We can hear the fan and feel the tiniest bit of air movement, but it still fails the TP test. There is no actual draw. We are stuck with the open door, towels elsewhere, moisture grabber solution.

" Is it just a matter of more powerful fans? "

Realistically, yes. Moisture Grabbers, Damp-rid, etc., are all Band-Aids and not really problem solvers as a whole.

And, in the long run, a dehumidifier would be a better use of your funds.

Moisture Grabbers, Damp-rid, etc., are all Band-Aids and not really problem solvers as a whole.

A stronger fan is not a problem solver as a whole either if their is no place for it to vent. Within the confines of a condo, sometimes you are only able to use band-aids. It is so different owning a condo versus owning a home. In a home you often have the ability to see things through to a solved result. In a condo, you usually don't have the ability to decide to cut a hole in an exterior wall to exhaust.

A countertop dehumidifier is worth trying. Maybe mount a high shelf for it to sit on and run a drain hose so you don’t have to empty the tank daily.

Hi, Next time you take a shower leave the bathroom door open about halfway to let in air. When you are done look at the mirror, and if it's clear, put some vents in the door.

Good Luck Woodbutcher