Cleaning a Panasonic Bathroom Fan
If you've purchased a bathroom fan from Panasonic you will no doubt be very pleased with the almost silent operation it provides. However you should remember that to keep your Panasonic Bathroom fan in good working and most importantly whisper quiet condition you should clean the fan from time to time. Some manufacturers recommend that their domestic exhaust fans are cleaned every 6 months. While this may be true for fans used in other parts of the house (especially the kitchen) this is not so important for a bathroom fan. While bathroom fans do build up dirt and fluff over time it is to a lesser extent. Unless of couse your are in the habit of smoking in the bath!
Electrical Safety
Before considering cleaning your Panasonic fan, electrical safety is of top most importance. Before carrying out any maintinence to the fan it must be isolated from th electrical supply. Do not simply rely on switching the fan off at the switch that may be installed outside your bathroom door. The safest way to isolate the fan from the electricity supply is to switch it off at your consumer user/trip switch. The easiest way to check you have done this correctly is to first have the fan running then switch off the fan at the main fuse box by locating the correct switch for the circuit it is on. You will know when you have the correct switch as the fan will go off. As a final check you should now try to operate the fan again with the switch off. This is important to eliminate the possibility that the fan has switched off on a timer setting.
Disassembly and Cleaning
Almost all of the bathroom fans have four screws on the front cover which are covered with small round caps. First a small word of warning. If your fan is situated above or even close to above your bath or sink then put the plug in the waste hole. The last thing you want to do is drop the small screws down the plug hole!
Using a sharp pointed knife, carefully prise off the covering caps and unscrew the four corner screw. Put these to one site and keep them together. The front of the fan should now easily pull straight off revealing the fan underneath. If it doesnt then you will find in some models an additional small screw on either the top or bottom of the fan so remove this as well and notice it is a different threaded screw to the other front ones.
The fan may be damp in a bathroom fan due to the increased amounts of steam and condesation found in the bathroom environment so first using a paper towel give everything, the tube, the fan blades anything you can easily reach a good wipe to dry and remove any gunk that has accumilated. Once you are satisfied you have everything you can reach use a hoover or even an air can as used for cleaning pcs the get out any other remaining dirt or fluff.
With the fan once more clean like new you should now reassemble the bathroom fan. Slide the front cover back on to fan ensuring you have it the correct way up. If it will not slide on easily look at the back of it and decide if you maybe need to rotate it 90 degrees or more. With the front cover back in place insert the screws and tighten them. There is no need to over tighten the screws as you will run the risk of cracking the plasting front cover.
Finally pop the screw covers back on and your ready to go and turn on the electricity supply once more.
For more information read the related support article on the panasonic site
Using a sharp pointed knife, carefully prise off the covering caps and unscrew the four corner screw. Put these to one site and keep them together. The front of the fan should now easily pull straight off revealing the fan underneath. If it doesnt then you will find in some models an additional small screw on either the top or bottom of the fan so remove this as well and notice it is a different threaded screw to the other front ones.
The fan may be damp in a bathroom fan due to the increased amounts of steam and condesation found in the bathroom environment so first using a paper towel give everything, the tube, the fan blades anything you can easily reach a good wipe to dry and remove any gunk that has accumilated. Once you are satisfied you have everything you can reach use a hoover or even an air can as used for cleaning pcs the get out any other remaining dirt or fluff.
With the fan once more clean like new you should now reassemble the bathroom fan. Slide the front cover back on to fan ensuring you have it the correct way up. If it will not slide on easily look at the back of it and decide if you maybe need to rotate it 90 degrees or more. With the front cover back in place insert the screws and tighten them. There is no need to over tighten the screws as you will run the risk of cracking the plasting front cover.
Finally pop the screw covers back on and your ready to go and turn on the electricity supply once more.
For more information read the related support article on the panasonic site