🚿 Bathroom Humidity Exhaust Fan

Blueprints Exchange
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Here is a strange request. I live in Houston which can have a very humid climate. Is there a way to add a bit of logic so that if the humidity after the shower is less than the humidity outdoors, it will not run ? There is no point in exhausting the humidity if it will only get replaced by maybe even more humid air


I have just been thinking about this since I put in a bathroom fan with a built in humidity sensor years ago, but it has a very short discharge hose that goes only about 1 or 2 feet. I think that the fan senses the outside humidity and just runs for hours. I’d like to prevent this.

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@merkurmaniac

Hi Richard,

This is interesting
 I would think that is shouldn’t run if set up correctly.

You have a safe guard to stop this but maybe have a look at my set up as it just may help you. If you do have any further questions then please ask. To see my set up Click Here

Blacky :smiley:

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Yes, my bathroom sensor is just above my shower tile, 3’ down from the ceiling and the bathroom fan. I have installed your blueprint and it worked great at detecting my shower. I have not wired the fan, so I have it flipping an input boolean called wet shower.

I am also going to use it to run a towel warmer that I am buying. I can probably set it up using the light function that you have in your blueprint, I may run it for one hour to dry the towels after the shower. What do you think would be the best way to add a timer based towel heater ?

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Hi Richard

Nice one :+1:

It will only control a light domain. If you are not using the automation link then that has a time delay.

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@merkurmaniac

You could also use this blueprint and use the fan as the trigger :stopwatch: Timer Relay - Run ON Timer .

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Hi @Blacky, I moved away from my own automation to your blueprint and this works much better. Thanks for that.

One question: In my own automation I had a sort of a evening/silence mode implemented. So between time X and Y it always runs on low speed to avoid waking up my kids. Can I configure your blueprint somehow to have this functionality as well?

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Hi @GitBasHub

No problem.

There is no option for this. You could try and have 2 automations one for high speed and one for low speed. Then use the by-pass and have another automation toggle them ON / OFF based on time, but put a condition into it so it will check if the fan is OFF before it will toggle the by-pass and if the FAN is ON to wait for the fan to go OFF
 then toggle it. That will make it work. :wink:

Blacky :smiley:

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I am calling my fan with a script:

alias: Ventilatie High
sequence:
  - service: fan.set_preset_mode
    data:
      preset_mode: High
    target:
      entity_id: fan.mechanical_ventilation
mode: single
icon: mdi:fan-speed-3

You can easily fiddle in a condition for time or input_boolean. You can call the script directly from this wonderful Blueprint.

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Thanks for this, finally got round to setting it up yesterday.

Question - I’ve added an input boolean to manually run the fan when needed, I’d like it to stop after 15 minutes. What’s the best way to implement this without messing up the rest of the automation?

Eg if I’ve manually run it and after 10 minutes someone then takes a shower, will the automation carry on as normal?

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Use the manual fan switch option and select option 2, enter in your entity (input boolean) then set the “Manual Fan Switch Auto OFF - Time Delay” to 15 min.

If you do this and you have a shower the automation will take control.

Blacky :smiley:

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Thank you! Knew I was missing something obvious.

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Your welcome, there are a lot of settings to get your head around.

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Just like to report that this blueprint is still working day in - day out, it just works! The exhaust fan is working great and keeps the room better “aired” than when the fan was manually controlled.

My gripe is with my %$^&* sensors! I have only two types in my house, Aqara and Tuya, both Zigbee. The Tuya doesn’t report often enough to be usable in this context and the Aqara just randomly decides to remove itself from the Zigbee network (well documented)! This can be after a fews days or months and requires removing and rejoining the network. The good news is that if it goes “off” whilst the blueprint is activated the fan still stops, the bad news if it’s already off when the shower starts the fan isn’t activated and need to use a switch, myself, manually, with no automation!!! This far from ideal!

Without wishing to highjack this thread (which I’ve just done!) what Zigbee (preferrably) sensors have people had success with?

P.S. If inappropriate then please remove post.

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@ChrisThomas

Nice to hear it is working well for you too.

If you are after Zigbee then maybe someone else can advise you as I don’t use Zigbee. This is my set up Click Here in one bathroom. I found plunging it in just works so maybe a plug in one :thinking: but hopefully someone can help. @andyblac uses a aqara and this is his post.

Blacky :smiley:

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@ChrisThomas the humidity sensor that I have been using for a year and had no problems with is Aquara/Xiaomi WSDCGQ11LM (the standard Aquara sensor from AliExpress (https://a.aliexpress.com/_mPLvJHe)).
I dont use ZHA as I didnt get on with it last time I tried so I use Zigbee2MQTT - maybe that is the problem if you use the same sensor?

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Again without wanting to hi-jack this thread. @Townsmcp Sounds like I have a similar setup, Z2M and WSDCGQ11LM (as reported by Z2M). The sensor is less than 2m away from the nearest Zigbee mains powered device, that other battery devices connect to, but it always connects to the co-ordinator! I always do the pairing once the device is positioned and there are at least half a dozen mains powered zigbee devices between it and the co-ordinator (as the radio waves fly). Other battery devices connect to the nearest router, even another WSDCGQ11LM. Doh
 swap them over you numpty
 working
 working


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So a bit more background behind my setup:

  • I use a TubeZ USB coordinator. Used to have a Conbee but found it completely rubbish as I outgrew it. The TubeZ unit allows more concurrent connections and has a greater range. I have about 50 zigbee devices and Conbee just couldnt cope.
  • The Aquara connects to a cheapo Lidl (Silvercrest) bulb.
  • I use channel 20 for zigbee devices (found it to be the better signal). No end device is more than 2 hops away from the coordinator.
  • I do have Hue bulbs and motion sensor however I have gone back to connecting those to the Hue bridge (simply because when HA is down I have no access to turn lights on/off etc so wanted a failsafe)
  • Hue bridge is on channel 15.
  • 2.4ghz wifi is on channels 1 and 6 (2 Unifi U6 Pro AP’s with wired backbone and 1 U6 Mesh AP that is wireless meshed) with a channel width of 20 for all 3 AP’s
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the issue your probably facing is due to Aqara sensors do not use the Zigbee standard, so they will not connect to all Zigbee routers, there really picky.

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I use Z2M, and in my settings I have “Permit Join” enabled. This way, whenever an Aqara device decides to wake up, it can rejoin the Zigbee network. I had problems similar to yours before I enabled this option, but now it all works well.

The only downside I have encountered so far is that I will occasionally have a neighbor’s Philips Hue bulb (or something similar) get randomly added. Since I rename all of my Zigbee devices, the random addition sticks out with its hex name, so I just do a force remove on the device and it’s gone.