Interested in finding the best bathroom exhaust fan that comes with a heater?
Having a heater in a bathroom for those chilly mornings is a very good thing --- especially when its part of your exhaust fan.
In this product review, I will go over...
- My overall #1 pick for the best bathroom fan with a heater
- The different types of heaters used in ventilation fans
- How to pick the best fan with a heater
- The top benefits of having a bathroom heater
Let’s get started with this guide!
| Image | Product | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Top Pick  | Top Pick | Panasonic WhisperWarm
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| View on Amazon |
Close Second  | Close Second | Delta BreezRadiance
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| View on Amazon |
Best Budget  | Best Budget | Broan-Nutone 605RP
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| View on Amazon |
 | Broan-Nutone 9093WH
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| View on Amazon | |
 | Aero Pure
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| View on Amazon |
My Overall #1 Rated Pick
- Quickly heat your bathroom with a stainless steel sheathed heating element
- 110 CFM rated fan for powerful exhaust capacity for most bathrooms
- A near silent fan (rated at 0.6 sones)
- Bright LED light
Our overall top pick for the best fan with a heater is made by Panasonic and called WhisperWarm. The name says it all, it will quickly heat up your bathroom with a stainless steel sheathed heating element --- and it will do it quietly at 0.6 sones. You will barely know that this fan is even on.
Top 5 Bathroom Exhaust Fans With Heaters
Short on time? Check out our top 5 bathroom exhaust fans with heaters! Keep reading for the pros and cons of each pick.
What Is A Bathroom Exhaust Fan With Heater?
A bathroom exhaust fan with heater is a combo unit that will remove moisture and odors from your bathroom (the standard function) but at the same time it will quickly heat it up --- nothing is worse than a cold toilet seat cover!
Heating Element Or Infrared Heat Lamp
The two most common heaters for bathroom fans are metallic heating elements and heat lamps.
NuTone Heating Element
Infrared Heat Lamp
The most common heater by far is the standard heating element that includes a small fan that circulates the heat throughout your bathroom, it should heat up your bathroom within a few minutes. This fan is totally separate from the main vent fan that sends out moist to the outside.
A infrared heat lamp doesn't rely on circulating air to heat your bathroom --- instead it uses infrared rays to heat the objects in your bathroom and doesn't heat the air.
Most exhaust fan heater elements are rated between 1000-1500 watts. Infrared heat lamps are generally in the 200-300 watt range. And due to the high wattage, a dedicated electrical circuit is frequently required for the installation.
What Are The Benefits Of A Bathroom Fan Heater?
A bathroom vent fan heater is a nice additional feature that will quickly heat your bathroom. The heater will also help the exhaust fan remove moisture even faster.
There is nothing like starting your day with a warm bathroom tile floor on a cold and rainy morning. Just imagine walking into your bathroom with a perfectly warm tile floor and toilet seat cover greeting you to start the day.
Save Energy And Time
Having your own exhaust fan heater can save energy and time because you don’t have to touch your central thermostat just to heat up the bathroom. Heating up your whole house just because the bathroom is uncomfortable doesn’t make a lot of sense!
Connecting the heater to it’s own timer is highly recommended so you can start your morning off right with a nice and cozy bathroom — or as the Swedes call it hygge.
Moisture Removal & Heat
A bathroom fan is a very important part of your bathroom. Let's quickly go over the main advantages of having a bathroom ceiling fan with a heater...
- Remove odors and stale air
- Take out moisture from the bathroom to the outside
- Instantly warm up the bathroom without touching the central thermostat
- Prevent drywall damage
- Minimize paint deterioration (and bubbling)
- Avoid rusting your door and vanity hardware
Read Also >> What Is The Building Code For Venting A Bathroom Fan?
How To Pick The Best Bathroom Fan With An Integrated Heater?
There are some key things you should know about choosing the best unit for your bathroom...
Heating Element Vs. Heat Lamp
I would say that 95% of the bathroom fans on the market that include heaters are using heating elements.
The benefits of heating elements is that they give off more balanced heat. Heat lamps are more spotty and variable. And since there is already a fan, this will disperse the heat from a heating element much more than from a heat lamp.
The advantage of a heat lamp however is that it will heat up the surfaces in the bathroom faster than a heating element.
Heater Watts
The wattage of the heating element will determine how quickly your bathroom gets warm.
Most elements will be in the 1000 to 1500 watt range. We don’t recommend buying a fan with a heating element less than 1000 watt element.
If it has a heat lamp instead, these infrared lamps are generally in the 200-300 watt range.
Read Also >> Why Did My Bathroom Fan Stop Working?
Bathroom Size
This is perhaps the most important factor of all. You have to determine the size of your bathroom in order to buy a correctly powered fan. An overly strong fan will be noisier than necessary and can create pressure problems in the home --- not to mention increasing your electric bill.
An under-powered ventilation fan won’t properly do it’s job but it will be whisper quiet (and nearly useless). A general guideline for sizing is one CFM (cubic feet per minute) per square foot of bath space.
If you have a 70 square foot bathroom, then you would want a minimum 70 CFM rated bath fan.
They also recommend adding up CFM on a “per fixture” basis for bathrooms larger than 100 square feet.
Energy Rating & Motor Quality
The amount of energy consumed by your vent fan determines how much your energy bills would be as well as how long the unit will last for.
Purchasing a unit that does not take up a lot of energy helps you cut down on costs and is friendly to the environment. An easy way to determine that the exhaust fan isn’t an energy hog, is to verify that the unit is Energy Star rated (most of our reviewed fans are Energy Star certified).
Read Also >> Can You Vent A Bathroom Fan Into An Attic?
Fan Motor Quality
If the bathroom fan uses less energy, then this means that the motor runs at cooler temperatures (higher quality motor) and will likely last much longer. The best bath fan motors are called ECM motors and stands for eletronically commutated motor.
The ECM motor basically means that it uses electronics to vary the speed of the motor (rather than just a single speed) so the motor is more intelligent and uses less energy.
Most modern bath fan motors also have overheat shutoff safety features which helps prevent a fire hazard due to a dirty fan.
Housing Size
It is always preferable to buy an exhaust fan that will fit into the existing hole if you are replacing a fan — rather than having to cut drywall. Always be careful if you have to cut joists because it may cause structural damage, and you may want to seek help from a qualified contractor.
We suggest that you remove the cover of your existing bath fan and measure the drywall opening.
You may also want to measure the size all the way to the wood joists in case you are willing to cut drywall and install a bigger ventilation fan.
Removing the bathroom ventilation fan cover is usually a simple job — just pull on the cover, and you will need to squeeze the two metal clips together and it should pop off.
Noise Levels
Loud and persistent noises may become annoying after a while. This is why determining the sound rating measured in “sones” is essential. A fan with a higher sones rating will mean a louder fan. Usually, quiet fans have a noise level of 1.5 sones and lower.
Basically, if you double the sone rating, you will double the noise. It is recommended that homeowners have an exhaust fan with at least 3 sones or less for most bathrooms.
Read Also >> What Are The Best Bathroom Fans With Lights?
What Is The Cost To Install A Bath Fan With Heater?
I recommend hiring an electrician to install a bathroom fan with heater due to the extra wiring associated with the heater and the potential fire risk. Some bathroom fans with heaters (especially with high wattage) may even require a dedicated circuit and breaker in order to handle the load.
If you do the installation yourself, please be careful and read the manufacturer instructions. In general, electricians charge around $50 to $100 per hour and they may also charge you a one time service fee ($50 to $75).
And bathroom fans with heaters themselves cost around $100 to $300 depending on the model. So if the electrician takes a 1-3 hours for the install, the total cost is likely to be anywhere from $250 on the low side and as high as $500 to $1000 on the high side (labor and parts).
Read Also >> How Do You Remove An Old Bathroom Fan?
Our Reviews of the Best Bathroom Exhaust Fans With Heaters
Here is my #1 top pick for the best bathroom exhaust fan with a heater.
The Panasonic WhisperWarm will warm up your bathroom fast and remove moisture at the same time.
At 110-CFM, this ECM-powered motor is powerful enough for most bathrooms and is quiet (rated at 0.6 sones).
With a powerful bathroom heater of 1400 watts, this fan will keep your bathroom warm even in the coldest weather.
The WhisperWarm also includes a bright LED light for bathroom illumination.
- Stainless steel sheathed heating element for durability and fast heat
- Quiet at 0.6 sones (hence the name WhisperWarm)
- 110-CFM so it is a powerful fan
- Complaints of it being louder than advertised
- Unusual shape may make install more difficult
This is a budget friendly bathroom exhaust fan with a heater included.
It is capable of extracting air at a rate of 80 CFM and is mostly suited to small and medium-sized bathrooms.
The unit has a simply styled white grill with the heater hidden inside.
- Includes a built-in thermostat to control heating, so buying an extra thermostat is not required
- Only 1.3 sones so it is fairly quiet
- Features a brushless vent fan motor so it should last a long time
- The heater may make more noise than the actual fan
This exhaust fan offers great quality, power and efficiency at an affordable price.
A strong 1300 watt bathroom heater is part of the fan.
It is designed for use in small to medium sized bathrooms up to around 70 SF, and has an air flow rate of 70 CFM, with a sound level of 4 sones.
- Has a powerful heater of 1300 watts
- Unit is certified by Heating Ventilation Institute which means a higher quality fan
- At 4 sones it may be loud (especially with the heater and fan on)
- Some buyers reported missing parts
The Broan-Nutone fan heater and light combo is a unique 3-in-One bathroom fan that will quickly heat up your bathroom.
Equipped with a 1500-watt bathroom heater, this bathroom fan will keep your tile floor and toilet lid nice and toasty.
Also included is a 100-watt light and a 7-watt nightlight for those times when you want extra lighting. A four-way wall switch is included with the purchase as well.
- 1500-watt heating element to make your bathroom toasty
- Includes 100-watt light and a 7-watt nightlight
- 70 CFM fan capacity so it will fit the average bathroom size
- Rated at 3.5 sones so somewhat loud
- May not produce enough heat
The Aero Pure bathroom exhaust fan with heater comes with two 270-watt heat lamps to instantly heat your bathroom. The heat lamps provide infrared rays to it heats your bathroom faster than hot air.
The 80 CFM fan will be perfect for most sized bathrooms to remove excess moisture and odors.
This fan comes with a 3-way wall switch so you can wire the fan, light, and heat lamps to separate switches if desired. It also comes with a 60-watt light.
- 80-cfm bathroom fan will be powerful enough for most bathrooms
- Two 270-watt heat lamps provide instant infrared heat to your bathroom
- Quiet at 1.0 sones
- Lighting is mediocre
- May have to install dedicated circuit
- Poor instructions
Our #1 Top Pick: Panasonic WhisperWarm Quiet Bathroom Fan With Heater
The Panasonic WhisperWarm came out top of all the other fans we reviewed for the following reasons...
1. Heater
In addition to removing moisture from your bathroom, you can use this fan to provide instant warmth to your toilet and tile floor with it’s powerful 1400-watt bathroom heater.
2. Maintenance
It comes with permanently lubricated ECM motor which is why it runs so quiet. The motor runs at a lower temperature so it should last a long time.
3. Life-Span
This fan is manufactured with high quality steel that is galvanized with zinc to strengthen it and is coated with paint to ensure a stronger finish and protect it against rust.
4. Quiet
The quiet nature of this fan has given it the name “WhisperWarm”. It operates at 0.6 sones noise level which guarantees that you would not experience any annoying sounds.
