Panasonic FV-0511VH1 WhisperWarm Bath Fan + Heater, 50-80-110 CFM

I had purchased $125 fan and heater for the bathroom. After ripping out the old one and installing the Delta brand fan, come to find out the exhaust fan was noisy, clicking and not a great unit. I may have saved some money here, but in the end I had to send it back. I ended up purchasing this Panasonic instead, this unit from Panasonic was great, well engineered and designed. Was worth the extra money for sure. Very happy with the unit, it’s quiet, efficient, and better looking. Don’t waste your money on a cheap one. The Panasonic came with a fancy bracket, a real good template, detailed instructions and the noise level is barely detectable.

I’m a professional electrician. Ive installed hundreds of bath fans/heaters for clients. Frankly, most of models out there are flimsy disposable pieces of junk.This Panasonic fan/heater unit is hands down the most well built machine I’ve come across in 30years of doing this. I was so impressed I retrofitted my own master bath with one. My wife is thrilled. Pro tips: 1. while this machine has a thermal shutoff that automatically turns it off after two hours, just have a timer switch installed instead of a toggle switch. 2. If you’re DIYing this you need to install 12/3 awg from the switch to the unit. It requires two separate switch’s, one for heat, one for exhaust. 3. The flex support bracket is genius. Especially for retrofits. Ignore the hacks on YouTube who tell you you don’t have to secure both sides to the adjacent ceiling joists. Secure both. It’s easy given the size of the opening and the result is less vibration / quieter performance. 4. If the flexible duct you use runs through an in conditioned space (no heat or AC) use insulated duct. Otherwise you end up with puddles of standing condensation in the duct in the cold months. Enjoy!

Haven't really had the weather to use the heating function but managed to use it anyway. Has a slight delay before starting up but then it is a nice, cozy warmth that surrounds you. So far, so good.

INSTALL To install this in an existing ceiling it comes with a folding bracket that opens and expands into the ceiling after cutting the hole. The instructions don't explain that you need to remove the exhaust duct, install that on the bracket first and then you can slide the larger unit into the ceiling bracket that now has the exhaust duct on one side. It's a little tricky but took me 20-30 minute once the hole was cut to actually install it. POWER The unit can be switched from 50, 80 or full 110 CFM heat flow. I measured that on full heat it uses 1,550 Watts of power. I haven't tested it but my guess is 50 and 80 wouldn't go down greatly. So when they say this is 1,600 Watts I would call that extremally accurate. You will want a dedicated 20 Amp breaker for this as it will use 13.3 Amps. Ideally with 12AWG wire. NOISE Very quiet. So quiet you have to stand under it to see if it's on. I also set this up on a Wyze smart switch so I can control it remotely, know when it's on, setup automation and have an auto-shutoff feature so it can't stay on too long accidentally.

Best bath ceiling heater that I've found. On high CFM setting, it blows warm air like a champ. I didn't need the exhaust feature so I did not hook that up. My wife wanted heat and it delivers that. The negative is installation. It comes with this goofy folding metal frame thing to mount it into. But I could not get the unit to fit into the metal thing and I am a pretty handy DIY guy with a lot of construction experience. So, I figured out how to install it and my wife is happy.

We did the downstairs bathroom with another Panasonic smaller unit with a light, and this time, we replaced the old 30 year old original-to-the-house fan that was slowly dying. [Install & Electrical] The installation was straightforward. The old fan used four wires with the red that piggybacked onto the light switch separately. Since we no longer have the light, I disconnected the red wire and rewired the fan to the light switch. I'm going to replace the empty switch that's disconnected with the built-in night light I bought here on Amazon so we have some light at night. I had to cut a little bit of the ceiling, but since the spacing through the attic's beams was wide enough, I had plenty of room to work with. [Performance] Others say they hear a 'click' when switching it on. Ours don't but this fan also starts up slowly; assuming this is to preserve the motor life and not jolt the electrical. When we lived in a condo years ago, they had the new AFCI breakers that would trip easily. I feel that this fan's design would definitely prevent such an issue. The fan noise is very quiet at the maximum speed and sucks out humidity even when taking a very hot shower. A huge improvement over the old fan! I'm assuming they use quality bearings and motors with a fan that's balanced. We also wanted the option to turn the speed down (which can be done easily by pulling down the cover) during winter if it got a little cool at 110 CFM. In a way, yes, we could turn the heat on but we opted not to have the heat function so I did not wire this portion in. [Summary] It's Panasonic. I always swore by their old phones and anything fan-related. It'll last for years to come. It's WORTH the extra money compared to the big box store fans that seem 'cheaper'. You get what you pay for and it's something you don't want to replace it in a few years or deal with a noisy fan. Super recommended brand and product.

great product. truly quiet. if my wife and i are talking at a normal volume, we cant hear the fan running. as in the description, there is a delay when you turn on the fan and/or heater. it explains why in the manual (capacitors charging probably). id guess the delay is maybe 2 seconds tops. you cant really tell its on unless you are listening for the sound anyways :D Installed in a small bathroom, running at 110cfm. 100% worth it (overkill is underrated IMHO). Mirrors dont fog when the wife takes a 30min hot shower (not judging). My bathroom gets pretty cold in the winter, the heater makes it tolerable within 2mins and toasty warm in about 5min. my only (very small) complaint is the heater directing vents are not the best. wish it would point it like my HVAC vents (at the opening to my walk-in shower). as such, its directly over the double vanity and thats just fine.

We had this installed by a licensed electrician in our new home build in Apr 2025. It stopped working a month ago. It has a year warranty but we are unable to contact anyone for assistance.

This is a good alternative to a baseboard heater in our laundry room. It works really well with great air flow. We have it in a thermostat which ,makes it very convenient. You probably would not want it in a bedroom as the noise level would be disruptive when it is blowing but works perfectly for what we were looking for.

We were renovating our ensuite and didn't want to add a heated floor. We wanted the warmth of a a fan heater and proper fan ventilation. This unit is powerful and very quiet.

Love look of whisper ceiling fan with heat. Seemed fairly easy to install -BUT page 13 of manual shows switch installation. NOTE - specific switches not included with expensive product. They ( Panasonic) recommended a brand called SWIDGET which is yet another $100 added to hefty price.