If the vent draws enough when you open a window. Then it may be that your door to the hallway, is restricting air flow too much.

 

Yes. There is a good chance of that. But as I mentioned in the post, the door I have is a "Pocket Door" and I cannot do anything with it.

At the same time, I noticed that even if I open the door completely the vent still does not work as intended. It is only when I open the window and leave the door slightly/completely open does it work.

 

Before cutting anything check with the engineers of the building. They can tell you what size and where there allowed. Fire and building codes probably apply!

 

Per my building rules. I should not obstruct the vent per the codes. Anything else is fair game. When I pitched the room to room exhaust. They said that should work nicely but they are not experts in that field.

The area that I wanted to modify (make a small opening with mesh or "room to room" exhaust) is the drywall separating the bathroom and the hall. This wall (according to the building) is something I can do as I please.

 

Leave it alone and hire a professional.

 

Apologies if I gave the impression that I was trying to do something by myself. I am not. I wanted an expert opinion on this issue to understand my options so I could hire the correct Pro. Few companies that I have spoken to in Chicago were clueless about how to help me.

 

Get ahold of heatingman he lives in Chicago and can solve the problem.

 

Try opening the condo door, and see if the bathroom vents better.

Your kitchen vent is venting 24/7, and there is no obstruction to air flow.

 

Sounds like your venting to your bathroom may be blocked. It sounds like even when you have the window and door open, your vent is still not working, your odors are just being blown around and eliminated through dilution with fresh air. Your building engineer needs to check the airflow by using an anemometer.

 

The maintenance man probably ID' the problem but doesn't know how to fix it or want to fix it. Building maintenance can be very good or non-existent or somewhere in between.
I have addressed this problem before and the fix usually requires to start at the exhaust fan. Things like the intake screens having debris restricting, filters, fan belts worn and slipping, the pulleys worn, duct problems, anything preventing the fan to deliver.
This is all assuming the fan once worked as designed.

 

If you were to hire a Test and Balance Company, or a Mechanical Contractor with a dedicated T&B department, for a few bucks you can have them perform an Airflow Survey. You will immediately know what your issues are without all the speculation that you're inviting into this equation.

Your solution might be something very simple, or something much more complicated and expensive. A professional will possess the knowledge, the tools, and the contacts to solve your problems with the least amount of headache and expense as possible.

 

you probably have a bare minimum 50 cfm fan according to building codes..they dont last very long and barely anyone cleans them. there should also be a damper door leaving the housing and they can also get stuck as well as the one on the outside ...if you take 1 piece of TP to it does it hold on the grille or just make noise? i leave the power off to it, use a flashight and vacuum with brush and clean it out at bare minimum since you are there. you can inspect the exhaust opening also.. after finishing it, leave it run and see if the outside damper is open or stuck closed...

if you see lots of lint, that is the one most likely from your clothes dryer and the wrong one..

newer buildings get 80cfm as minimum code...some internal replacements without the housing go to 110cfm...

in my personal home i upgraded all (3 50 cfm ones) to (1) 110 cfm and (2) to 150 cfm because the room size indicated thats what was needed... i did not have to change my exhaust vent piping size, all of them also have energy star rated motors, LED lights and automatic humidity sensors....no more problems with peeling paint on a ceiling...

a professional can install a new one for you that is the correct size....lots of qualified guys here that can do it for you or suggest others they know

 

He doesn't have any fan in his condo.

The Condo building has a central fan that does all the condos.

 

Fire dampers are in place. Yes the OP's might be closed.

 

There's a lot more possibilities to consider, but here are a few things a professional would check.

It's a poor design that never worked properly from initial installation. The system was never balanced. Someone has fiddled with, or modified the original exhaust system installation, or has added or modified equipment or structure that would have an effect on building pressurization.

The exhaust fan is dirty. The fan is not sealed properly to the roof curb. The fan drive belt is slipping. The fan is running backwards. The ductwork is not sealed properly. Somewhere in the system the ductwork has separated, or if they used internally insulated duct, failed insulation is clogging the duct. A balancing, or diverting damper has come loose.

If the ductwork does penetrate firewalls, there should be either motorized dampers, or fusible link shutters. It's possible a fire damper is closed.

You need access to the entire system, a few tools, like a flowhood, maybe a rotating vane, a mag to do a static profile, and if available, a set of drawings. Otherwise you are guessing. You might stumble on a solution, you may not. Somebody said there should be 40 or 50, or 80 cfm of exhaust moving through a bathroom exhaust......... Really? How do we know this? Did you do the engineering work necessary to come up with those numbers, or are you guessing? Believe it or not, to do this work properly, there's more to this than speculation.

Do you know that generally, when you specify exhaust flows in commercial restrooms, that the women's restroom has more exhaust cfm than the men's? Do you know why?

This is why I keep trying to tell you to hire a professional.