My home theater room doesn't have any windows, and unfortunatly both the wife and I smoke. I've been using a candle to help with the smell, but I need to ventilate the smoke out of the room. Has anyone installed a ventilation system just for smoke? I was thinking of installing six inch pipe with a inline six inch fan. Kind of like a attic fan setup. I would then end the pipe outside like a bathroom vent. I'm worried that I will remove the heat/air conditioning out of the room though and cause problems with temps.
The room isn't very big, about 14' long and 12' wide. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
I think you've got the right idea. And you're right...the exhaust fan will tend to pull air in from the rest of the house (assuming the theater room doesn't have significant air leaks to the outside!). This shouldn't cause a problem with "temps" but it will tend to make your house climate control system work a little harder. A little ventilation is always good for a theater, though . Your small-ish room with several viewers and a bunch of HT equipment will tend to get warm and stuffy over the course of a two-hour movie.
The other alternative is to use a commercial "smoke eater" machine like they have in bars. I believe they employ some sort of filtration plus electrostatic cleaning. No exhaust required, but I would imagine that they are not cheap!
Have you installed or have had installed the same kind of system? If I only use the vents an hour to two hours a night I'm thinking I should not do too much damage to my heating/cooling system.
Trace,
I'm hoping to stay away from air purifiers for now. I have three other basement rooms that I would need to vent, and don't want to carry an air purifier unit to whatever room I'm in. Thanks for the suggestion though.
Tony,
My HT was originally a bedroom, so even after increasing the size 50%, the existing HVAC system did an adequate job of ventilation. However, it wouldn't quite keep up with cooling, so I added a separate 1-ton AC unit with ducts into the equipment closet and the theater. Now everything stays nice and cool even when it's 105 outside
Don't take this the wrong way.. I do not mean to offend...
Maybe you can use the theater room, as a tool to help you quit smoking? The more you use it, the less you will smoke
I'm sorry.. really, I am..
actually, the way the taxes on tobacco keep going up, maybe that and the non-smoking room will help you quit..
I remember my dad saying (RIP), the day cigarettes cost 1.50 is the day I'll quit... He quit at 1.25...
Obviously power-venting to the outside will take air from the house and deposit outside.. including heated or cooled air. It's the same as leaving a window open in any room.
I don't want to get on a soap box here but you and your wife obviously don't mind the smell of smoke so just let it rip in the room. If you have guests who don't smoke, it would be cool to take an intermission and puff out in a more open area of the house. Ok, maybe I got on a soapbox for a second.
Don't smoke in this room. It will make it more pleasant for guests who do not smoke when they come in. Cigarette smoke reeks and gets into the furniture, walls, etc. and is very hard to get the smell out later (remember the Seinfeld episode about the mutant B.O.?).
The other option, as others have mentioned here, is to use this smoke-free environment a little bit more all the time as a way to quit.
Surprised nobody pointed out that smoke is terrible for electronics. Tar and nicotine tends to deposit on circuit boards. Just like teeth. Unfortunately, you can't brush your ckt brds with whitener!
. Your small-ish room with several viewers and a bunch of HT equipment will tend to get warm and stuffy over the course of a two-hour movie.
