[Erik Farstad]

You all may remember how my HT room has a register but not a fresh air intake...and how I discussed how to keep the room at a decent temperature especially given the extra heat our new projector throws off. Well, I could just crack the door, the window, etc...but I still wanted to do something...so here's what I've come up with:

First I'm gong to punch a hole in the wall that adjoins the family room in the basement.

I'll attach one of these to the outside wall. The rectangle opening will face the theater room.

Then I'll connect some flexiduct to the fitting attached the the wall.

After about 2-3 feet or so I'll install this inline duct booster that will draw the air from the theater room, which I will then vent into the family room.

I'll then cover both openings with one of these painted to match the wall color.

To power the inline duct booster, I just have to run normal 120 to it which I can branch off from our existing wiring in the ceiling.

To turn on/off the duct fan I'll install one of these that I'll be able to control with my X10 gear! It's an inline relay that allows you to turn things on and off without a hard wired switch!

So basically I'll be able to hit a button on my remote that will turn on the fan, pulling any hot and stale air out of the room!

All of this will be built in a soffit on the family room wall, mirroring the other soffit on the adjacent wall that already houses duct work...so it will be nice and balanced! 8)

I'll of course be documenting every installation/construction step on my website, but I'm just happy to have finally found a solution other than cracking the door!

E

[Ron-P]

Erik, very cool indeed. I am really interested in the inline relay, where are you picking that up?

I am having a similar cooling problem but only when the theater is full of people. Below is a crude layout of my room I worked up with the paint program.


The AC unit I have on the floor in the front spits out cold air and also intakes the warmer air. Because of the rooms design and location of the PJ and seating, the back of the room is trapping the hot air and the AC unit cannot get cooler up there.

I recently installed an 8" exhaust fan at the top of the ceiling in the back in an attempt to remove the hot air and pull the cooler air towards the back. It works fairly well, but now I've got two units pulling out the hotter air with only one cool air intake. What happens is the exhaust fan drops it's cfm's substantially when the door to the HT is closed and the room is sealed off.

I need to add an external intake somewhere that will allow me to pull in air from the outside which will allow for better air flow for the exhaust fan. I just don't know where or how to add the intake vent.

As of now, my thoughts are to add a small vent just above the AC unit to the outside. This will allow for much better air flow through the entire room, from front to back. Needless to say, this last week I've been burning major brain power trying to resolve this issue.


Peace Out~

[Erik Farstad]

Ron, the inline relay I'm getting from Smarthome

I think one of these inline duct fans is your ticket...which would allow you to pull air in!

E

[Cary_H]

Ron....where is your exhaust fan dumping to?
Is your AC unit a window shaker?

Here's what's happening. Once you close the door the fan is simply pulling vacuum. (no air in, so no air out)
When you open the door you give the fan a source of air. The problem here is that it simply short-cycles at the back of your room and is of little help.
You need to put a transfer duct up at the front of the room near your AC unit to introduce air into the room that you're only getting now with the door open. This will create a front to back draft through your room, and will move the cooler air from the front.
Ultimately it would be preferable to circulate the air around the room rather than exhaust air you just cooled, but a fan probably isn't something you'd want wailing away in your HT.
Keep us up to date.

[Cary_H]

I just re-read your post.
Remember if you draw air from outside you'll have to heat/cool it. This "new" air is also not the same as air already in your home. It will need a way out. Air brought in from an adjacent room is preferable.
In addition, a fan on the exhaust is all you'll need. If anything, when you're all done, you'll likely be looking to reduce airflow.

[BenSC]

That brings up a good point.. in an off manner. He's not bringing in air from the outside, I don't think.. But where is the extra air going to come from as you are sucking air into the living room? Or is that what you meant by "register, but not 'fresh air intake'"?

[Erik Farstad]

Ben, fresh air comes in from the register and would leave via the return I would install as described above...sorry, perhaps I did not use the right words/explaination!:b

E

[Ron-P]

You nailed it Cary.

The exhaust fan dumps the air into the garage (there's about 6' of space between the HT and the garage wall). The AC unit sits about 18" in from the garage door. I crack open the garage door about 1' to allow fresh air to circulate around the AC unit.

What I will do, it place a vent just on top of the AC unit to the outside. This will allow the exhaust fan to move air completely through the theater. The nice thing is it will mix the air with the outside and thus the AC air will not be nearly as cold. Another bonus is living by the beach, the outside air, even during summer days, is cool so I won't have any problems with hot air being pulled in.

During winter time, I won't even need to use the AC unit and I can just open the vent to the outside and circulate the cool outside air through the theater. I only use the AC unit during summer months and only when the room is full of people. Heck, if this works, I may not even need to use the AC unit at all. The intake vent and the exhaust fan may do the trick alone.

This weekend I'll cut in the vent and see how it all works.


Peace Out~

[Cary_H]

When you install the duct to bring in the air you require watch that you don't position it where it might re-introduce the expelled heat dumped outside by your AC unit.

[Rik P]

I'm sure you have thought of this Ron but why not tap off from your Main House AC and run a small duct to the room. You can always close the vent when not in use.
I have a two car garage with an extra one car garage built onto the side of the house that was made into a room. I use this this a dedicated HT now. The builder ran a couple of small ducts like 8" or so to room. It cools just fine and i don't even notice the difference from the rest of the house whe the vents are open, so i just run the vents open all the time like it was just any other room.

FYI. Oh yea if anyone is needing a quiet fan I bought one of those Silent Force Black&Decker stand fans (they come in black) I cant even tell its on even when its set to high. Good for HT use

Rick

[Rik P]

Erik, I was thinking of doing something like that to my HT room. I was planing on using a AC current sensor clamp on the PJ power cord tied to a 120 volt relay. So basically when I turn the PJ on the fan kicks on automatically. I was planning on dumping the hot air in the addict.

Rick