Bobby C

Room ventilation question

Hi,

I started building out my HT a couple of months ago, but of course it got put on hold because of another project. I'll be starting up again in a few weeks, but have a question on ventilation of the room.

This room is in the basement, only 1 (small) window in a 12x20' room, 7' high. Currently the room receives no direct ventilation, but the forced air (heat & A/C) for the upstairs is routed through the ceiling joists. Right now there are 2 supply and 1 return in that could easily be tapped into to provide room ventilation.

I could put more in if needed, however I won't be adding a separate control for the room or basement. Any suggestions on whether this I need more ventilation? The return is near the front of the room, as is one of the supply ducts. In addition, the 2nd supply is about 2/3rds towards the back of the room.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

Bob

Jason D.

I am in a similar situation as you as I am working on my HT in my basement as we speak. I am actually having the ducts tapped into next week and am putting a 10x6 vent in each of the two major rooms I am building....HOWEVER, I am only installing ONE return air in the other room (not the HT) due to noise. The return air is a major source for bringing noise into and out of the room....(I can hear my wife and son upstairs (two stories up) when talking normal if I put my ear by the return air vent. So my suggestion is to NOT put a R/A into your HT IF you have gone through great efforts to make it sound tight (which I am doing).

Also remeber, it totally defeats the purpose of doing a staggered stud wall or resiliant channel if you go and put a standard $30 hollow-core door on the room. I would suggest a solid core door with a threshold. Again, this is IF you are trying to build a sound tight (well as much as possible) room. Good luck!

-Jason

Bobby C

Jason,

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I am planning on a solid core door (as I am doing the R/C route). However I'm thinking that a return would be important, I worry about 'stuffiness'. Thanks again!
Bob

Steve Lucas

It's been my experience that if you close a room off from the rest of the house with no return duct, you also get almost no AC/Heat in that room. You need the return to allow the supply vents to do thier job.
In my ht, I have ceiling vents that I could open or close to vary the amount of AC/Heat in the room (It's also in a basement). However, I found that closing the vents much at all caused them to be very loud when the air flowed through them. Fortunately, I had access to the ducts (flexible ducts) feeding them and had manual dampers installed in the ducts to allow me to control the amount of air going to the vents in the room. It's really just a plate inside the duct with a handle outside so that you can open/close the damper. I leave the in-room vents wide open at all times and control the airflow via the dampers. It works like a charm and I never hear any noise from the vents.

\"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.\" - P.J. O\'Rourke

Glen C

If your system is properly installed you will get PLENTY of heat/ac regardless. Without air returns in a basement, you will not get the dehumidification benefits of central air in that room... (basement air will not be 'returned' directly) but you will obviously lower relative humidity in a basement by infusing the cold air with little humidity from the AC unit