Looking for help with "dead vent" design (1 Viewer)

[jcl333]

Hello all, I am new to this forum.

I have been researching "dead vents", but my impression is that most of it is fairly speculative vs. having an actual engineered design.

I am finishing my basement to a dedicated home theater, and this is not my first one. It's roughly about a $100K build, but that is on top of equipment and materials retained from my last theater.

I have an acoustic engineer, a structural engineer, plumber, carpenter, electrician, etc. But, my acoustic engineer specializes in interior room treatment, and it not as strong on ISO and not on ventilation at all. I have a fair number of design constraints, such as I don't really have room inside the theater for a soffit. Heating/cooling is provided by a mini-split heat pump, this is going to be just ventilation provided by an ERV (Energy Recovery Ventilator) and is a requirement for my building permit.

I am fairly knowledgeable myself, and I am not unwilling to give this a try with the best design I can come up with. But, if I could hire a person or company that has a much higher likelihood of a working solution, either just a design that I could build or a finished product, I would be interested. So far, I have not found anything that quite fits the bill. Even on some of the forum and blog posts I have found where they talk about building dead vents, I don't see allot of follow up on how well it ended up working, mostly anecdotal rather than scientific.

The closest I have seen to what I am looking for is some of the designs for sound booths and recording studios, but still not finding allot of information on this particular aspect of things.

So, if someone has a referral to a company, design studio, consultant, or even just a really good reference with detailed design details of a field tested and verified solution, I would really appreciate it. It would be very intrusive to have to go back and remove and re-work the solution if I just start experimenting.

Thanks much

-JCL

 

[JohnRice]

@Dave Upton ? Do you have any input?

 

[Dave Upton]

Hello all, I am new to this forum.

I have been researching "dead vents", but my impression is that most of it is fairly speculative vs. having an actual engineered design.

I am finishing my basement to a dedicated home theater, and this is not my first one. It's roughly about a $100K build, but that is on top of equipment and materials retained from my last theater.

I have an acoustic engineer, a structural engineer, plumber, carpenter, electrician, etc. But, my acoustic engineer specializes in interior room treatment, and it not as strong on ISO and not on ventilation at all. I have a fair number of design constraints, such as I don't really have room inside the theater for a soffit. Heating/cooling is provided by a mini-split heat pump, this is going to be just ventilation provided by an ERV (Energy Recovery Ventilator) and is a requirement for my building permit.

I am fairly knowledgeable myself, and I am not unwilling to give this a try with the best design I can come up with. But, if I could hire a person or company that has a much higher likelihood of a working solution, either just a design that I could build or a finished product, I would be interested. So far, I have not found anything that quite fits the bill. Even on some of the forum and blog posts I have found where they talk about building dead vents, I don't see allot of follow up on how well it ended up working, mostly anecdotal rather than scientific.

The closest I have seen to what I am looking for is some of the designs for sound booths and recording studios, but still not finding allot of information on this particular aspect of things.

So, if someone has a referral to a company, design studio, consultant, or even just a really good reference with detailed design details of a field tested and verified solution, I would really appreciate it. It would be very intrusive to have to go back and remove and re-work the solution if I just start experimenting.

Thanks much

-JCL

Jeff,
I would suggest you contact Dennis Erskine if you aren't already working with him, as he's an expert at most of this.

Generally speaking, if you cool via mini-split, the problem solves itself as there is no sound transmission over that as the unit has no vents.

Your ERV/HRV will require venting, and that will generally be accomplished with a baffle box replacing the last few feet of vent, which is just a wood construction lined with acoustic material. This does not have to be on the ceiling in a soffit, and can be done in a riser or wall(column) as well, it's just a matter of adapting the design slightly. This guy has a great write up on it: https://www.digistar.cl/forum/viewtopic.php?t=697

 

[jcl333]

Jeff,
I would suggest you contact Dennis Erskine if you aren't already working with him, as he's an expert at most of this.

Generally speaking, if you cool via mini-split, the problem solves itself as there is no sound transmission over that as the unit has no vents.

Your ERV/HRV will require venting, and that will generally be accomplished with a baffle box replacing the last few feet of vent, which is just a wood construction lined with acoustic material. This does not have to be on the ceiling in a soffit, and can be done in a riser or wall(column) as well, it's just a matter of adapting the design slightly. This guy has a great write up on it: https://www.digistar.cl/forum/viewtopic.php?t=697

Hello,

Thank you for the link, he looks like the right type of person I am looking for.

Unfortunately, there is some problem with the registration process, so I can't join that forum, and there does not appear to be an alternative way to reach him. Does he have an account on this forum that I could send him a PM?

Thanks

-JCL

 

[Dave Upton]

Hello,

Thank you for the link, he looks like the right type of person I am looking for.

Unfortunately, there is some problem with the registration process, so I can't join that forum, and there does not appear to be an alternative way to reach him. Does he have an account on this forum that I could send him a PM?

Thanks

-JCL

You can reach Dennis Erskine here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Home-Improvement/Erskine-Group-Inc-134577633257657/

I just emailed the admin of that board letting them know registration was broken.

 

[jcl333]

You can reach Dennis Erskine here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Home-Improvement/Erskine-Group-Inc-134577633257657/

I just emailed the admin of that board letting them know registration was broken.

OK, I found their website and sent a message with the contact form.

Is Dennis in CO with the Erskine Group, or is he in Santiago, Chile as it says in the Soundman2020 sig on the digistar forum?

-JCL

 

[Dave Upton]

OK, I found their website and sent a message with the contact form.

Is Dennis in CO with the Erskine Group, or is he in Santiago, Chile as it says in the Soundman2020 sig on the digistar forum?

-JCL

Those are two separate folks. Dennis is in Colorado.

 

[jcl333]

Those are two separate folks. Dennis is in Colorado.

OK, sorry, trying to sort it out.