DIY Exhausting help

[MeefChief]

I need some advice on how to run my exhaust setup on my new tent since spring/summer is upon us. Ideally, I would like to exhaust out of the house. I have a movable air conditioning unit that I run to keep my room temps tolerable. The a/c unit has a 6" exhaust that goes directly out the window. Do you think it would be wise to use this Y joint to tap my exhaust fan into? Or will this possibly cause air flow restrictions. I'm open to suggestions here.

 

[Discretepete2676]

Run ducting out of your tent into the y pushing air outside from the tent and the AC. Pulling air from the tent and pushing it out will remove all heat to outside and will cause a passive intake of Cool air supplied into the room by the AC unit. I'm hooked up the same until next week. It sucks but it works lol

 

[Discretepete2676]

Next week I'm changing rooms and preparing for a larger setup

 

[Ozone69]

I'd be curious what might happen when the A/C is off and the exhaust fan is running. Would it create pressure back into the exhaust of the A/C unit and push warm air back into the room through the A/C? Or if the exhaust fan creates more pressure than the exhaust of the A/C, resulting in a back pressure situation when it is running. I dunno...suppose it probably wouldn't hurt to try it, but I'd keep an eye out for things like that once it's up and running.

 

[Chester]

Any way to patch into the furnace's cold air return ?

 

[Discretepete2676]

Any way to patch into the furnace's cold air return ?

I was told that's a huge no no by the guy at the grow shop. Something about Co2 lol that's all I remember haha

 

[Chester]

If you're supplementing w/ CO2 it should not be shared w/ the rest of the house ... if not the air from a grow should have a slightly higher concentration of Oxygen than the rest of the household air ... and by venting into the cold air return it should allow the air/scent/heat to be distributed though out the whole house ... you need to be certain your odor control is working

 

[Ozone69]

One other thing just to keep in mind when planning this out. Remember the old "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction". In other words, for every cubic foot of air you pump out of the house there has to be a matching cubic foot of air getting sucked INTO the house from somewhere else. If it's super hot/cold outside, then that air getting pulled in through door/window/attic drafts will be that temp. If you're not running CO2, and you tie it into the HVAC like Chester's talking about that would keep it circulating with minimum outside air getting pulled in. I'm not an HVAC expert, though, so can't really say if that's recommended or not. I also thought a lot about trying to run mine up into the attic to kind of split the difference between going out and staying in the house, but the house's construction doesn't really lend itself to that for me.

 

[Chester]

I plan on building a professional grow space in a closet ... wouldn't think of venting it outside ... the air inside the house is climate controlled so we don't even open the windows ... I will either vent into the cold air return or into the room w/ the closet or a room adjacent to the closet ... I'd like to have the intake and exhaust in different rooms if the cold air return isn't doable ...

My house is energy efficient and leak proof ... I often wonder how the clothes drier manages to not starve for air ... if I were venting to the outside I would attempt to draw fresh air in from the outside but that wouldn't work for me ... I'd like to use the cold air return because this distributes the air throughout the house ... the 2 negatives to the cold air return for me is that the spot is nearly impossible to get at and I'm sure it's not in code ... even w/ moderate ventilation there's a good sized volume of air moved and that much air would be better spread though out the house and not back into the room where the intake is located ... would help w/ the fan noise too ...

 

[Discretepete2676]

I'm just prying a window AC on one side in a window opposite of where my tent is and pushing air outside. In going to use fan speed controllers to set everything just how I want it so I'm not wasting too much air. I rent so I can't do what I really want yet. Saving to buy a house in the next year or so. Even if it's just a fixer upper lol