Indiegurl

I had an idea of venting my grow room into the heating duct in the ceiling, the aim being to direct it through the heating system into the rest of the house so its not going outside and is possibly warming the rest of the house in the process. Will the heating system work in conjunction with the warm air comming out of the room or will the exhaust fan cause too much backward pressure for the furnace? I am filtering the exhaust air with a can and venting through a window currently, but I would rather not vent out the window, carbon filter or not.

Dr. Funkenstein

Cervantes says so, so do nearly all the construction documentaries available online.

I'm unsure of the more technical aspects you were wondering about, but I know it can be done and considering the source, it is most likely a common thing.

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Futuregrower

Indie, I would use one of those register boots that have a round inlet, 90* turn, then a rectangle outlet. That way, you could point the air in the direction the flow from the furnace is moving, help it out a bit.

Good way to use the hot air from the grow!

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Indiegurl

hmm i think i'll do it and see if my gas bills go down

sek311

Hi indie,

There are units called convection furnaces which use convection to move air. Since cold air has greater density than warm air the movement of air is possible. The only downside of this is that it only works in a static condition and it does require a return path for cold air. One easy way to find out if your house is static is, assuming your front door doesn't have a door closer on it open it a few inches and see if air gets sucked in or if the door slams shut. A static condition means the door stays put and you don't feel any air moving. Now if your heater is a forced draft system you can circulate with the "fan on" setting and force your hot air into the return duct which will push the warm air around. Unfortunately if you use a exhauster the room will go into a vacuum and you'll be pulling outside air in. 200 cfm goes out 200 cfm has to come in from somewhere. hope this helps its a really neat green idea.

Indiegurl

Green as in more ways than one? What about run the system like a hepa filter. Use the carbon filter as the filter, and send the cold air back to the room as with the same pressure you exhaust it with? Could work well for the room and the house, and when I build my own, its definitely something I would build into the design.

Big"O"

I vent outside in summer and inside in winter. I put it through a carbon filter system twice but thats cause i am parinoid. Once would probably be more than adaquite (sp). i just vent back into the furnace room in winter as a fresh air intake. have been doing it this way for 3 yrs and works great. And it will lower the bill a little not much but hey every little bit counts.

Good luck

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Big"O"

Willie's Wonder

I'm not sure this would work. It might be possible if you exhausted into a cold air return rather than a heat register. Depending on the force of the exhaust it could create quite a large backward pressure. The heating ducts are usually 4-6 inches diameter which might not be enough depending on the setup you have. Even exhausting into the cold air return may cause issues but at least you can move a decent volume of air without changing the direction of airflow in your system.

cavadge

Hooking it into the heat register will not work. You are blowing against the air coming out of the furnace. If you have a heat duct in the room, then you likely have a return register as well - that's where you should connect it. A little fabrication will be required. It does help with warming the house in winter. as that heat goes back into the furnace and is circulated in the house.

Here's what I've set up:

Can Filter 66 and Can Fan 6HO as a vent setup - it exhausts into the return of my HVAC system. Makes my A/C work a little harder in the summer, but I don't want to deal with hot humid outside air in the grow room. It does help heat the house in winter. But what is really saving me money on heating oil this year is recirculating the hot air from my lights.

For two 1K HPS lights, I run insulated flex and insulated rigid 6 inch ducting into a Can Fan 6. In the warm months, I connect to an outside intake and exhaust vent. In the winter, I cap those vents and just draw room air in, and exhaust that into the return of the HVAC as well. So all the heat the lights are generating gets ducted into the rest of the house.

And wow, what a difference. My furnace doesn't even run until temps drop below 42 degrees. I started this heating season three months ago with 5/8 of a tank, still showing just over 3/8. Usually I'm about ready for a second delivery of oil at this point. Major bonus.

Edit - just wanted to add - you need to balance your airflow - if you are blowing inside air out, you have to draw from somewhere outside to make it up. Otherwise you end up with a negative pressure - you can have your furnace backdraft, resulting in carbon monoxide buildup, etc - been there and done that. If you are going to exhaust outside, you should draw from outside. If you are going to exhaust inside, draw from inside.

I sealed up my basement two winters ago. Had the furnace serviced, went downstairs that evening, as soon as my head got below floor level I got woozy and dizzy. Why? I sealed up the basement - no more air leaks. The furnace consumes air burning fuel - that air has to come from somewhere. With the basement sealed, it pulled the furnace exhaust air back down the chimney and filled the basement with fumes and carbon monoxide. The same thing happens in a sealed house when you run your bathroom fan or kitchen vent fan - you are blowing air out, make-up air has to come in from somewhere, or you backdraft down chimneys.

I added a make-up air system - simple to install, very effective. It draws outside air in when needed, mixes it with heated air, and routes that back into the return of the HVAC system. So now when the furnace runs, or I burn a fire, or run the kitchen or bathroom vent fan - I am making up the air I'm exhausting with fresh outside air. It increases your energy costs slightly, but worth every penny.

Mazrim

I have always been leery of introducing secondary forced air into my house exchange system. Easy for me to say as I only run 500 watts. But I vent into the ceiling joices. It's almost like having floor heat upstair in that little area below my bedroom.

I only make sure the lights are off if I have any kind of service person here. If you poke your head above the ceiling in my basement family room. you will see the light from my grow exhaust from across the entire house. So, be careful for that.

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