Hello everyone,
I finished up my theater in July, and occasionally I had an issue with it getting pretty warm in there. I didn't do anything particular with regard to soundproofing, so of course I also forgot to consider ventilation. During the winter it wasn't an issue, at most needed a blanket on your legs. But as warmer weather approaches again, we've already had it get pretty warm in there when used for several hours.
I'd like to vent some of the hot air out of the space, without adding noise as I'm pretty happy with how the space came out. I've done some research into it, and I think an inline fan connected to 6" ducting will work. The adjacent basement space is open and connects to my office, where I have an AC in the window for when it gets real toasty down here. There's also a dehumidifier in the open space, which the air would pass by before returning to the theater.
The only source of intake would be beneath the door, which I think would be ok. Ideally of course it would vent back near the dimmer, which is where the projector is hanging and is the source of all the heat, however I am worried about hearing the noise from the fan if it is that close. In the attached layout, I've shown the intake in the corner of the room over the avr equipment stand. This should be far enough away to not be an issue, and should also be far enough away from the server so that it's noise doesn't come back in (the small wall in front of the server is on a sliding track for access, and does a good job of masking it's noise with just a single layer of gypsum.) I can then run the flexible 6" vent hose back towards the other corner of the basement to the fan, and exhaust it back into the space.
So I'm open to suggestions. I've seen some people make the duct work slither back and forth, I could do similar by having it dip down towards the drop ceiling and then go high into the joint bay (about 13" between the top of ceiling tiles and the bottom of flooring above.) I could also consider venting it neat the projector if this snaking method would be enough to eliminate the fan noise, and then dump it out close to the dehumidifier. The ceiling isn't installed yet on the left side of the basement, so I'd rather do this (including the electrical wiring for the fan) before that.
I also could use some suggestions regarding the fan. There seem to be a LOT of options out there. I've seen Fantech mentioned a lot, but I don't really know what's appropriate. I realize that I'll likely have to use a switch neat the fan to turn it on and off, and this won't be in the theater - that's ok by me. A remote control would be neat, but not a big deal.
I finished up my theater in July, and occasionally I had an issue with it getting pretty warm in there. I didn't do anything particular with regard to soundproofing, so of course I also forgot to consider ventilation. During the winter it wasn't an issue, at most needed a blanket on your legs. But as warmer weather approaches again, we've already had it get pretty warm in there when used for several hours.
I'd like to vent some of the hot air out of the space, without adding noise as I'm pretty happy with how the space came out. I've done some research into it, and I think an inline fan connected to 6" ducting will work. The adjacent basement space is open and connects to my office, where I have an AC in the window for when it gets real toasty down here. There's also a dehumidifier in the open space, which the air would pass by before returning to the theater.
The only source of intake would be beneath the door, which I think would be ok. Ideally of course it would vent back near the dimmer, which is where the projector is hanging and is the source of all the heat, however I am worried about hearing the noise from the fan if it is that close. In the attached layout, I've shown the intake in the corner of the room over the avr equipment stand. This should be far enough away to not be an issue, and should also be far enough away from the server so that it's noise doesn't come back in (the small wall in front of the server is on a sliding track for access, and does a good job of masking it's noise with just a single layer of gypsum.) I can then run the flexible 6" vent hose back towards the other corner of the basement to the fan, and exhaust it back into the space.
So I'm open to suggestions. I've seen some people make the duct work slither back and forth, I could do similar by having it dip down towards the drop ceiling and then go high into the joint bay (about 13" between the top of ceiling tiles and the bottom of flooring above.) I could also consider venting it neat the projector if this snaking method would be enough to eliminate the fan noise, and then dump it out close to the dehumidifier. The ceiling isn't installed yet on the left side of the basement, so I'd rather do this (including the electrical wiring for the fan) before that.
I also could use some suggestions regarding the fan. There seem to be a LOT of options out there. I've seen Fantech mentioned a lot, but I don't really know what's appropriate. I realize that I'll likely have to use a switch neat the fan to turn it on and off, and this won't be in the theater - that's ok by me. A remote control would be neat, but not a big deal.