Need Some Help

[gawntrail]

Guys,

Just moved my oldest sons (17 & 14) downstairs into the garage conversions (converted 1 garage into two bedrooms). The kids love it. They have the kitchen, next to them, their own laundry, bathroom w/ shower and their own door outside.

And, my wife and I converted their old rooms into his & her offices. I finished the decor last week and am starting to inhabit mine. I torched the first cigars this weekend and enjoyed myself. But.......here's where I need some help.

My office is on the southwest corner of the upstairs. We get an evening northeasterly breeze that blows directly into one of the two windows (1 window faces south, the other west, the door is in the northeast corner of the room - The house generall sits with it's centerline southwest to northeast). My 8 year old's room is directly east of my office (his west wall is the office's east wall). When I smoke, my wife says his room smells like it too.

I have fans blowing out of both windows, and the ceiling fan in the updraft rotation (trying to circulate the smoke up and then down the walls to get caught in the outgoing fans. The air conditioning vents are on seperate feeds from the FAU, and there are no apparant openings. My wife wants me to enjoy smoking in my office (and so do I), but I have to suspend my indoor herfing until I solve this problem.

I'm considering some high volume fart fans (2 or 3) in the ceilng that will updraft the smoke into the attic and connect (electrically) these to a gable fan that will blow it all out of the peak vents. Will this work? Do I need an Air purifier too? If so, which one would you guys recommend. The office is a standard bedroom (~200 sq ft).

Please help me. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance for your problem solving suggestions/recommendations.

M. Gipson

 

[CoventryCat86]

Too bad emodx is out at sea right now because he has some good ideas on this. There are some old threads that discuss this that you may want to search for. I have two air purifiers in my basement but I think you have a better idea with trying to move the air out.

Sounds like you're already off to a good start.

 

[SD_Stack]

Hey GT. Long time no see! We'll be back in September.


One - swith offices with the wife.

Two - Switch rooms with the 8-yo.

Three - Close the window! No... really, they make a fan that is bi-directional that fits into your window and you close the bottom sash down on it like an AC unit. It has a 30" W squirrel cage fan inside that blows in or out. It will not create a negative pressure on the room, but if you sit close enough to it, it should do the job. I have one at my parents house that I used to use there. It is about 12" tall and the width of the window. It is a classy looking unit as opposed to a window AC unit. This may fix your "problem."

Side note: Use something to seal off the door from the rest of the house. With the positive pressure of the AC/Heat unit and the negative effects of the fan, you should be okay with this if the house is somewhat tight.

For an economical way to do the same thing, buy a 30" box fan at the local Wal-Mart for $10 and put it in the window when you are smoking.

If this works, send me a box of your finest dog rockets!

Good Luck Mike.

 

[Kryo]

Going to add my thoughts to the problem.

What MIGHT be leaking smoke into your 8 yr olds room is the ceiling fan. By pulling the air up it could be slightly increasing pressure on the ceiling and the tops of the walls. Doesnt take much to have the smoke trickle through.

You might want to try giving just a slight increase to air pressure in your son's room. That would help keep any smoke from coming in and assist a window fan pushing smoke out of your office. A ceiling fan in his room could do the trick, a window fan pulling air in from outside, or if you feel a real handyman project coming on - install a blower into the air vent feeding his room and a bathroom style exaust vent in the office.

Turn them on with a switch in your office, possiby a variable speed switch to control the fan noise.

I agree with Stack and seal off the door as much as possible. Use compressable foam sealing insulators on the sides and top of the door. Bottom should use a flexible rubber skirt similar to a window washing squeegee.

 

[cigarsarge]

When I smoke, my wife says his room smells like it too.


:0

 

[Maggs44]

I have fans blowing out of both windows, and the ceiling fan in the updraft rotation (trying to circulate the smoke up and then down the walls to get caught in the outgoing fans. The

I'm considering some high volume fart fans (2 or 3) in the ceilng that will updraft the smoke into the attic and connect (electrically) these to a gable fan that will blow it all out of the peak vents. Will this work? Do I need an Air purifier too? If so, which one would you guys recommend. The office is a standard bedroom (~200 sq ft).

M. Gipson

Sounds like you have just too many fans doing different things. Fans exausting from 2 windows, plus one moving air up (ceiling fan).

Keep the windows open (and dont seal under the door etc). Install a nice exaust fan in ceiling (like you said) right above where you smoke. Turn off the window fan and ceiling fan. The exaust fan will draw air from the open windows, under door etc. You can hook up gable fan to turn on when exhaust fan is turned on (just run both off the same switch).

200 sq feet? Thats 1600 cubic feet if you have a 8' ceiling. Recomended air changes for a restaurant are 3-10 mins per change. So, a fan exausting 500 cfm (cubic feet per min) would change your room air in about 3 mins.

This will take the smoke directly up to the fan and into the attic. Fresh air comes from open windo, under door etc. You wont have any negative air flow probs at all. If memory serves me right, all you need is 1 square foot of intake area for every 750 cfm.

You can find a Broan model L500K Kitchen vent (500 cfm) at most home stores (get a rheostat to adjust speed) do do the trick. A duct can be added to send smoke directly outside through the attic, but cfm will decrease as length of duct increases.

Hoe that helps.

Bruce

 

[gawntrail]

CC86, SD STACK, Kryo, CigarSarge, and Maggs44,

Thank you for the input (and sentiments). I talked to a buddy of mine that does AC and he told me to install those high powered fart fans (at least 2 - but, I'm going to put in 4 equally spread from the center of the room), wire them together (w/ the gable fan), seal the doorframe (not the bottom), and open the window farthest from the fart fans. Should solve the problem. There might be some lingering odor, but an air purifier should take care of that.

Thanks again for the input. I'll try and get some pics of the new office when it's done.

M. Gipson :thumbs:

 

[gawntrail]

An update.........

Thanks again for the input on my office/smoking lounge. My AC guy returned my call yesterday. He put in the two units for my house.

He took out the old FAUs and took one for a side job. The other one has been sitting in my storage shed for quite some time. he told me to drag that bastard back up into the attic and have it draw solely from my office. I am headed to Home Depot this week for the returns and venting.

I am going to place it above the office on the outer wall side and draw from the office ceiling and blow out a regular gable vent. Simple job, should only take me an afternoon to do it (If I don't melt in the attic heat). I should get maximum air change with a window open. I looked in the local paper and some of the free publications we get in the mail and found old FAU's for $50-$100! This is cheaper than a powerful fart fan (and waaaay more cfm movement). The rest of the parts should only run about $75 at Home Depot. Voila.......instant high powered desmoker for less than $100. Also going to get an air purifier and the carpet smell good stuff you vacuum up. Should be a winner.

Anyone interested in doing the same just post and I will walk you through the process. Seems simple enough and cheap too!

I'll be HERFING in no time. Thanks Sam (my AC guy) and thanks again to you guys for stirring the 'ol thought process.

M. Gipson :thumbs: