Exhaust?

[mux]

NattyBrew has a very simple system that looks good and is very functional. I seen his before I built mine and went with the wood lined with plastic as well. Nice Job! You will need a good blower to remove the steam. If you don't you have a good chance of feeding mold, then you'll say I should have gotten a bigger fan. Cheers

What cfm do you recommend? I'm looking at a 4" vortex fan.

 

[forcabrew]

I hope some starts a show me your exhaust fan thread. I'm trying to figure if the vortex fan is worth the money. I read that it's loud. The only place for me to hook up an exhaust would be to put in some sort of splitter in the duct that my dryer exhausts from

 

[bullywee]

Active air

 

[CidahMastah]

any body ever heard the active air 6'' vs the vortex 6''? I don't want to give up all the quiet if my ebuild for a loud arse fan.

Looks like you can get into the active air for ~$100 and the vortex for ~$165. Seems like most people say don't go less than 6''.

 

[sredz]

I have an Active Air 6". I've been very happy with it. It's the only inline fan I've owned so I can't make a comparison to the vortex. I wouldn't say the Active Air is loud. Our kitchen is directly above the fan and I can hear a slight hum. I believe the Active Air clocks 72 decibels and the Vortex 49.


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any body ever heard the active air 6'' vs the vortex 6''? I don't want to give up all the quiet if my ebuild for a loud arse fan.

Looks like you can get into the active air for ~$100 and the vortex for ~$165. Seems like most people say don't go less than 6''.

 

[jmark]

I have an Active Air 6" too. It's not silent by any means, but it's certainly not so loud that you need to raise your voice to talk to folks. In my boil tests (almost ready to roll!) so far, I can make do with it on medium speed (using a speed controller) without any change to the humidity in the room and at that speed you can barely hear it. Of course, my vent run is only 2-3 feet, so it doesn't need the full power. All-in-all... I'm happy with the fan (just need to move it to the other end of the vent run to help solve a condensation problem!)

 

[CidahMastah]

Cool, thanks for the comments guys!

 

[dcbw]

so my build is going to be in the basement in the same room as the gas furnace and water heater, about 10ft away from each. I just got my rim joists foamed and the house sealed. Do I have to worry much that I'll be sucking all the CO into the house when brewing, and not exhausting it up the chimney where it should be going? I will have a fresh air source available right near the brewstand. Just want to make sure the furnace and heater still draft up the chimney and not into the basement when the fan is going. The insulation guys did a smoke test at the water heater to make sure there was still enough pull after doing all the sealing. But if I'm adding a 300 or 400 cfm fan into the mix I have no idea what it'll do to the airflow of the house.

 

[sethhobrin]

so my build is going to be in the basement in the same room as the gas furnace and water heater, about 10ft away from each. I just got my rim joists foamed and the house sealed. Do I have to worry much that I'll be sucking all the CO into the house when brewing, and not exhausting it up the chimney where it should be going? I will have a fresh air source available right near the brewstand. Just want to make sure the furnace and heater still draft up the chimney and not into the basement when the fan is going. The insulation guys did a smoke test at the water heater to make sure there was still enough pull after doing all the sealing. But if I'm adding a 300 or 400 cfm fan into the mix I have no idea what it'll do to the airflow of the house.

I have a 6" vortex fan about 10 ft from my heater and hot water heater. I just open a basement window to provide fresh air. I have no issues. In fact I have closed the basement window and just let the vortex pull from the house and haven't seen an issue and my joists are spray foamed and my house has been sealed so it is very tight. If you have a fresh air intake near your brewing area you should be just fine.

 

[forcabrew]

So I was planning on placing my brew rig about 8ft away from my furnace and water heater with only an exhaust vent. Would that be an issue? Do I need a way to get fresh air in? If not what would be the consequences?

I'm very close to purchasing either a 6inch vortex or active air exhaust fan. I just keep flip flopping on which one I should get

 

[mux]

You may have issues with negative pressures on the chimney that's exhausting hot water/furnace. It may pull air from the chimney with it the fumes your exhausting.

 

[forcabrew]

Decided to switch the location of the brew rig and pulled the trigger on the active air 6 inch fan with speed control from amazon. Can't wait to get it

 

[forcabrew]

Just got my fan in the mail. Now I'm looking to pick up a storage container to use as a hood. Anybody have any opinions as far as possibly painting a storage container?

 

[bullywee]

Good purchase! They are great fans.

 

[conpewter]

I went with a range hood, works OK, but could be better. Before the range hood I would have water dripping off the ceiling joists after a brew. Now I don't have that but it doesn't get every bit of steam.

If I had the extra money I'd go for the hood and a vortex style fan. But here is what I got for free (2 range hoods on craigslist for $60, resold 1 for $60, so free for me)

 

[Fly_Rodder]

I'm just wrapping up my vent hood and duct. For now, I'm sharing the dryer vent and using quick disconnects for both the dryer duct and the semi-rigid 4" duct that comes off of a 6-4 reducer from the 6" Active Air fan. I built the hood out of 1x2s and 1/2" foil-coated foam insulation board and silicone caulked the inside seams. Hopefully, I can get everything connected tonight and a boil test tonight or tomorrow. The only problem I ran into is that somehow I ended up with a crimped duct end trying to connect to the male end of the fan.

 

[Durhamite]

I just set up a box fan nearby blowing over the top of my HLT and BK. Works like a damn charm.

 

[stlbeer]

I just set up a box fan nearby blowing over the top of my HLT and BK. Works like a damn charm.

Dang - no wow factor in that though.

 

[sethhobrin]

I just set up a box fan nearby blowing over the top of my HLT and BK. Works like a damn charm.

are you actually using this box fan to exhaust the humidity out of your house or just blowing it around your room? this water will build up and eventually cause damage to your property. You really need to exhaust that water out of your house.

With water, just because you don't see it doesn't mean it is not there.

 

[Dgonza9]

As cool as the hoods are, they are not necessary in my book. This works great for me. No condensation at all. The active air fan is 720CFM, probably overkill but it was like $10 more than the 400CFM one. I think I paid like $80 or so for it, though I'm probably on a watch list now as I bought it from an online store that had nothing but grow lights, etc. for weed.

Hoods = cool. Necessary?

 

[Fly_Rodder]

Hooked the ducts up tonight and turned the fan on during an 8 gallon boil test. Good news is that on high the fan moves some air. There was a little steam escaping from the hood here and there, but nothing significant.

The bad news was that I had serious condensation at the fan and it was leaking from fan exit and fan housing. Back to the drawing board.

 

[Dgonza9]

How many CFM is your fan?

How long is the piping run and how large is your opening?

 

[kpr121]

I went with a range hood, works OK, but could be better. Before the range hood I would have water dripping off the ceiling joists after a brew. Now I don't have that but it doesn't get every bit of steam.

If I had the extra money I'd go for the hood and a vortex style fan. But here is what I got for free (2 range hoods on craigslist for $60, resold 1 for $60, so free for me)

Glad to hear that this works relatively well. I have been wanting to pull the trigger on craiglist for one of these range hoods but I wasnt sure it would be enough. I brew in the garage and mostly just need to get the majority of moisture out, not all of it. Big thing for me will be keeping the smell down inside the house that seemed to permeate the walls/floors, I havent trained SWMBO to like that smell yet.

I should be able to find one that fits well, mounted to the shelf above my BK (its the one on the right in this pic). I have a window that I can rig up a piece of insulation with a hole in it for the exhaust ducting.

 

[Fly_Rodder]

How many CFM is your fan?

How long is the piping run and how large is your opening?

Its the 6" active air. There's 5' of 6" duct / fan / reducer / 6' of 4" semi-rigid flex in a gentle curve to a 4" dryer vent. I'm thinking of putting more 6" duct after the fan.

 

[Junkster]

Is your duct to the fan pitched so you can maybe put a drain in the bottom? Maybe insulation will help? I'm working on a system for my setup too and it's yet to be tested but condensation is something I will probably need to address.

 

[kpr121]

Is your duct to the fan pitched so you can maybe put a drain in the bottom? Maybe insulation will help? I'm working on a system for my setup too and it's yet to be tested but condensation is something I will probably need to address.

Yeah I've been thinking about that too. I think its probably better to have the fan as far upstream (close to the hood) so that condensation is less likely to collect there. Then you will need some sort of drain or pitch on the rest of the vent so that the condensation will drip out somewhere.

 

[forcabrew]

Hooked the ducts up tonight and turned the fan on during an 8 gallon boil test. Good news is that on high the fan moves some air. There was a little steam escaping from the hood here and there, but nothing significant.

The bad news was that I had serious condensation at the fan and it was leaking from fan exit and fan housing. Back to the drawing board.

What is your hood made out of? It appears like there is a slight upward pitch from your hood to your fan. Maybe that's causing the condensation

 

[user 51917]

I went down to the recycling center and found an old SS gas grill cover and used that as a hood
mounted the in line fan directly to the cover and vented out the cellar window

I mounted it on the wall using adjustable shelfing brackets so I can move it up and down as needed

Works great and looks pretty good

 

[bzomerlei]

I built a hood using 1" thick, 4'x8' sheet of foam insulation I picked up from a big box store. I glued it together with the appropriate foam panel glue and some 3" deck screws to secure it.

Very light weight, easy to hang, and resistant to mold growth. I used a 6" inline fan off eBay, Tjernlund brand, with a speed controller. Not sure the exact CFM, I'm guessing about 500.

Recently I found a heat vent hood used for commercial dishwashers on a repo website. I replaced the blue foam with shiny stainless steel, and it works great.

 

[Fly_Rodder]

I did some modifications today, leveled & re-ran the duct, re-hung the fan and hood, too. I haven't finished the run yet and when I do I'll test again. One if the things I've found with the active air fan is that, at least mine, when it's mounted to hang from the ceiling based on the directions, the electric power in is at the bottom. And that's not going to work long if there's any condensation accumulating in the fan body and dripping down. So I modded the mounting brackets a bit and the electric pack is on top. I'm also running 2' of duct between the fan and the reducer & right angle.