Dust from basement shop and duct cleaning.

[K. L. McReynolds]

Have had shop in our basement for 8 years now.

Zero dust from shop in the rest of the house. Always kinda wondered about that.

Found out last week why that is so. Had the duct work cleaned(house built in 1965 and the ducting had never been cleaned) and the fellows explained the reasons.

The basement was originally unfinished. Subsequent owners finished it by dividing into four rooms and a hallway.

Whomever did that work did not plan for HVAC distribution.

My shop(originally open but now closed off with a short wall and door) has two inlet registers. No return at all. The bedroom has one inlet and no return. The furnace room has an inlet and a return(and a louvered door). The final room(the biggest) has no inlets or returns.

That means all I have to do to keep the dust out of the rest of the house is nothing.

But, I do need to fix the other two rooms by providing returns and an inlet.

[Robert Adams]

Wierd. I have to plan for returns for our house. Unfortunately we don't have basements so returns with an upflow are a royal pain to do. The new unit is going in a closet between bedrooms so I can run a return in to one the other return will have to go through the closet of that room first. Stopping sound on those is a pain too as its a straight shot from the fan to room.
Luckily our house is pier and beam which is rare here so I can run returns to the other end of the house through the sealed crawlspace. Still can't get them up high on the wall where I need them here though.

[EightFingers]

Only problem I had with a basement shop when I lived in KC was tracking wood dust and chips upstairs.
Now, I don't have to worry about it, my dust collector goes straight outside.

[daddo]

When you add or push air into a "sealed" room, where does it go?

If the room were completely sealed, you'd get no air at all, just a rise in psi.

Calculate how many cfm are entering the room and you know that much cfm is leaving the room- where is it going?




On the return side of the furnace; If it is blowing 1,200 cfm out, it must get 1,200 cfm in. If 400 cfm are not returning to the furnace's return, where is that 400 cfm coming from?

[K. L. McReynolds]

Most of the air goes into the space above the dropped ceiling and into the furnace room next door, wh0ch has a return. Then into the furnace through the filter.

Until ;last week, the A coil was almost completely plugged. That got cleaned. So, with more air moving, I might see more dust.

[daddo]

If the supply air is not allowed to return back to the return, the space open to that return will be in a neg psi, therefore drawing air from any source, such as cracks around windows, floor boards, doors and so on. This air will come from outside which is dusty, perhaps damp, perhaps cold or hot. In the process, one particular space/room may get colder (In the winter) if the air is being pulled from a leaky window in that room.
If the furnace and gas water heater is in that neg psi room, you can have flue venting issues that can be dangerous.

Just a thought.

[K. L. McReynolds]

The room with the return is completely inside, only two windowless outside walls. Has a common wall with my shop and a louvered door to the hallway. Across the hall is the larger room with no supply/return vents.

I do not spray any finishes in my shop. Two reasons. One, the obvious smell transfer to the rest of the house. And, two, the presence of the furnace/water heater next room over.

[R Clark]

LOML got tired of sawdust and mess coming into the house from the garage shop.

When we moved last year, she was insistent on a house with separate shop building, so that's how we solved the problem.

Dang, hate it when that happens!