I am in th process of having a new house bulit. I will have a 2 car garage that will be dedicated to my shop. The air handler for the air conditioning unit will be in the garage as well. I assumed that the return vent would pull form inside the house. Well I just found out that it does not. It will pull air from the garage. Not a good option for me. I am sure I am not the first person to have this problem. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
The unit is located on the back wall of the garage. On the other side of the wall is the kitchen. The refrigerator will be on the other side of the wall.
Michael
Replies
It's never a good idea to pull return air for your house from the garage. (So you know I'm not just guessing here, I spent 8 years as an editor at Fine Homebuilding, and the 15 prior to that building houses) Consider the fire issues, the car exhaust issues, the impossibilty of sealing the garage doors adequately, and then fire your HVAC contractor.
Andy Engel
Senior editor, Fine Woodworking magazine
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Andy,
That is what I thought also, but my superintendent is telling me that it will pull from the garage. I could nopt believe it when he told me that. But he insisted. Maybe he is wrong about it. I will have to look into it a little more.
Thanks for the reply.
Michael
In the areas I am familiar with, including my own here in NC, it is a code violation to pull makup air out of the garage. Scream, shout, jump up and down, fire people, or do what ever you have to do to correct it.
Got to agree with the others, This would be one major dumb idea!! For it to be in the garage it would need to be 100% sealed in every way.
If you have a problem with this issue and no results you could go to your local housing authority/inspector.. But then again this could open up other issues...
I'd ask the super... Hay.. Sleep in my house while I run the car out here...
Michael:
Besides the warnings that have already been posted, keep in mind that heating and cooling depend on the circulation of air. You will not have adequate air circulation unless the air within the house (not the garage) is returned to the furnace space.
I agree with the others in firing the contractor if for no other reason than stupidity.
Roger
Are you sure about this? I'll bet that you have a cold air return somewhere inside the house and you're getting makeup air from the garage. This is a very common arrangement with forced air HVAC systems.
Here in CA, furnaces and water heaters are installed on pedestals above the garage floor and - since garages aren't even close to air tight - fumes don't accumulate to a level that would let them get into the house. There are also laws (usually ignored) that limit the amount of combustible material that can be stored in the garage.
Dust, however, is a whole nuther problem. One of my "honey-do" chores to be done before the next heating season is to put a pre-filter on the furnace. SWMBO has informed me in no uncertain terms that the fine layer of sawdust all over the place is not acceptable - lol.
What your builder may be talking about is combustion air, or as another poster called it, make-up air. If that's the case, I can live with it. Except that dust laden air being sucked into your burner isn't good for the equipment. I'd ask for a sealed furnace room with make up air supplied from outside.
Andy Engel
Senior editor, Fine Woodworking magazine
An updated profile is a happy profile.
Other people can talk about how to expand the destiny of mankind. I just want to talk about how to fix a motorcycle. I think that what I have to say has more lasting value. --Robert M. Pirsig
None of this matters in geological time.
GOOD POINT! I forgot about that...Also your statement...
I'd ask for a sealed furnace room with make up air supplied from outside.A family member had this done to their older home.. The heating was updated and they had this done.. All the bells and whistles including some type of heat-exchanger? that mixed outside air and heated from the flu?.. I'm not sure exactly..He said his heating bill last winter was about 2/3 of what it was and the house is MUCH cleaner..I think it was a pretty expensive setup though...
Edited 8/19/2005 11:17 am ET by WillGeorge
I'm not an HVAC guy either but return air from the garage won't work at all. Makeup air from the garage would be OK if filtered properly. Think seriously about dust collection for your machines and hooking up your sanders to a good vac, like a Fein. Why worry about dust in your house more than dust in your lungs?John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
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Petronious Arbiter, 210 BC
That heat exchanger is typically used in colder climates to reduce the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of the outside makeup air. It's usually a counter flow or cross flow fin and tube unit where the warm house exhaust air can give up it's heat to the colder makeup air from outside.
Michael, one of the options for our new house was my shop in the attached 2 car garage. My builder told me that code wouldn't even allow any heat and AC ducts in the garage. I would have to get a seperate heating plant for the garage.
My forced hot air furnace is in my shop in the basement. I put a 12 by 12 filter in the return outlet and change the filters often, which reminds me, I need to change both.
Larry
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