exhausting into HVAC system to warm a home?

[MrAwder]

a bit stoned and wondering if it is feasible to exhaust warm, scrubbed air into the hvac system of a house to help with heating it. i'm sure there would be issues.... namely 1) what do you do when it's already warm and you want to run the AC. 2) handling back drafts/pressure from running the furnace when you additional heat.

i ask because i am interested in experimenting with greenhouse aquaponics, but for at least a small part of the year i will have to raise both vegetables and fish indoors. doing so will generate a good amount of warm humid air... combined with that of my grow i figure it might generate enough heat to make integrating it in an energy efficient manner worthwhile.

 

[Budwhyser]

I have a friend that does this and it works great for heat, however, as you know, scrubbers do not eliminate 100% of the odor resulting in a house that smells like a garden

 

[intotheunknown]

i vent my room from downstairs to upstairs through a duct routed to the central area of the upstairs, and blocked off the output from the heater so its not going to push the air back into the heater.

works well to rid of the heat and put it somewhere else.

i disagree with the above statement. scrubbers will eliminate 100% of grow room odor. but have their own unique smell of well, a carbon scrubber.

 

[Budwhyser]

i vent my room from downstairs to upstairs through a duct routed to the central area of the upstairs, and blocked off the output from the heater so its not going to push the air back into the heater.

works well to rid of the heat and put it somewhere else.

i disagree with the above statement. scrubbers will eliminate 100% of grow room odor. but have their own unique smell of well, a carbon scrubber.

5th week of flower nothing will totally purify the air.

 

[stonedwarrior]

Maybe if you're running roadkill skunk, shoreline, that type of shit.

I'm in week 8 flower now, no filter and can barely smell it.

 

[stonedwarrior]

.

 

[DHF]

Many wayta skin a mule Bro.......but....scrubbing air exhausted into the rest of the house is paramount in keepin the whole house from smellin like dope......and......

If scrubbers are kept in good condition , they most definitely eliminate pot smell as long as the air bein pulled through em`s dialed to the right size inline fan........and that`s......

Where most folks don`t realize that fans and scrubbers MUST be matched CFM wise or as was stated above , there was smell when there shouldn`t have been........but......

Aquaponics and veggie production as well ?.......Gonna be bunches of humidity released into the whole house with much much potential for airborn nasties , molds and mildews........and.......

With all that goin on while tryin to hoon soime nuggage is gonna be a good test of yer mud at best.....so....

Holler if I can help Bro.........DHF..............

 

[the gnome]

a properly set up carbon scrubber that is capable of doing the job will stop all dank/garden smell

i have 18-22 plants in a7x8 room, a 304 cfm elicent 6" inline hooked to a can50 filter and i get zero pot smell.
at times its smells, but i can't think of what it smells like, but nothing resembling the dank garden aroma.

If scrubbers are kept in good condition , they most definitely eliminate pot smell as long as the air being pulled through em`s dialed to the right size inline fan........and that`s......

Where most folks don`t realize that fans and scrubbers MUST be matched CFM wise or as was stated above , there was smell when there shouldn`t have been........but......

sage words DHF
if your pulling the air to quick and don't allow enough contact time between the air+carbon your gonna have smell passing through. i have a speedster fan control and they can help dial your existing fan for the job many times.
I also use a gall pail of ona in the room and and smell coming through is on tha ona side

 

[the gnome]

forgot to add, yes you can heat your house with HID heat, i would recommend either having your whole exaust system match so if you attach the carbon filter you don't have to slow the fan down to allow the filter to work but cause probs with not cooling the lamps enough.

if your going to hest the house sometimes the easiest option is not to pull air from the room to heat the house and add a fan to the filter and just scrub the air in the room and have your exaust system sealed and get the intake the air from outside.

 

[PoopyTeaBags]

I have a friend that does this and it works great for heat, however, as you know, scrubbers do not eliminate 100% of the odor resulting in a house that smells like a garden

scrubbers hooked up correctly with negative pressure should eliminate smells 100% . No garden smells should be present unless the door is open.

 

[medical marvel]

in winter..draw air for both the plants, and for light cooling from inside the house..make sure you always have negative pressure ..always get a bigger fan and filter than you think you need...i always see this..people with a 6 inch fan and a 6 inch filter..unless it's for a cab, or a very small area..go big..and dial the fan back if the temps are too low, or noise too high. Remember when you are tending to the plants on your daily routine.. you create 3 times as much "smell"..this is when the odor really needs to be sucked away..a small fan cannot keep up with regular tending of a garden..open doors, hallway..walking to the sink..washing resin off hands..dumping gloves in the garbage. A larger fan pulls much of that odor out of the area. Localized smaller filters help in surrounding areas.Easy to fill up old ones or make smaller filters...for 400 bucks you can buy 3 more small filters to use in different levels of the house on pull days.shitty fans work fine in these. Anyway..winter light cooling air gets drawn from inside, filtered,then sent elsewhere to warm another area...very simple to throw in another duct. Don't muck up the furnace system with crazy back pressure..wouldn't want to suck that crap into the basement. CO detector. I would do a sealed room, if i wanted to remove all exterior venting. heal the pain

 

[medical marvel]

forgot to add, yes you can heat your house with HID heat, i would recommend either having your whole exaust system match so if you attach the carbon filter you don't have to slow the fan down to allow the filter to work but cause probs with not cooling the lamps enough.

if your going to hest the house sometimes the easiest option is not to pull air from the room to heat the house and add a fan to the filter and just scrub the air in the room and have your exaust system sealed and get the intake the air from outside.

I used to hate dialing back fans..finding the sweet spot with a speed controller is tricky. I have switched to Router Speed controller, and dial back 8 inch fans with ease. I find a temperature test, and cfm calculation helps confirm fan speed and scrubber efficiency is in line.

 

[OrganicOzarks]

I have been doing this for years. It works very well. Why waste the heat? I make sure to use large filters, and larger than you will think you need fans. You will know when it is time to clean the pre-filter. Your house will start to smell really really good.

 

[MrAwder]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I am low on time so I won't be replying individually...

Anyway suffice to say this was a very "hazy" (literally inspired by some nice haze) idea the other night.

It looks like overall with the right equipment it can be done. The key factors being:

1) large fans and scrubbers
2) dealing with higher humidity and air-born nasties

With regards to fans and scrubbers I am definitely of the "overkill is underrated" school of thought. Right now I am exhausting a single 600 with an 8" fan through 8"x24" scrubber. Fan runs at 50% and zero smell. I will probably stick with this same setup for 1200W running the fan at 70% as a "pre-filter" exhausting into the lung room (x2 for 2 flower rooms). The lung-room will then pull through a 10" scrubber and fan combo and exhaust into the HVAC system. Double scrubbed and not exceeding the CFM rating for any of the scrubbers.

The humidity and airborne pathogens briefly crossed my mind as a concern, but I figure this indoor aquaponics setup will only be run through about the coldest/driest 1/3rd of the year to keep some fish stock alive and start plants for next season. The humidity bump may even be welcome in mid January (this is central ohio and it can get dryyyy). Airborne nasties are a definite concern. This setup will be completely separate from my grow but will use all the same principles of lighting and ventilation so air will be scrubbed and exhausted into the HVAC system. A pathogen would have to pass the filter from this room, be exhausted into the house and then pass through the intake filter to enter my grow. Possible....

So the inspiration came from me deciding I want a greenhouse with aquaponics. I've been watching too much Doomsday-preppers. The issue with this is how cold it can get here in the winter months. I have half of an under-house garage that I planned on finishing as a small office/chill spot. I then realized I get more joy out of DIY projects and growing than I would in a nice finished office where I could twiddle my thumbs and write posts on icmag. I would rather spend that money on a couple 55 gallon tanks and some tilapia fry, PVC, etc and expand my knowledge of growing and ecological systems.

thanks again for the replies and comments

 

[kona]

I guess it really comes down to how many lights he wants to run...

If its a 10x10 and he wants 4 1000s....

4 inlines, 2 scrubbers

then its just: scrubber -> inline -> vented hood -> inline -> exhaust to main house

& a dehumidifier on a controller and its no different than any other garden?

 

[TheArchitect]

As stated previously, if the fan/filter are matched and hooked up properly, ie drawing through creating negative pressure in the room, there isn't smell.

As for heating your house, yes it's doable but as DHF said humidity is sure to cause problems.

If your grow rooms are high 70s and your house is low 70s/high 60s when your grow room air hits your house air the relative humidity wll jump, and the greater the difference in temp the greater the jump.

If you plan on doing it. You'll need to drop at least about 2k on a proper whole home dehumidifier.

So all in all it ends in a wash, you have to run more gear to do it right nd prevent mold growing on your walls.

 

[Herbophile]

I did this for 5 years in my last house in a very cold climate. It worked well but the problem I would have during the winter was condesation on the windows. The humidity wasn't that high it's just a common winter problem with windows and any form of humidity in a home. Read up on condensation on windows and you'll get the principles of why it happens. Most of the problem was solved by running the lights during the day rather than night time but of course I lost some of the heating efficiency from doing it that way. I would also leave a window open up stairs to let some of the warm moist air excape.

I had 3k running between flower and veg and my furnace rarely ran during lights on but I had a newer well insulated home. During the summer months I ran the lights at night to reduce the load on my AC. That poor AC had to work serious overtime during July and August. My hot air was vented into the the supply duct of my HVAC system so in a sense I was force feeding my furnace. Other than the AC working more in the summer I never had any negative consequences by doing this.

 

[Perpetual Nooch]

In winter, if you pump hot/humid air into your heating system it will rise into your chimney, condense and mix with soot, and form a brown sludge that will leak onto your floor out of the chimney cleanout opening.

 

[the gnome]

\

As for heating your house, yes it's doable but as DHF said humidity is sure to cause problems.

If you plan on doing it. You'll need to drop at least about 2k on a proper whole home dehumidifier.
So all in all it ends in a wash, you have to run more gear to do it right nd prevent mold growing on your walls.

you don't need to spend a penny on a whole house dehuey if you just do what i posted on the 1st page
and it negates all the other probs and you only add another inline for the filter if your set with your xaust already

if your going to heat the house sometimes the easiest option is not to pull air from the room to heat the house and add a fan to the filter and just scrub the air in the room and have your exaust system sealed and get the intake the air from outside or elsewhere.

 

[DHF]

you don't need to spend a penny on a whole house dehuey if you just do what i posted on the 1st page
and it negates all the other probs and you only add another inline for the filter if your set with your xaust already

I thought the original question stemmed from the ability to exhaust growroom air into the HVAC system of the "whole house" Gnome.......

Maybe I`m missin something here.......Over here on my bucket waitin to learn something "new" bout dialed environment........

Peace....DHF..........