Venting from basement

[Baddog40]

I am trying to figure out a decent way to vent outside from a basement. Dryer vent is out of the question as my gas meter is right next to the dryer vent outside(meter readers). I have no fireplace so that is not an option.

Looking above my hot water heater I noticed a vent that is not attached to anything and goes straight up into the floor and possibly into the attic but I'm not sure, does anyone know what this vent may be (see pic)?

 

[Smokerman]

If you had your furnace replaced with a hi efficiency using that 2 or 3 inch plastic pipe and your water heater looks like 2 inch abs, it looks like that is your old B-vent chimney, so yes you could use it. It should rise 5-6 feet above roof line.

 

[LlamaSchool]

You can vent into the sewer.

Maybe you can vent in between floors or in between walls? Not sure about this - humidity may be an issue.

Your hot water heater vent will also work. I'm not sure the safe place to enter this vent to prevent the possibility of pushing gas fumes back into the house. This flame produces CO2 (good) and possibly some Carbon Monoxide (bad).

The hot water heater vent probably goes up your house's old chimney to exhaust above the house. However, keep in mind that the ducting is probably only 4" or 6" at the most which may be a little small if you are moving a lot of air.

Can anyone confirm how to safely vent into the hot water heater exhaust vent? I'd like to do the same if it is safe. Is there any chance that tapping in to the vent somewhere upstream from the open-manifold vent on top of the heater will push exhaust fumes back inside?

 

[boroboro]

Can anyone confirm how to safely vent into the hot water heater exhaust vent? I'd like to do the same if it is safe. Is there any chance that tapping in to the vent somewhere upstream from the open-manifold vent on top of the heater will push exhaust fumes back inside?

BIG chance of problems tying into a water heater exhaust. There isn't much more than the 'hot air rising' effect pushing out the exhaust fumes in the traditional style water heater. A little pressure from the forced exhaust from the grow room could easily overwhelm the water heater exhaust flow and push it back down. I've seen some people say it's OK, as long as you tie in XX feet above the water heater, but that's not possible in a basement (i.e. these people say you could tie in to the water heater exhaust vent up 1 or two stories above the water heater.

JMHO, YMMV.

 

[Baddog40]

Upon further examination it appears that this vent pipe isnt attached to anything, it goes straight up into the attic from the basement with nothing attached on the top or the bottom. Only problem it is a 4" pipe and I have 2 seperate rooms that I am venting and each is using 6" ducting. I could attach a Y to the 6" vents and then downsize it to a 4" coupler but my thoughts are that it would be pushing to much air for a 4" pipe, or would that work?

 

[jugdishe]

I have the exact same issue
I am/was considering using the chimney. My research indicates that for my set up that messing with flue gasses can be very dangerous when done DIY and very expensive to have a pro do it
this site was very helpful in realizing what a chimney is
http://www.chimneys.com/burning_secrets/chapter_1.html#Anatomy

good luck and safety first!

j~

 

[LlamaSchool]

Hey baddog. Do you know how much air you are flowing through your fan so we can calculate how it would work through a 4"? Maybe you could drop a larger duct (6"+) down the chimney?

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Don't choke the two 6" down. We gotta find another solution...

If you have a closet on the upper level close, you could go directly into the closet and continue on up to the attic. A straight shot with your fans in the attic would make for a very adequate and quiet situation. However, you still need to get the amount of air you plan on pushing out IN to the basement. The air has to come from somewhere, so you will need to make sure there is adequate opening to the upper level.
This may not seem a big deal, but if your furnace is in the basement, just be aware that if that is the only place the basement can draw air from it may cause issues with the pilot etc. The furnace was not designed to be providing an extra 1000 cu ft of air.

*Also...
If you are worried about the gas man smelling your grow, then you need to carbon scrub no questions. It matters not where you are exiting the air if not scrubbed, especially when we are talking rooms. He will smell it no matter where you exhaust if you don't scrub it. I guarantee it 100%ly.

 

[microgram]

Creating more pressure on one end is bound to spread out. Laws of physics? I think? haha.

One idea with your dryer vent would be to buy a new one, one obviously not metallic. and run it down behind your dryer and away towards your grow show. Then just splice the inconspicuous duct and put your dryer vent into it. I know the way my place is set up, the washer and dryer are right beside each other, and beside the washing machine is a storage place from where an old maids staircase used to be. In which case If this is similar to you, you could easily run ducting through there.