Exhausting into the central heating/ac vents?

[Cozy Amnesia]

Sending your exhaust into the vent leading from the central heating/cooling unit? Obviously this isn't going to be doable for everyone, but for those of us who's grow space shares the same closet/room as the utilities crap, ever though about doing this before?

This will conserve the conditioned air and constantly supply your home with a current of warm air. This is also energy efficient as well as being "green" and what-have-you. In addition, when the heater does have to turn on, it will act like as a vacuum for your grow ventillation which boosts you air current and quickly exhaust your shit.

Those are Layman's terms for some intense physics concepts I could touch up on if anybody wants me to. In it's simplest form, CFMs -- a measurement for air current -- is fully depended on two variables: the air pressure potential and the resistance to flow of air (kind of like drag). It works the same way for electric current, fluids, anything that involves "flux".

But what does this have to do with a/c vents? With a low restricting ventillation system, you can send that air damn near anywhere -- and by that I'm talking about all around the goddamn house. Guess what? Our central heating/cooling systems are already pretty efficient at this. They're made of smooth panels, they're large in area (perpendicular to the flux, that is), and they limit resistance. Get the idea?

Once the exhausted air leaves the scrubber and into the central ventillation system, it's going to meet little resistance. I have a single 65 cfm computer fan pushing air all the way through 5' of 4" vynal tubbing, up another 6' of 8" ducting, into an attic, an out some vent to the great outdoors. It moves at an all-right pace, depending on the air pressure outside, but what's important is the air pressure potential. What I'm not saying is skimp on buying a good fan because little fans will work kind-of (there is no way that my fan could pull through a scrubber). I'm just trying to point out the logistics to why this could work.

That was a big of a dragged on ran, so I'll sum it up without further ado. What do you guys think about this idea? Has anybody tried this before? This is just an idea, I haven't put it into practice yet. But I'm designing an entire new grow and this is entirely possible...

 

[The Slickster]

Greeting Cozy Amnesia, this sounds optimal to exhaust the heat to warm the home. If the main heater intake is too far, how about just in reverse on a room vent? Would the resistance from one 6 inch Vortex going up a vent provide any trouble to the main heater fan as long as the other house vent outlets remain opened? If the heater intake were only closer that would be the ideal placement. Like the way your grow utilizes every watt of light and none goes to waste, this is very efficient.

 

[PermaBuzz]

dp

 

[BIG BOY]

i am thinking about doing this myself. my return air duct is in my attic and i thought about basically cutting out holes and putting a flange on the duct and just returning the exhausted air back into the house. it would even get re-heated when the heat was on and put out a lil bit of heat when its not on.

but how much restriction would this put on the exhaust from the growroom too much?

 

[twowordz]

Hey guys, remember the vents in your houses are pushing. You don't want to push against it.

For those who want to heat with the excess produced by the lights I think you should look at a heat exchanger. Modern HVAC systems use that to warm up incoming air with the exhaust to maximize efficiency.

TW

 

[Cozy Amnesia]

Good ideas and points so far, keep 'em coming!

Another reason I wanted to try this was because something in my furnace is broken . Also, using it heats up my grow room (up to 80 at the most, so not too bad).

 

[BIG BOY]

Hey guys, remember the vents in your houses are pushing. You don't want to push against it.

For those who want to heat with the excess produced by the lights I think you should look at a heat exchanger. Modern HVAC systems use that to warm up incoming air with the exhaust to maximize efficiency.

TW

dont know if this was directed to my post but. . .,
if you go back through the return air duct you are not pushing against the air, all you are doing is sending the air back to the heat exchanger which gets re-heated and then back into the house through the register vents. it would only be helping the airflow imo but i am not an hvac tech. correct me if i am wrong.

 

[ft100]

what if your grow was right by the furnace and you hooked up to the central heat and air right there, making sure to put a damper before you hook into the ducting so air can never go in the furnace, only out. anyone do this or does anyone follow this idea in theory?