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Garage ventilation

Mike99

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Apr 3, 2017
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Does anyone know how many cfms I need to adequately ventilate my 2 car garage for both humidity control and bbqing? I live slightly north of 49 degrees north in the middle of the north American continent. Im planning on 180 cfm otr unit with 4 inch duct. Think thatl do it? Otr = over the range.
 
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Firebrick43

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You can't control humidity by an exhaust fan only an AC. In fact humidity will get worse. Having moving air provided by a ceiling fan will help with sweating, mold, and musty smells by keeping air moving.

By bbqing do you mean your grilling(either gas or charcoal)in your garage? If so I would strongly suggest not doing so. Friend and coworker just last month nearly burned down his garage doing so. Luckily he was able to drag it out and had a fire extinguisher nearby so he just had a couple off pieces of drywall and a garage door to replace. Also the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning is high.
 
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Mike99

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I should add. Recently heated my 400 sq ft garage with 220 ac (6000 watts)and am mostly concerned with humidity control in the winter with snow melt off the cars. I plan on keeping the temperature around 45 F 24/7 and crank it up when I work or cook.
 

Eslader

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I second Firebrick -- never barbecue in a garage. I used to work in TV news and I covered a *lot* of house fires that started with garage cooking.
 

Firebrick43

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I should add. Recently heated my 400 sq ft garage with 220 ac (6000 watts)and am mostly concerned with humidity control in the winter with snow melt off the cars. I plan on keeping the temperature around 45 F 24/7 and crank it up when I work or cook.

I already covered the barbecue so I won't beat that bush. But again for humidity control you don't want mass inflow of air. It brings more moisture in and in a heating climate ruins your efficientcy. Since its for a heated area a dehumidifier would work well. As a plus the dehumidifier will produce some heat. In a cooling enviroment you don't want a dehumidifier as it basically is an ac the doesn't actually cool and adds heat. An actual ac is better (and not much more power consumption) in a cooling enviroment if it's not oversized.

The best of both worlds is a heat pump mini split. Models such as the hyper heat from Mitsubishi have heat down to -13f, have a dry mode that dehumidifies, and ac, all more effciently than you resistance heater.
 
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James-W

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I already covered the barbecue so I won't beat that bush. But again for humidity control you don't want mass inflow of air. It brings more moisture in and in a heating climate ruins your efficiency. Since its for a heated area a dehumidifier would work well. As a plus the dehumidifier will produce some heat. In a cooling enviroment you don't want a dehumidifier as it basically is an ac the doesn't actually cool and adds heat. An actual ac is better (and not much more power consumption) in a cooling environment if it's not oversized.

The best of both worlds is a heat pump mini split. Models such as the hyper heat from Mitsubishi have heat down to -13f, have a dry mode that dehumidifies, and ac, all more efficiently than you resistance heater.
I don't think a dehumidifier will work all that well if the temperature is only 45 degrees. It will tend to freeze up on you.
 
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Mike99

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I don't think a dehumidifier will work all that well if the temperature is only 45 degrees. It will tend to freeze up on you.

No me neither and I dont want to get that fancy. Just want to get rid of the smoke when Im winter cooking on the electric grill and additionally reduce the humidity from melted car snow which I will be mopping up. I also dont want to **** out all my electric heat so am hoping a 180 cfm range hood connected to a 4 inch duct will be a nice balance. Got the hole drilled in the side wall yesterday, just need to hook up the ducts and give her a try.
 

D45

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I have a large NG grill in my enclosed patio

Directly above the grill is a large, commercial grade 240v hood/exhaust....wired in with a 12 speed dial

It works great and I enjoy year round grillin
 
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Mike99

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I have a large NG grill in my enclosed patio

Directly above the grill is a large, commercial grade 240v hood/exhaust....wired in with a 12 speed dial

It works great and I enjoy year round grillin

Just talked with a fellow who does the same thing in his garage not far from me. Has never had a problem with co or moisture.
 
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