Gable Vent

[vrinner]

OK...so it's been hot and pretty much can't really do much in the shop. Steel building, fully insulated and no ventilation or A/C yet. I figure an inexpensive start would be to put in a gable vent at one end up high and then an intake vent low on the other side. Run it at night to keep the interior cool as well as occasionally to control humidity. From reading around I think that will be a good thing to get started with but a couple of questions on placement.

I am looking at getting a vent like this from HD and mounting it up fairly high on the west side of the building.

iLIVING 3368 CFM Silver Electric Powered Gable Mount Shutter Fan/Vent ILG8SF20VC - The Home Depot

The iLIVING smart remote shutter exhaust fans are equipped with a thermostat, humidistat, variable speed and timer. These fans can be activated with a remote control up to 1,000 ft. range. The iLIVING

www.homedepot.com

Is that all I need...as in cut the hole, add the proper trim for water proofing/run off and then mount the fan/louvers into the opening or do I need any other sort of box around it?


Then for the intake I'm thinking of just cutting a hole in the man door and putting it on there. That side of the building does get some afternoon sun but figure I probably wont be running the fan during the heat of the day. The other thought was to cut a hole in the building on the north east side as that is always in the shade.

 

[chad215]

You'll need to add some kind of blocking to actually mount the fan. I wouldn't trust just screwing into the sheet metal. My build thread (post #38) shows how I installed mine.

 

[vrinner]

You'll need to add some kind of blocking to actually mount the fan. I wouldn't trust just screwing into the sheet metal. My build thread (post #38) shows how I installed mine.

Good idea. I do have a bunch of extra steel from when the building was built as well as some extra door/window trim.

For the trim (and the rest of the fan), is it screwed into the wall siding or just your supports? I saw a video online where someone just put the trim into the opening, then sealant and placed the window into the opening then put the supports on the inside to hold it all in place. Also did you have to do any ladder work from outside or was it all done from the inside?

I'm also debating if I should put it on the gable end up high...meaning I will need to move my flag to another wall or hang it lower, or put it to the right of the flag or on the left side wall up high...my guess is up high on the gable wall would be best...function before form.

 

[chad215]

The trim was installed from the outside, so it was ladders work on both sides. Trim can be screwed into just the panel, but the blocking is back there too, so it went into the blocking as well.
Heat rises so I would install high center, but it will move some air through your shop regardless where you put it.

 

[vrinner]

I got my gable vent delivered this week and am hopefully going to get it installed this weekend. For anyone interested, I found a great video on installing metal trim on a steel building. Here is the link with instructions and video. Looks pretty detailed. Hope it goes well.

How To Install Metal Trim On Window

Looking for a guide on how to install metal trim around a window? Follow our simple step by step instructions and video to learn how to install window trim.

www.westernstatesmetalroofing.com

 

[vrinner]

So just to close out this...the install was a success. For over a month, when I'd go out in the morning the temp inside the garage was still in the low to mid 80's and by night time it was pretty much in the high 80's. When it was just over 100 the inside temp read 99.



Finished up the install last night by putting in the intake louvers in the man door opposite side of the fan and hooking up the thermostat. The inside temp was 84 at ground level and 89 up top. I set the thermostat to 70 and sure enough...went out this morning and both the upper temp and lower temp were 70. While sitting there admiring the coolness of my shop again the fan kicked on for a couple of minutes then turned off.

So I'm thinking maybe I should set it to something higher like 75 or 80 degrees because I think as the day goes on it will get hot, the fan will turn on but then it may start pulling hotter air in and just get even hotter.

 

[fitter30]

Most thermostats don't have a adjustable differential what is the stats model and brand.

 

[vrinner]

Most thermostats don't have a adjustable differential what is the stats model and brand.

It's the Iliving ILG8SFRC Exhaust Fan Smart Remote Control Kit. Came with the fan. And it's pretty basic. I think someone should come up with a thermostat for these things that you can set the desired inside temp to say a low of 65 and a high of 72. Then as long as the outside air temp is below the 72 or the outside temp is lower than the current inside temp then the fan will kick on. This covers not pulling in 85 degree air if the inside temp gets to 75 but once the outside temp drops below 75 the fan will kick on because outside air is cooler than inside.

I bet I could program something with a Raspberry Pi for that.