Garage door opener triggered extractor

[Kelvinator]

Hi all,

This is probably a weird request, but i havent been able to find an answer by search or google.

My garage is under the house, with internal access. My car runs very rich when cold and can smoke. These two things dont play nice.

What im thinking of, is an extraction fan that is triggered by the garage door opener, or the light on it. So when the light on the opener is lit, the fan will be on at the same time (as it has a delay before turning off).

Open the garage door, fan is on, start the car and drive out. Close the door, fan is on again and will run for a few minutes. This should help to remove the fumes from the garage and lessen the amount making their way into the house.

Im guessing it depends on the opener for the door if it has some sort of aux output? Is there any other way i could trigger the extractor?

 

[polizei1]

I have CO2 detectors at work that when triggered, open exhaust doors on the roof and start fans. Once the level of CO2 drops, the fans shut off and the doors close.

 

[KenB]

A relay like this would switch on your exhaust fan while the light is lit.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079ZLC17F/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Ken

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Wouldn't it be cheaper to just tune your car properly?

Tommy

 

[Oldbear]

Look into fire department apparatus bay exhaust extractors. We've been getting ready for a renovation at one of our fire halls and part of that is a self-contained fume "scrubber" - they will turn on with a gas detector, door switch and manually on a timer. Air-Vac is one of the systems we looked at.

I'm looking at adapting the door switch option for my home shop - a roller switch or a push button at the end of the rail to turn on my exhaust fan. But that is way down the road.

 

[rlitman]

A relay like this would switch on your exhaust fan while the light is lit.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079ZLC17F/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Ken

That relay has a 120V input. This wouldn't exactly be code compliant, but you could feed the relay off the light socket using one of these, if you're not able to tap into the 120V side directly:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001PCVTFC/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[ford33]

Unless you have a very large fan, I don't see how you can move enough air in a few minutes to remove the fumes in a garage.

Better to consider getting the engine fixed.

If you do install a fan here is the math:

You could calculate the volume of your garage, take a percentage volume to evacuate and then size for a fan for the needed cubic feet per minute. Of course it takes time to move air from within an enclosure so reduce the time by one minute. You need to provide fresh air into the garage. You can't take air out without putting air in. Where is the fresh air coming from? You will need to provide ducts to get air out and in.

Example:
Garage volume = 3200 cu feet. 8' h x 20' x 20'
Evacuate 20% = 640 cu feet.
Time 2 minutes = 320 cu feet per minute CFM

What fan could you use:

Bathroom fan = 100 cfm. Need at least 3 of them.
Ceiling mounted ventilator = 320 cfm (grainger 5AE73 at $185 each). Requires ducting and is loud.
Tubeaxial fan direct motor drive fan = 1100 CFM @ 12 inch diameter (smallest at grainger 4TM80 at $875). Requires ducting and is loud.

 

[Kelvinator]

Ok, thanks for the replies guys.

No, its not easier to "fix" the engine, as without cats, on a performance tune, with a 40+ year old engine design, it needs to run rich on cold start. A new ECU and a retune might make it a little better, but i wouldnt expect miracles.

It didnt occur to me that i would need to shift that much air for it to even make a difference. Fresh air inlet vents wouldnt be too much of an issue, but i cant have a huge noisy fan.

Guess its a pipedream then, and i should just work on improving the seal on the door to the house to limit fume ingress.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Ok, thanks for the replies guys.

No, its not easier to "fix" the engine, as without cats, on a performance tune, with a 40+ year old engine design, it needs to run rich on cold start. A new ECU and a retune might make it a little better, but i wouldnt expect miracles.

Anything with an ECU should NOT smoke on cold start regardless of no cats, "performance tune" or age of design. Hell, I can make 900+ horsepower engines idle at 1200 rpm with a carb and they don't smoke when cold.

Tommy

 

[rlitman]

Unless you have a very large fan, I don't see how you can move enough air in a few minutes to remove the fumes in a garage.

Better to consider getting the engine fixed.

If you do install a fan here is the math:

You could calculate the volume of your garage, take a percentage volume to evacuate and then size for a fan for the needed cubic feet per minute. Of course it takes time to move air from within an enclosure so reduce the time by one minute. You need to provide fresh air into the garage. You can't take air out without putting air in. Where is the fresh air coming from? You will need to provide ducts to get air out and in.

Example:
Garage volume = 3200 cu feet. 8' h x 20' x 20'
Evacuate 20% = 640 cu feet.
Time 2 minutes = 320 cu feet per minute CFM

What fan could you use:

Bathroom fan = 100 cfm. Need at least 3 of them.
Ceiling mounted ventilator = 320 cfm (grainger 5AE73 at $185 each). Requires ducting and is loud.
Tubeaxial fan direct motor drive fan = 1100 CFM @ 12 inch diameter (smallest at grainger 4TM80 at $875). Requires ducting and is loud.

1300CFM for under $60:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000LNII4Q/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Look at a gable mount attic fan, and get a set of louvres for it. No ducting.

 

[Falcon67]

Agree with LS6 and the OP. Especially with an ECU, you should be able to tune cold start and run on any engine without regard to age. If it smells "Fat" (stinks, fumes) when running at cold idle, IMHO you are running it too lean and its not rich. That's unburned fuel from incomplete combustion.

That said, pump fuel stinks and evaps readily. My wife won't allow any of the "hot rods" to park in the house garage because the fumes collect quickly. Try as I might to seal it off, the smell still gets into the house. When I park one of the race cars, I shut off the pump and run the carb(s) dry. But since there is no evap control system on them, fumes are free to escape through any vent - carb bowl, fuel cell, etc. Same when parked in the race trailer - if running 10% 91 pump fuel, I will have to vent the trailer, shop, etc where a car is parked. If running straight 110 leaded race fuel, I don't have the same issue. Current pump fuel is ****.

For a vent, I'd get a screw in Edison-to-plug gizmo, put it in one of the opener light sockets and run a card to a relay to trigger a vent fan.

 

[FMC]

couldn't you just use a garage exhaust hose?

 

[engineer2]

On the cheap you could simply put a Leviton 1403 Two Outlet Socket Adapter into the door opener light bulb socket, but we don't know what the opener's relay is rated for. If you need more wattage you could wire in a photocell switch next to the door opener bulb.

Agree tuning is an issue. I'm surprise by how many people still tune idle mixture to highest vacuum which is dead wrong.