Power Venting for Garage

[kbuhagiar]

Hello Folks,

I recently doubled the size of my original three-car garage. It now holds 6 cars and is a total of 1700SF. Parking is tandem (three in front, three in back) so even though I try to move the 'deep-parked' cars quickly outside after starting them, I still will get intense residual exhaust fumes that tend to linger in the garage. On a breezy day, if I open the man-door at the rear and leave both garage doors in front open I can clear the air in about 15 - 20 minutes, but I would like to install some sort of exhaust fan that would speed up the process. My initial thought was a 'whole-house' type fan mounted in the 'deep' part of the garage, but I was wondering if there was a better solution.

I am not against venting through the roof, but if possible I would prefer something mounted on the outside wall, if it could be just as efficient. Fresh air intake would be via partially open garage doors, and/or through the man door.

So, what are your ideas/suggestions for a power ventilation system for the garage?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Rusted Nut]

In my last house I installed a fan at the back wall of the garage, because I usually back in. But to work on something in went front first as my tools etc.. we’re at the back; so the fan sucked exhaust through the entire garage. I would definitely recommend locating fan in the ceiling/roof.

 

[Dig Doug]

A couple fart fans ( exhaust fan ) they have some that are near silent, wire it w/ a timer switch.

 

[carlaisle]

Power gable vent?

 

[Jackfre]

Tjernlund.com They have many ventilation fans that they can help you with.

 

[racecougar]

I installed a 30" whole house fan in my 30'x60'x13' when I framed the ceiling just for this purpose. It works very very well.

 

[mm08822]

A 36" sq louvered fan in the attic gable was the tried and true method to cool a house down.
Leaving the attic hatchway open (with screen in place) would draw the inside air through it.
Strategically selecting which windows/doors to open pulled outside air in and temp dropped quickly.

This would work just as well for fumes.

 

[tool_scrounge]

Find a used furnace fan and attach it to one of the 4x10” vents you have at ground level in your garage. Screw some hardware metal mesh on the inlets to keep finders out of it. Often you can find multi speed fans and you can select the speed that gives you the air flow you want.

 

[67carl]

I have a tiny 1 car garage, and when I had my Camaro and pulled in after a drive... holy cow it was like a death trap. Didn't help that my laundry area is at the front of the garage and open to it. During a garage remodel I put in a fan that fit between the studs above the garage door and installed a push button time switch (5/15/20/30/1hr). In the laundry room I open a window, and it creates a wind tunnel and ***** all that bad air out. Very effective. You have a much larger space but can do the same thing if you think about moving outside air through it from one side to the far other.

 

[kbuhagiar]

All great suggetions so far, thanks!

I installed a 30" whole house fan in my 30'x60'x13' when I framed the ceiling just for this purpose. It works very very well.

This is probably what I will end up doing.
Do you have a dedicated air intake vent, or do you just leave the doors cracked open?

 

[Kaizen]

Find a used furnace fan and attach it to one of the 4x10” vents you have at ground level in your garage. Screw some hardware metal mesh on the inlets to keep finders out of it. Often you can find multi speed fans and you can select the speed that gives you the air flow you want.

At some point this is what I will do as well. Thinking one large fan can connect to several inlets the length of the garage and quickly take out welding fumes and such. Also like the idea of running it to cool or warm up the shop by bringing in outside air.

 

[racecougar]

This is probably what I will end up doing.
Do you have a dedicated air intake vent, or do you just leave the doors cracked open?

Depending on what I'm doing, I either open the windows or the overhead doors. If it's a nice day and I simply want airflow: windows. If I'm using it to handle exhaust fumes: doors (and maybe windows too). If I'm doing metalwork and want to retain my conditioned air, I use the scrubber instead.

 

[tool_scrounge]

At some point this is what I will do as well. Thinking one large fan can connect to several inlets the length of the garage and quickly take out welding fumes and such. Also like the idea of running it to cool or warm up the shop by bringing in outside air.

if your garage is attached to dro the house, you can use the garage vent fan to cool your house at night when the house is hotter than the outside air. Just open the windows on the far side of the house and the door to the garage. Turn on the garage vent fan and pull cool air thru the house. Poor man‘s whole house cooling fan. Works quite well.

 

[kbuhagiar]

Following up on my original post...

After doing some research I've decided to vent through the side wall of the garage.
My initial thought was to use a 24" unit, but my wall studs are 16" on center, so I would need to cut a stud and crib up a window opening to accomodate the fan.

I'm thinking instead of using two 16" fans side-by-side, one each on either side of a wall stud. Together they would flow a bit more than the single 24" unit, plus I would have a greater level of control over the flow by using either one or both fans when needed.

Thoughts?

 

[aaustins14]

What is your climate? I’m in the north east US, and to cut a 16” hole in the wall would greatly reduce my heating abilities. Maybe this is not a concern to you.

Depending on how big of a project it is, I think I would start with 1 fan and see if it is enough for you. Can always add another fan, but it’s hard to uncut a hole in the wall.

I too need to add some airflow to the shop.

 

[jkuro]

I have a tiny 1 car garage, and when I had my Camaro and pulled in after a drive... holy cow it was like a death trap. Didn't help that my laundry area is at the front of the garage and open to it. During a garage remodel I put in a fan that fit between the studs above the garage door and installed a push button time switch (5/15/20/30/1hr). In the laundry room I open a window, and it creates a wind tunnel and ***** all that bad air out. Very effective. You have a much larger space but can do the same thing if you think about moving outside air through it from one side to the far other.

Nice car. I have one the same color but mines a 69.

 

[Stuart in MN]

What is your climate? I’m in the north east US, and to cut a 16” hole in the wall would greatly reduce my heating abilities. Maybe this is not a concern to you.

Per his signature he's in Escondido, CA so heating isn't a concern.

 

[aaustins14]

Per his signature he's in Escondido, CA so heating isn't a concern.

Good catch. My bad, didn’t show on my mobile.

 

[kbuhagiar]

What is your climate? I’m in the north east US, and to cut a 16” hole in the wall would greatly reduce my heating abilities. Maybe this is not a concern to you.

Per his signature he's in Escondido, CA so heating isn't a concern.

Correct! And the fans I am looking at have louvers which close off the opening when not in use.

 

[Fav Onefour]

Correct! And the fans I am looking at have louvers which close off the opening when not in use.

I'm glad you mentioned they have louvers. Louvers will help keep critters out too.
I get the idea of doing two fans for max flow. If that is your plan, can you put them in two locations instead of side by side?

I work with two stroke motors in the garage during cold season. With those temps I don't want to leave the building open and heat all outdoors. New motors use extra oil during break in period and the garage fills with fog. It's heavy enough that I can visually see the air movement.
Cross flow air cleans out faster than any single opening. In my case, I crack an overhead open about one foot and open the man door on the other side. I move the air out with a good fan in one opening. Fan direction varies with outside winds. The fan is really just speeding up what the wind will do eventually. That helps a lot.

 

[finn]

My shop came with a louvred Dayton permanently mounted and switched fan maybe twelve feet up on the gable end of the shop.

I blocked it off with 2” rigid styrofoam, though. I was looking at it one zero degree winter day and could see daylight around the louvres . The amount of conditioned air escaping seemed like it should be atrocious.

We really don’t get that many hot days anyway, but that 12” or so fan could move a lot of air.

Someday I”ll build a sealed box with an easily opened door around it. One that I don’t have to climb a ladder to operate.


Maybe in my next lifetime.

 

[racecougar]

Is the garage conditioned?

 

[kbuhagiar]

Yes it is. Two 24K BTU mini-splits.

 

[racecougar]

Then I'd go with what aaustins14 suggested, install one fan, see how it does, then add another if necessary. The louvers help, but they're likely not insulated and won't seal completely (you'll have conditioned air loss even while the fan is off).

 

[kbuhagiar]

Then I'd go with what aaustins14 suggested, install one fan, see how it does, then add another if necessary. The louvers help, but they're likely not insulated and won't seal completely (you'll have conditioned air loss even while the fan is off).

Good point.

I wonder if there is a way to fix the louvers in the closed position to minimize the air loss?
Or is it even be worth the effort (i.e. air loss is negligible)?

 

[racecougar]

The typical approach is to fit an insulated plug or cap when the fan isn't in use, but the practicality of that varies based upon the application.

 

[CraigStu]

I'd install one of your 16" fans and see how it does. Install a 2nd if needed. Couple of other thoughts. 1- I'd power it through a twist the knob timer. I found a 20amp version at Lowes for my air compressor. So nice to twist it on and walk away. 2- I'd look at a louvered vent to install backwards for the inlet air source.