Ventilation in the furnace room

mjeselskis · September 17, 2013, 07:32:37 PM

I don't have a basement so all my utilities (Boilers, water tank, etc) are in a boiler room in the corner of the house. The room is about 10x16 with a 9' ceiling. Every so often, I fill up the room with smoke and have to open the outside door and leave it open to vent it out. I'd like to put in an exhaust fan that I can kick on to get rid of the smoke. What I don't know if is I can get away with a good bathroom fan, or if I need a bigger one that mounts right in the wall. The room is about 1700 cubit feet, so I'm thinking I need at least a 300 cfm fan to change the air every 5 minutes or so.

Has anyone done anything like this? results?

thecfarm · September 17, 2013, 07:44:29 PM

I suppose this room has a door to it? If you are changing the air in this room every five minutes you will need to draw the air from somewheres. I was running a wood stove in my basement with the basement door closed. At that time we was using a oil hot water heater about 10 feet from the wood stove. I went down to check the fire and smelled something odd. The wood stove needed oxygen/air and it was drawing it from the oil hot water heater intake.

I knew better. I worked for the state and learned about all that stuff. Just cracked a window a little and all set.

mjeselskis · September 17, 2013, 07:48:12 PM

The room has two doors. One leads directly into the kitchen, and the other leads outside. I am thinking about drill some 4" holes in the exterior door and putting in some of the 4" round vent louvers that you can get at HD to let the fresh air in. Just cant decide how big of a fan to put in.

beenthere · September 17, 2013, 07:53:25 PM

Two things come to mind.
That the bathroom fan will work well enough, and that there shouldn't be that much smoke in the first place.

What seems to be going on that you are getting that much smoke? Maybe there is a solution to cut back on smoke.

I have a smoke alarm high and 10' from my indoor wood burner, and seldom get it to go off. But it happens on occasion if I don't pay attention when refilling with wood.

mjeselskis · September 17, 2013, 08:47:11 PM

I don't have much of a smoke issue in the winter as long as I keep the coals from blocking the smoke passages (bottom rear of firebox). My biggest issue is starting a new fire in the summer for hot water. I have a very, very difficult time getting a good draft on hot, muggy days and the smoke will actually come out the cleanout door at times.