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Ventilation Question

 
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havokczl




Joined: 26 Oct 2022
Posts: 2
Location: Northern California


PostLink    Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2022 3:13 pm    Post subject: Ventilation Question Reply with quote


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Hello!
First time poster, long-time fan(no pun there), have a question on ventilation.
I'm intending to put in a DIY vent hood in my future basement brewery, my ducting won't be a very long run, like 3-6 ft/1-1.8 M.
from fan to outside. If its not a long run, would you still need something 312 CFM as whats recommended or can you go with a lower CFM option? Also does height make a difference, my ceiling is 78 in/198 cm. I've calculated from top of kettle to vent would be a gap for steam to travel of about 12 in/30cm. Does steam travel distance matter, as well?
Thanks so much.
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kal
Forum Administrator



Joined: 12 Dec 2010
Posts: 11114
Location: Ottawa, Canada

Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter


PostLink    Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2022 3:35 pm    Post subject: Re: Ventilation Question Reply with quote

Welcome to the forum!

havokczl wrote:
I'm intending to put in a DIY vent hood in my future basement brewery, my ducting won't be a very long run, like 3-6 ft/1-1.8 M. from fan to outside. If its not a long run, would you still need something 312 CFM as whats recommended or can you go with a lower CFM option?

The CFM recommendations/calculations mentioned in the ventilation guide ( http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/ventilation ) are actual air movement recommendations, not what actually is measured. The calculations do not factor in duct size/distance/bends.

Ductwork can great reduce actual airflow, especially with regular blade fans as mentioned per the guide. Centrifugal (squirrel cage) fans do not reduce airflow as greatly, so that's why they're recommended. If you used a centrifugal fan with very long ducts / narrow ducts / lots of elbows you may want to go with a higher CFM fan than recommended but I think there's some leeway here in the numbers.

Your duct run is very short. If you use a centrifugal fan you could probably go even lower than ~300 CFM. ~200 would probably work too as the recommendation/calculation errs on the side of caution quite a bit if you ask me. I like to have some extra air movement if possible and use the recommended control per my guide as then you can always turn it a bit down if you like.

havokczl wrote:
Also does height make a difference, my ceiling is 78 in/198 cm. I've calculated from top of kettle to vent would be a gap for steam to travel of about 12 in/30cm. Does steam travel distance matter, as well?

Not really, or not as long as you keep the distance reasonable (IMHO). Steam is hot so it will rise, and the higher it rises the more it spreads out horizontally as it goes up. With enough airflow the steam will find its way to the fan as the fan is typically direct above and the hood is larger than the kettles (usually). The concern would be if the hood is small and too far away from the kettles that the rising steam will rise and spread out too much and possibly "miss" being scooped up / redirected by the hood, but there's quite a bit of leeway here. You can see some of the variances here on our testimonials page: https://shop.theelectricbrewery.com/pages/testimonials

Quite the variety of distances as you can see. I wouldn't be overly concerned with this exact kettle to hood distance unless you had a really small hood really far up (like 6-8+ feet above the kettles and barely wider than the kettle). This would be made worse if you had low fan airflow or other air movement in the room.

Your kettle to hood gap of 12" is very small so no concern with steam not going where you want it to even if your hood was small. I would be more concerned that you don't have room to work in the kettles however. I like to have enough room such that I don't bump my head and can still get a mash paddle in there without too much effort. Like so:



Cheers!

Kal

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