H-E-L-P! (The "CRITICAL" HVAC thing...)

Greetings! Ok, let me get right to it... At present my HVAC for my Studio (Control room & Vocal Booth) is running from a dedicated HVAC system for my basement (Air handler & Heat pump). At present I have two flexduct lines running from the return area of my Air Handler to my Control room (An 8" flexduct return) and to my Vocal booth (A 7" flexduct return). The supply for each of the 2 rooms mentioned branches off a trunk which comes from my Air Handler. Both air supplies for each room are 8" flexduct lines that extend from the supply trunk. I also have a Fantech SER1504 ERV unit for supplying fresh air. The Fantech unit has NOT been installed at the present time, but I will be installing it once I know which way would be best. I wrote some comments in the following post that Rod answered... http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ght=#59678 In the end it was recommended that I look into putting another return in my Control room which I am looking into doing. Rod seemed to also express concern about when there's more than 1 person in the room & keeping it cool. Ok...this is what I'm looking at based on the setup of the room and possibilities of installation... 1.) In the REAR of the control room the Supply will be mounted to the ceiling. The Return will be near the floor on the wall (Although I "was" considering putting a return register-grill near the top of the wall AND near the bottom of the wall (with dampers) using one or the other depending on the time of year...(using the top register-grill return in the winter (for pulling in warmer air) and the lower return register-grill in the summer (for pulling in cooler-floor air)...ya'll think this is necessary?) I was ALSO considering adding another return as Rod suggested near the wall floor (and possibly near the top of the wall as I just talked about). This return is stated as the NEW return in the diagram-pic below) 2.) Because there may be a concern for there being enough supply air to keep things cool if there's more than 1 person in the control room, I had also thought about putting in another 8" supply as shown for the NEW supply in the diagram-pic. This supply will be mounted to the ceiling. Is this TOO much supply for a room this size? 3.) My next concern is my ERV. My intention was to set it up where it will draw from the return of the air handler (as shown in the pic below) and feed the supply going into the trunk right past the air handler. This is a standard set up that you can use for an ERV-HRV. I was wondering if it would be better to use some sort of "Y" and send the returns to the ERV instead of the Air handler return. I would still send the supply to the supply trunk as mentioned. My only concern here is balancing the ERV supply & return connecting it as I stated previously, although according to the literature, balancing isn't required. I will probably contact Fantech to get their opinion on this along with any advice I get here. 4.) Is there a recommended grill-register size for returns and supplies via the size duct I'm using? 5.) Is there any recommended register or grill manufacturer that makes a quiet product? 6.) What is considered the optimum location for placing Supply & Return registers-grills In a Control room/Live room/Vocal booth? (Steve mentions NOT to have air blowing right in front of or across your monitors) 7.) Here is info on my HVAC System as I can find it... Brand-Goodman (Now before ya'll laugh at this brand, just know between me not having the knowledge about "better" manufacturers of Air handlers and Heat Pumps (at the time I purchased it) and PRICE, this is what I came up with! Seriously, if anyone is still reading thusfar, when I've talked to HVAC people and I said the name "Goodman", they ALL kinda snickered. Evidentally, this is NOT a recommended manufacturer...learn from MY mistake!) 1.5 ton unit (Multi position 3 speed 1.5 ton/1/5 HP/208/240 volts/60hz/1 phase) Has a 10 seer Heat pump that goes with it. I read where Rod stated conditioning a room for a studio is different than for basic residential. Because of this, I'm concerned the advice I get from a standard HVAC person will be just for that...residential advice. That warrants me to come here to get "STUDIO" HVAC info. This is an area that's TOO critical to "skimp" on...I don't want me and others to "fry" in my studio! Right now I still have a chance to correct some"stuff" before it's TOO LATE!!! Thanx!

Stan, did you ever go to my website and download the HVAC calculator? You should...... BTW - you want high return in summer and low return in winter - you have it backwards...... Cold air settles to the bottom of the room so you want to leave it there and dump ore on top of it in order to get it to cimb up to your face....... IN the winter you want to leave the thrermal layer at the ceiling and to heat up the cold air near the floow - the more hot air you dump in (with the already hot at the ceiling) the faster you develope the thermal layers you need to get the hot air downto where you live.......... your best bets are high and low returns - shut off and open up as you need them - your supply lines sound very undersized to me in general - I never expect to see less than 12" round duct feeding a control room - and usually morethan one of them to move enough air at a low enough velocity so as to be quiet.............. how did you arrive at the duct sizes you have now? What is the name and model number of your air handler unit? Rod

Thanx for the reply Rod... I was editing my initial post above probably as you were responding, but here's the gist of some of the edit...

7.) Here is info on my HVAC System as I can find it... Brand-Goodman (Now before ya'll laugh at this brand, just know between me not having the knowledge about "better" manufacturers of Air handlers and Heat Pumps (at the time I purchased it) and PRICE, this is what I came up with! Seriously, if anyone is still reading thusfar, when I've talked to HVAC people and I said the name "Goodman", they ALL kinda snickered. Evidentally, this is NOT a recommended manufacturer...learn from MY mistake!) 1.5 ton unit (Multi position 3 speed 1.5 ton/1/5 HP/208/240 volts/60hz/1 phase) Has a 10 seer Heat pump that goes with it.

Oh yes, the model # is ARUF024-00A-1A on the Air handler and CPLE24-1C on the heat pump. Both by Goodman.

your supply lines sound very undersized to me in general - I never expect to see less than 12" round duct feeding a control room - and usually morethan one of them to move enough air at a low enough velocity so as to be quiet.............. how did you arrive at the duct sizes you have now?

My studio is simply 1 and 1/2 rooms in my total basement. When I was inquiring about HVAC in 2005 and had it installed, I selected the brand, and duct size at the advice of my HVAC contractor after explaining to him what I wanted to do. Price was an issue too. Even though I contacted a total of 7 HVAC businesses here explaining what I wanted to do, they ALL stated the recommended duct size and Air Handler size was adequate for my Studio & remainder of my basement (about 1100 sq. ft.). As I've read what you've said...there's a difference between HVAC for residential and HVAC for a Studio. In the end, most of my problems were due to available $$$. A smaller part was HVAC advice from my contractor and other businesses, my inexperience and knowledge of this area, and compromises and "time" factors for finishing the rest of my basement. These things led me to NOT select the best HVAC system to install for a STUDIO (Even though the advice I got on here was pretty good). But, that's ok...I have better knowledge now. For the time being though, I'll take what I have, do the best I can and move forward!! :) Here's a couple of post I put on here back then... http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... highlight= http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ght=#24606 Wish I coulda' done some of the things I wanted to in those post! Anyway, just let me know your suggestions as to the best I can do with what I've got. ALL your help is appreciated!! Oh BTW, I'll download the HVAC calculator... Thanx man...

This is somewhat off this topic, but I got info today from one of the companies (Acoustical Surfaces) that builds the pre-made silencers. The ones they manufacture START between $500.00 & $700.00. Now my brothers (and sisters) of the Recording Studio Design Forum..."this ain't gonna happen"!!! That price is outta my range. According to what the rep said the unit should work well for the application I'll be using it for. He re-drew my diagram and showed me the best position for the silencer to go. It looks as if it would have to go inside my trunk (depending on the model I would have chosen)or connect TO my trunk PRIOR to reaching the 8" flexduct line for the vocal booth. I've got a few more companies I have to check with, but if the prices stay close to this one you'll be seeing a post on here with me asking how to make a lightweight silencer box to fit between 24" OC ceiling "I" joist. Rod did mention something to the effect that these units were expensive and I see he was correct. Just thought I would mention this, (plus it's a smoother way of doing a "bump" for this post-topic) Thanx

Are you talking about a rectangular duct silencers ? Can't you see if someone can build one for you ? I've done a project where I've asked a company that makes ducts in my country (Portugal) to make a duct silencer according to my needs and I got it at half a price of the brands that were selling it. It was a 900*500*300 m duct silencer I recall Andre

Hey Andre' Yes, some are rectangular but most I've seen are round. The principle of how they're constructed seems fairly simple. The "do-it-yourself" silencers listed on this site are larger than what I have space for. Maybe they can be downsized for my application, but I'm not sure. I would suspect here in the U.S. to have one "special made" may be more expensive then buying one pre-made. The company "Fantech" has one in the $95.00 range, but I'm waiting to hear from their tech via email to let me know if this particular Silencer would be applicable for what I need it to do. Here's a post where I asked about Silencers specifically... http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ght=#58962 Thanx

http://www.france-air.com/franceair/form_prod/cadre_prod_en.asp?ID=list_prod_en.asp This is one of the brands that sell silencers in Europe but I don't think they sell in the US.

Thanx for the link Andre'. I just checked out the Silencers (no pic). Looks like they just do business in France. Thanx anyway!

They do business in Europe. They asked for I think 400 € and I got a silencer with similar characteristics for What about Carrier, Mitsubishi, don't they have silencers ? I have found these: [url] http://www.mcgillairflow.com/textDocs/s ... models.htm [/url] http://www.vibro-acoustics.com/Moldblockmedia/pdf/Silencer%20Sheet.pdf

Andre' Got the contact phone numbers...will call today... Thanx!