A beautiful place out in the country

[ZSXI]

It depends on whether I effectively sealed the output side or not. I need to take the panel cover off and take a pic so you guys can weigh in. I beefed up that part of the wall with 3/4" siding so it's a little more sturdy and dense than the rest. Mainly so it makes the "tunnel" a little longer for that big hole. So with the outside of the hole caulked and the inside filled with putty, not to mention 3 dense pieces of cable, it should be pretty well sealed.

Again on the inlet side the conduit is separated by concrete from the outside world, then it goes underground. So as long as both ends are sealed, a box should not be necessary.

[ZSXI]

Also, Stuart. Check your gmail...

[ZSXI]

...and your PM.

[ZSXI]

OK, Stuart. Last attempt. I haven't heard from you since April 25th. Remember I'm that guy who you did this to last year? The guy who asked for his down payment back and instead agreed to give you another chance to deliver something tangible?

Please get back to me. This is beyond ridiculous.

[Gregwor]

Any progress reports?

Greg

[ZSXI]

Honestly I figured it wouldn't be long before I was banned. I moved my thread over to GS and have since made a few more updates. Long story short, I paid Stuart $900 as a down payment for design services a couple years ago. After a long ghosting incident, we started communicating again. He agreed to work up basic HVAC design for me and then we'd see about next steps. That was April and the last time he contacted me in any way. Though he provided a lot of advice, as he often does, he didn't deliver anything but that.

I did bring this up with John and he washed his hands of the whole incident. He said: "I don't really know Stuart that well. He came on the forum as a novice looking for info but after few years of hanging around started answering questions and soon became the leading spokesperson answering members questions which was a relief for me after years of doing it myself. Other than that I really have no control over him so it's up to you to get a response."

Which is all well and good, but this is a guy who moderates a popular web forum with your name on it, and seems to think of you as a mentor, using your design ideas as part of his business.

So apparently he's gone from this site? I didn't realize that. I'll have to read up on some threads. This site has been great for kicking around ideas and finding lots and lots of breadcrumbs to learn from. I'm still working on putting them all together and am on the fence about contacting another designer or just doing the best I can with what I have. In fact I did talk to another designer and made the mistake of mentioning my experience. He eventually decided he didn't want to work with me. Great...

I figure since my last two studios were literal bedrooms, I could hardly do worse -- and I made some decent sounding music in those rooms. Obviously I'm discouraged right now.

In any case, here is my GS thread. I'll continue to poke around here as well, assuming I'm not banned.
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/photo-d ... dings.html

[John Sayers]

No you are not banned ZSXI and I appreciate what you have just posted.

Stuart is gone from this site as you will notice and it's made no difference to the people who regularly visit the site.

Yes we, all got sick of Stuart laying down the law, that's over and I suggested he start his own site.

He's now learning how much effort goes into maintaining a site like this one both financially and effort spent.

cheers
john

[ZSXI]

Hi all, dropping back by to get some HVAC advice. I got some good info on silencers from one of Gregwor's posts and am hoping to get some momentum from that.

Long story short my build is progressing very slowly, but progressing. I've decided to forgo working with a designer for a number of reasons.

In relation to HVAC, I'm going into my fourth summer with a room that needs one. Given that I have not had any luck finding an HVAC contractor that can do much more than cookie cutter work, I need to come up with a design that's very simple for them to install, with room for me to modify in the future. Per this thread, I still have a one room design, with an adjacent equipment room for gear and the HVAC itself. I am still working on my outer shell (just have the ceiling to finish).

I did some homework and determined that I need to plan for a room that can support one person about 80% of the time, but handle up to six on occasion. Based on the gear in both rooms, the Sensible Load would range from ~5100 - ~15k BTU/Hr with an additional 250 - 3400 BTU/Hr for Latent Load. Fresh air requirements would be 15-90 CFM. The room is about 2300 cu ft (or will be with the inner shell).

I'm envisioning taking this diagram to an HVAC contractor. It shows where I would put the equipment (probably a ducted mini-split) and includes a very short run of flex duct so I can start cooling the room right away. I do not show how the fresh air is acquired, whether using an HRV or just pulling in air from outside. I'd prefer it mixed in the duct to minimize the number of wall penetrations but at that point I wonder if I'm already asking too much. And yes this includes a bit of airflow into the equipment room itself.



Then, as I am building the inner shell, I would construct baffles within the void, as shown here. Don't take the baffle diagram literally, it's just a placeholder.


I haven't started looking at duct size or baffle construction yet, but I would prefer to make a pair of units with one input and two outputs. One unit for supply and one for return. I realize for max soundproofing I would need 4 baffles (2 for each leaf) but my walls aren't as massive as some, basically the equivalent of 2 layers of drywall in each one, so I don't know if I'd be gaining that much with 4 baffles (or losing that much with 2).

I'd just like to get some ideas on the general concept and how feasible it is. Maybe some suggestions on how to implement the fresh air portion with minimal complication?

[ZSXI]

Bumping...

[Paulus87]

Greg is the man when it comes to HVAC, hopefully he will chime in soon...

Paul

[ZSXI]

Try try again...

[John Steel]

Hello & howdo' ZSXI?
I'm not sure how helpful this will be to you as I have chosen to install a ductless mini-split system in my single room studio (approx 1400 cubic feet) but there may be something useful to you below.

I've decided to forgo working with a designer for a number of reasons.

I can probably guess what at least one of those reasons is!

I haven't started looking at duct size or baffle construction yet

Scaling the ducts and baffles should be proportionate to room volume. The maths for calculating the minimum CSA (cross sectional area) of your supply duct is:
CSA = CFM ÷ 300

my walls aren't as massive as some

This leads me to ask what transmission loss you are aiming for? The same T/L will need to be maintained throughout your HVAC system and this will inform how you will need to construct it (apols if I have missed this info earlier in the thread).

Maybe some suggestions on how to implement the fresh air portion with minimal complication?

The conclusion I came to was that it's much less complicated to go with a ductless mini-split than a ducted system although it will be less efficient. I wrote in more detail about HVAC (as far as I understand it) on my blog (https://johnsteel.org). Let us know your thoughts. Best wishes, John.