Home garage... exhaust fans?

notfarnow · 09-21-2006, 05:58 PM

Any of you guys have exhaust fans in your garage? My brother bought me a CO detector for Christmas last year, and the thing is driving me nuts. I set it off just about any time I start a car... I really hadn't realized how easy it is to get into "dangerous" levels. 280 ppm tonight just setting the idle on my Jetta, with the garage door open.

I'm building a couple engines over the winter, and would really like to be able to run them in the garage, if even for 5 minutes with the doors open.

A friend's father had a furnace fan with flexible 3" hose that he'd clip over the tailpipe. The furnace fan exited through the garage wall. Seemed like a good setup, and he ran his car for 10-15 minutes at a time.

I know some of you are pretty serious DIY types, and there must be a couple of you that have exhaust fans so you can tune your cars inside. What setups do you use?

VincentVega · 09-21-2006, 06:56 PM

Flexible hose extending the exhaust outside is the simplest method.

masraum · 09-21-2006, 07:36 PM

Yep, no fan, just a hose on the end of the exhaust that's 6' long.

speedracer · 09-21-2006, 08:04 PM

Not mine but worthy of posting....

Jim Bremner · 09-21-2006, 08:24 PM

I have a 1800cfm attic fan mounted in the highest point in my roof.

it's set up to run when the roof level air gets over 100 f.

We live 6-7 miles from the coast. On hot days it turns on around 10:30 helping cool the garage plus the house that's connected to it

I also have a switch to turn on when I need to suck out burnt gases {mine as well as the cars}

I was wondering if it was really pulling out air one day so I went out on top of the roof and felt how much air it was pulling out

I could feel it from 7-8 feet away

I wouldn't mind a second one!

Joeaksa · 09-21-2006, 11:26 PM

My garage faces South and in summer its hotter than hell. Problem is that my master bedroom is directly above the garage so its hot as well. Then you drive the car, return home and put a radiator and car that is 130 degrees at the coolest in the garage, it becomes an oven inside.

I want a fan that I can mount in a corner that has a thermostat activated switch coming on at 130 or so to cool the garage in summer, as well as pulling any gasses out when needed. Anyone else have one of these?

notfarnow · 09-22-2006, 04:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by speedracer
Not mine but worthy of posting....

Hmm... that's what I was thinking, albeit a low-tech version.

jmaxwell · 09-22-2006, 05:59 AM

Your local home hardware store should have any number of thermostatically operated fans . I found mine at a Home depot)
They can be installed with louvers (either power or simply pressure) to keep out the rain. Most of them are not explosion proof motors, so you shouldn't use them for exhausting fumes while painting, but they should do just fine for getting the heat out.

notfarnow · 09-22-2006, 06:04 AM

Thanks Jack, I wasn't very clear in my original post. I'm looking specifically for a way to suck out exhaust from a running car. I've tried a length of 3" hose, but it doesn't do a great job unless I have it clamped somehow.

Must be nice to have to get the heat OUT of the garage! It's friggin 48* out, I'm doing my best to keep the heat IN.

masraum · 09-22-2006, 06:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by notfarnow
Must be nice to have to get the heat OUT of the garage! It's friggin 48* out, I'm doing my best to keep the heat IN.

Well, since the air in between the ceiling and roof of a garage is usually hot because the roof is heated by the sun, maybe you could install a fan to pump warm air from the roof into the garage.

I'd like to suck the hot air out of my garage and expel it from the roof.

Jim Bremner · 09-22-2006, 06:48 AM

Joeaksa,

mine came from homedepot,

I would set the thermostat lower than 130!

KNS · 09-22-2006, 09:01 AM

Joe,

Are you saying that the temp in the garage gets to 130(!)? How about before you pull in a hot car? I am assuming that is the hottest part of the day in the summer.

Question: How "cool" is your garage at the earliest part of the day say, in June or July?

David · David's Garage

Northern Tool sells exhaust fans that you can mount in a wall.

Joeaksa · 09-22-2006, 12:28 PM

Kurt,

It gets probably 160-170 inside after I return home. The electric fan on the car keeps running and blows until the radiator cools off, and we all know that the water there is 212 degrees at a minimum.

Its 130 inside the car outside sitting in the sun, and in the afternoon in summer with the sun hitting the garage door it has to be that hot inside.

Problem is that the heat raises and the main bedroom is above, so there are times that the room is just too hot until the sun goes down. Course in summer that can be 10:30... thank God for ceiling fans!

KNS · 09-22-2006, 02:16 PM

Joe,

Thanks. Didn't mean to hijack the thread, I'm fighting a hot garage too - in Phoenix.

Joe, I was wondering, any idea how hot your garage is first thing in the morning before it has had a chance to warm up? In the heat of the summer the garage I'm trying to cool down will get to about 105-108 max. It's insualted and I think that keeps it from getting too hot. Problem is, it holds the heat in overnight and will be 95 os so just before sun up.

I keep thinking I could bake pizzas in there.