Almost all of the vents I have seen on this site have been overhead. Thought I would share something different.
My E-Herms is located about 4 feet from my garage door, and I have been ventilating by opening the door and using a fan to blow steam out. I still get some condensation buildup on the underside of the raised garage door that eventually starts dripping, and I lose some real estate by having to pull the stand away from the wall to position the floor fan.
I get transferred every couple of years, and wanted a solution that could be flexible for future garages. I know.....the window in my current garage is almost in a perfect position.
I was able to source a two-speed squirrel cage downdraft fan for $25. It weighs a lot. With the addition of a 3 position switch and some 6 inch ducting from the orange box store, it was easily installed on the exterior. I considered installing the fan on the bottom shelf under the CFC to reduce the footprint of the entire rig, but chose to drill 4 small holes in the stainless sheet metal instead of a 6 inch hole, a 5 inch hole and 4 holes for mounting. The "cost" is making my rig even longer...now at an obnoxious 8'11".
Initially, the pickup was above the BK ...within 10 minutes of starting my test boil, it was dripping condensation back into the keggle. Lowering the stack to configure as a side pickup fixed the problem, and also kept the top of the BK more accessible.
Still need to decide on how to exhaust. Here are the options:
1) Exhaust onto the garage floor. During a couple of test boils, this worked pretty well because the floor is cold enough. The condensation also drained into the sump well. Obviously won't work as well when the weather gets warmer.
2) Install some PVC pipe into the sump cover and blow condensation into the sump well.
3) Lift the garage door enough to place a 2x6 (with a dryer vent installed).
Leaning towards option #3.
My E-Herms is located about 4 feet from my garage door, and I have been ventilating by opening the door and using a fan to blow steam out. I still get some condensation buildup on the underside of the raised garage door that eventually starts dripping, and I lose some real estate by having to pull the stand away from the wall to position the floor fan.
I get transferred every couple of years, and wanted a solution that could be flexible for future garages. I know.....the window in my current garage is almost in a perfect position.
I was able to source a two-speed squirrel cage downdraft fan for $25. It weighs a lot. With the addition of a 3 position switch and some 6 inch ducting from the orange box store, it was easily installed on the exterior. I considered installing the fan on the bottom shelf under the CFC to reduce the footprint of the entire rig, but chose to drill 4 small holes in the stainless sheet metal instead of a 6 inch hole, a 5 inch hole and 4 holes for mounting. The "cost" is making my rig even longer...now at an obnoxious 8'11".
Initially, the pickup was above the BK ...within 10 minutes of starting my test boil, it was dripping condensation back into the keggle. Lowering the stack to configure as a side pickup fixed the problem, and also kept the top of the BK more accessible.
Still need to decide on how to exhaust. Here are the options:
1) Exhaust onto the garage floor. During a couple of test boils, this worked pretty well because the floor is cold enough. The condensation also drained into the sump well. Obviously won't work as well when the weather gets warmer.
2) Install some PVC pipe into the sump cover and blow condensation into the sump well.
3) Lift the garage door enough to place a 2x6 (with a dryer vent installed).
Leaning towards option #3.
