HVAC: Any creative ideas?

ONEsnowRIDER

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I have a shed off my home that I've decided to make my retreat, ah, I mean my recording shed. I just finished framing the inside (second wall), before I go any further I need to come up with a creative HVAC system. The only real source of power will be electricity (no gas). My question is does any one have any creative ideas for an HVAC system?

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Onesnowrider - Judging from your name and location, I'm guessing you need heat and AC... With just electricity, electric baseboard heat is probably the cheapest and least intrusive option unless you want to get into solar siphons and heat storage... :)

For AC, a space that size could probably be cooled well with an in wall unit. Search in this forum for details of ducting one quietly.

Good Luck
Kevin.
 
longsoughtfor said:
Onesnowrider - Judging from your name and location, I'm guessing you need heat and AC... With just electricity, electric baseboard heat is probably the cheapest and least intrusive option unless you want to get into solar siphons and heat storage... :)

For AC, a space that size could probably be cooled well with an in wall unit. Search in this forum for details of ducting one quietly.

Good Luck
Kevin.

longsoughtfor, thanks for the information. This was exactly what I was thinking. I guess I just needed some reassurance from others.
 
Generally speaking, for small studios you have two main options - one is to turn off the A/C when recording or doing critical mixes (final mix for example)

The other option is lots more time and money, and higher priced, slower moving A/C components. Even a standard window unit needs complex baffling unless you're so far away from air routes, neighbors, crickets, dogs, etc that you could just open the door.

Since this doesn't sound like your situation, one of the free-standing, no-hole-in-the-wall units may be your best bet. Just cool things down to a slight shiver, turn it off, record any acoustic parts, stop when it gets too warm and run the AC some more, repeat as necessary.

Saves having to become an acoustic designer just to keep from sweating.

The baseboard heat, while pathetically inefficient, is also the quietest so could be on in the winter whether you're recording or not... Steve
 
knightfly said:
Hey Singular Cool One... This is more what I had in mind, at about 1/3 the cost...

http://www.minisplit.com/PAC9/pac9.htm

No holes in walls to contend with, and about $1000 more for other goodies... Steve

I just called a heating and air conditioning place here in Utah. They explained that I shouldn't go with the window unit ...if I had to "jimmy rig" duct it, there isn't enough forced air for the unit to run properly and would end up burning it out (and lots of other technical stuff). That I shouldn't go with the minisplit heat pump, again here in Utah there are issues with the condenser freezing up in sever cold (we see some 0 degree weather).

So this is what will work for me ...I think. For heat, a Base board heater on its own circuit. And for cooling do the minisplit ductless with out the heat pump, on the same circuit as the base board heater. Both can be bought with out having to put in 220.

What do you guys think??

BTW thanks for all the great suggestions.
 
The split system is a common unit here in OZ. It's basically a refrigerator compressor unit mounted outside with pipes to the internal system. For cooling it acts like a fridge but for heating it reverses the system and sends heat to the internal unit. People in Tasmania or in our highlands like around Canberra use them where it often goes below 0 degrees, if it's in heat mode it will not freeze over as you suggest. If it does it quickly thaws when put on heat.

cheers
john
 
John Sayers said:
The split system is a common unit here in OZ. It's basically a refrigerator compressor unit mounted outside with pipes to the

cheers
john

Yeah, I've seen those installed before, though here in the usa we aren't as fancy in naming the systems :)

Mounted off the girders on the warehouse ceiling there is a huge, huge heater running off natural gas. I was able to determine that the 1000 gal tank in the corner is not connected to anything, so it can be drained, filled, and removed. Thats an extra 50 sq feet :)

I have in storage two old liebert chillers, used in data centers for cooling the air and pushing through the raised floor tiles. Though to be honest, I do not like the idea of fancy, expensive ductwork to baffle the noise in each and every room. The more I think about this, with the size of the space, I could kill two birds with one system, by running cooled water through radiators or piping in the floor for the summer, and hot for the winter. I have hot water radiators in my house and they work very, very well, though in space the size of the warehouse I'll need a lot of them. Then I have to think about if its all in the floor, how effective will it be buried in concrete. Though I guess if temperature is maintained it will be reasonable. I'm thinking a nice 72 degrees all year round.

Anyone have any thoughts on efficiency of in-concrete cooling/heating systems? One advantage of forced air systems is the variety of filtering one can insert for making the air cleaner, so its not so stale.

Hmmmm.
 
OK, I just weighed the 300 square roll of pond liner. It weighs about 90 pounds. I'm going to do my vocal booth (track room really, I'm the only one using it) with it, I'll let everyone know how it goes.
 
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