Studio Ductwork

[bwindsor]

Just got back from holidays, went to the work site where new home/studio is about 10 days from completion and...even though I asked that no ductwork be installed in studio area ( I was going electric baseboard for this part ) when I got there, ductwork is roughed in to all three rooms (control,studio, iso)....

Questions:

Should I stick with plan A, and simply close off/ stuff these heat runs with insulation? (They will be buried in ceiling)

Should I devise some sort of insulated door to close off and isolate the vents so sound doesn't carry to other parts of house/studio when studio is in use, and forget about using an alternate heat source (electric) for studio?

Any other ideas/solutions to this would be greatly appreciated. I hadn't considered anything but electric because it's quiet, dust free, no sound transference through venting, etc., however I am open to other suggestions which would work with my new "ductwork", and my apologies if this information is already somewhere on these boards.


Thanks,

Bob Windsor
Pinederosa Studio

 

[Todzilla]

Bob,

That's what you get for going on vacation ;^)

I'm guessing you don't have significant Air Conditioning needs? Even with the aggregate heat generated by lots of power supplies and tubes?

If you need any kind of cooling, you're going to need duct work. Everest has some information on insulated ductwork and baffling, and owens corning has products which are insulated.

I realized a while ago that the gentle whoosh of air was not a big issue while monitoring and I record acoustically infrequently enough that shutting off the HVAC for a few minutes was tolerable.

OTOH, if this ductwork is shared with the rest of the house or other facilities, you need to make sure it is routed correctly with the junction point being as close to the origin of the air output as possible to avoid any direct transmission paths for the sound.

$.02

 

[bwindsor]

Thanks Todzilla,

Air conditioning is not a problem, studio is "cool"!

However, the ductwork is "shared" with other areas, and junctions are not really near the source, so it looks like some type of isolating door over the vents might be the answer. I also think if I route the ductwork inside the walls, with plenty of 90 degree angles, this will help with sound leakage, and slow down the air flow.
Again, thanks for suggestions, and any other thoughts. Greatly appreciated!

Bob Windsor
Pinederosa Studio

 

[Todzilla]

Actually, too many twisty turns will increase the turbulence which will increase the "whoosh" when the air cuts on. I think if you are laying new ductwork, the key is to oversize the ducts, especially at they approach the room. This lets the air flow freely, which will reduce ambient whoosh (an acoustical engineering term).

As for sound transmitting through the duct work, I'd look at putting the junction between studio and rest of the house as close to the air handler unit as possible. Make it so sound has to pretty much go all the way back to the central unit's blower before it can return to sweetpea's crib.

You will note that babies are not nearly as sensitive to noise as sleep deprived mothers...