Fall Frenzy, Curve Frenzy, Man of Steel theater (You pick) - BIGmouthinDC hits the road again -... - Page 25

Where's BritInVA when you need him to translate?

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has this section on their Harmony remote. Am I?

^^^^^^I guess that's the best reason to buy a Harmony if that's a feature. Might have to take another look into the Harmony integration thing again.

Regards,

RTROSE

Like I said, it's effectivity is poor at best

Should I yell ... or just talk slower !

Cheers,

Try a fake yankee accent.

A fake British accent is what my friend resorted to when London cabbies couldn't figure out what he meant when he said "Trafalgar Square."

I KNEW drugs had sometihng to do with it.

I stumbled upon this thread last night and I think I read 90% of it from the beginning. Congrats on your gorgeous theater room vikgrao! What a ride and a well-documented one at that. Seeing BIG's work unfold firsthand is just amazing. Subscribed and looking forward to updates as you cross the finish line.

As a side note, I see RTROSE had the privilege of seeing it in person (and helping out including participating in a lock-in). Very cool. RTROSE has giving me some great advice early on as I am just getting started on a little media room area in my already-finished basement that we are renovating. I wish I could say it was a full-on dedicated home theater but it is far from that. Have a great weekend all.

^^^^Not to make you drool more, but pictures of Vik's theater don't do it justice. Being locked in a theater with Vik is just another perk of being able to help out. Thanks for the kind words as well. I just wish Mrs. RTROSE was as appreciative of the advise I get to her.

Regards,

RTROSE

Thanks for the kind words AnnapolisSony. Wish i documented it better. Big kept on saying to video blog the build but i was too worried about my looks!

The part of the thread after we got locked in is well documented though! Most people start out with a media room and then go full on when the time comes so nothing wrong in that. Good RT is giving you advice i am sure because of this it will finish faster. I am waiting for next week Thursday when the carpet is going to be installed. then i can put the seats in and take some pics.

RT thanks! I will soon be bothering you to visit for a second round..maybe a sleepover ..i mean i gotta repay you for all the trouble you went through on that fateful day ...i am talking lots of LFE, 3D clips etc. Don't worry i have not replaced the lock yet!

the look on their faces must have been priceless!

Hi vikgrao,

I just read about your HT lock in and wondered if the problem was actually a result of HVAC... I know from experience in my theater that if the room and door is very well sealed then the force applied to something the size of the door when the HVAC fans are running is very high. I my case I could open the door and break the seal but my daughter could not. I ended up fitting an inline fan on the HVAC return with variable speed controlled by a pressure sensor. This keeps the pressure differential the same. If I was building again I'd increase the capacity of the return circuit.

Glad to hear you got out ok without do much damage.

Cheers.

Moggie,
Thanks for sharing your experience. Fantastic point! I thought similarly initially like some kind of pressure from inside the theater like the Subwoofer compressing and decompressing the air and eventually the room got pressurized and locked us in. I always felt kind of uneasy with the door closed after a few minutes getting kind of stuffy and dizzy. Now its not so much with the door not closed fully after the lock broke.

There are two supplies and two returns (6 inch acoustic flex ducts branching off from the main trunks outside the theater room and going into the soffits in the theater room. The supplies are working fine blowing in few times a hour but the returns barely suck anything out. It is for this reason i thought of putting inline fans one for supply and one for return eventually after talking to Big. I have not yet put them in since the ducts are readily accessible via drop ceiling outside of the theater room. I cannot do anything much inside the theater room since the soffits are pretty much sealed except for removing the venting grills.

I also was researching various retrofit things i could do with dampers and zoning the theater room etc since my theater room is currently tied in to main floor furnace and its getting awfully warm in the airtight theater due to good supplies and poor returns. And i am assuming in the summer it will be the opposite.

I remember reading somewhere, someone on the forum retrofit their theater using this company. http://arzelzoning.com/general-faq/ I want to do the same and get my theater zoned so that i can climate control from inside the theater and also wirelessly via iphone or something, put a couple of inline fans with variable speed and pressure sensor like you. I guess i have to call Arzel and ask what exactly i need to purchase in order make it happen since they have so many things its confusing and also i don't know much about HVAC.

Can you please post some online links if possible of the items you purchased? Hope other members familiar with Arzel see this post and also chime in!
Regards
Vik
Edited by vikgrao - 2/23/13 at 10:07am

Good point on the HVAC, just one question @ Moggie. Did your door open into your space? Vik's opens out. The more I have thought about it I think the pressure on the locks "bolt" was too heavy and caused the interior part of the lock to fail. I have the same issue on my front door as the weather seals cause me to have to push on the door to get the dead bolt to engage if I do not push there is just a slight overlap that won't allow the bolt to go into the door jamb. The opposite is true to unlock as a little push makes it much much easier for me to disengage the bolt. I can do it without the push but I feel like I'm "forcing" the lock internals when I do so.

Very interesting point though. When we were locked in, Vik commented initially about the sub pressurizing the room, but even though these rooms are tight, they are not totally "air tight" so I did not think "pressurization" was the "whole" problem.

Vik,

I'm up for round two now that my nightmares have subsided. A sleepover? Well that all depends on if women, food and alcohol are involved (not necessarily in that order) and who else is invited. You've got my number buddy, just give me a call when you are ready. I'll even help you with your chairs when the time comes.

Regards,

RTROSE

Waiting for Moggie's answer as well! Thanks RT! hope you give me the chance when it comes to repay all the help!.. Sure come over all your demands will be met! Whenever your ready we can drop it like its hot!

Just got back from a day hike with my dogs...

Regarding the comments about a well built HT room not being air tight... if you build a well caulked, non perforated shell (i.e. outlets and the like all mounted on the drywall rather than through it) as I did then it is entirely possible to have a sealed room other than the HVAC system. Try this experiment: nail some masonite or tape some plastic over the return vents, close the door and put the HVAC fans on max. You will hear every air leak as the air struggles to escape (you might even hear the whole room creak as the pressure builds). Remember that force=pressure x area. With a large area like the door you don't need much pressure..

I my case it was leaking in just two places: the lower corners of the door and just one spot around the floor where I missed some caulking on the framing bottom plate. I fixed the later leaving just the door (I have a drop down bottom seal but regular exterior grade seals on the sides). Even a few holes doesn't offer much in the way of an air return path given the volume of air pumped by the typical HVAC fan.

In my theater the door does open inward but with the kind of pressure that can be developed it would be plenty to prevent an electric latch from being retracted. BTW I have one 10" supply (branched inside the soffit) and the same 10" return. A HVAC contractor friend told me after the fact that he would have recommended 12" of return. Anyway, I documented my solution in this post: Return fan components. I purchased everything on ebay very cheap, you just have to watch for a while (the retail prices are crazy). Make sure you mount the return fan as far away from the HT vent as you can (the other side of your HVAC muffler) since it will introduce noise otherwise. I did tweak the feedback circuit a little to add damping to prevent the fan speed oscillating but this was a tweak and is not essential.

I'll see if I can dig up more info because someone else recently pinged me about this solution..
Edited by Moggie - 2/23/13 at 5:48pm

"Women - food - and alcohol" ???
If this BYO, then sign me up. Firing up the RV now !

ETA = 3 hours (due south)

quote name="RTROSE" url="/t/1437336/fall-frenzy-bigmouthindc-hits-the-road-again-destination-columbus-indiana/720#post_23002218"]Good point on the HVAC, just one question @ Moggie. Did your door open into your space? Vik's opens out. The more I have thought about it I think the pressure on the locks "bolt" was too heavy and caused the interior part of the lock to fail. I have the same issue on my front door as the weather seals cause me to have to push on the door to get the dead bolt to engage if I do not push there is just a slight overlap that won't allow the bolt to go into the door jamb. The opposite is true to unlock as a little push makes it much much easier for me to disengage the bolt. I can do it without the push but I feel like I'm "forcing" the lock internals when I do so.

Very interesting point though. When we were locked in, Vik commented initially about the sub pressurizing the room, but even though these rooms are tight, they are not totally "air tight" so I did not think "pressurization" was the "whole" problem.

Vik,

I'm up for round two now that my nightmares have subsided. A sleepover? Well that all depends on if women, food and alcohol are involved (not necessarily in that order) and who else is invited. You've got my number buddy, just give me a call when you are ready. I'll even help you with your chairs when the time comes.

Regards,

RTROSE[/quote]

Moggie,

I was thinking specifically about the HVAC system with my comments regarding airtight. I know Vik's room has a couple of conduit runs that go direct to the equipment room, and the HVAC runs, that was the basis for my airtight assumptions. I would guess there would be a huge difference with the door opening in (pressure working against you) vs. out (pressure working with you) so that is why I'm still leaning on the bolt being the culprit. However with your explanation with the HVAC on (which it was at the time) there would be even more pressure on the bolt making it harder for the bolt to move. Very interesting.

@cuzed

Come on brother! The more the merrier! ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!!!!

Regards,

RTROSE

Thanks Moggie! I will look at the link for the return fan components info!

Yep fire up cuzed, theater demo and then road trip to sin city!!

RT whenever you are ready to come by we can do Moggie's closing the door and sealing the returns experiment ! if you want to wait untill cuzed also joins that too is fine!

The RTROSE jinx strikes again!

Sooooooo................................Today is the big day for Vik, he is getting his carpet. I have a few minutes so I run over at lunch time to check in on the goings on. Me being the CCC and all ya know. The carpet looks fantastic and the installer is making some good headway and tells Vik that he will be able to finish the job today. We shoot the breeze for just a little bit and I leave thinking that in a few short hours I'll be getting a call from Vik to come see the completed install right??????????? Nope, instead I get a text about an hour later that part of the carpet ordered was ordered in the wrong color! Poor Vik, every time I show up things go to #@!^. If this keeps up Vik, will most definitely ban me from his theater.

I won't divulge the colors yet but I can tell you it's very sharp!

Regards,

RTROSE

So I wonder if they will be able to expedite the new order since they screwed up.  Imagine if it was in a high traffic area like a living room or bedroom where you may have to deal with it for days.

From what I have understood from Vik, they were very responsive to the error and will get him taken care of quite quickly.

Regards,

RTROSE

Lol@RTjinx! Good one RT! I permanently deputize you part owner of the theater so you can never be banned . My room consists of two carpet colors and one of them was wrong ordered. It was this girl who did my order for carpet and she said today she messed up. They said the remaining will be done next Wednesday so hopefully I can post the final pictures on that Weekend!

Aww man crappy luck bro! Did you build your HT over an Indian burial ground!? Lol jk.
Hope it's resolved quickly cause I'm still jonesing for comlpleted pics and a review of how it all sounds with the carpet.

Lol@ Indian Burial ground! I am positive I will post pics and review next weekend, if not I will start digging for Indians!

Lmao!

Yeah, there's no way this could turn out bad