How to you heat/cool your HT?

1106 Views 23 Replies 16 Participants Last post by Glimmie, Dec 26, 2005

drunkpenguin

Discussion Starter · Dec 21, 2005

For you that have a dedicated theater room how is your hvac setup?

Air intake only?

Air intake and air return in that room?

Seperate AC unit from rest of house?

I need to figure out the best design for a room that has no windows and will have a door that seals shut nearly air tight.

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documentarymaker

· #2 · Dec 22, 2005

Penguin,

My basement/theater area is a total of 1600 S.F. We are going with a seperate 1.5 ton heat pump system with a supply and return in every room of the basement (3 rooms total incl. theater)

I also opted for a seperate and dedicated 6" supply to the equipment room (no return) to help keep things cool. Total install was quoted from 2800.00-4000.00 depending on equipment brand. We went with a co. that was asking 3200.00 and using a decent brand.

chs4

· #3 · Dec 22, 2005

I went with a dedicated system (furnace & condensor) for our 18'x30' HT addition.

Six supplies and two returns in the theater itself, two supplies and one return in the lobby and one supply in the equipment room.

I'm using a variable-speed furnace and all of my ductwork is oversized, allowing me to move a greater volume of air at low speed which should help to keep ambient noise down.

documentarymaker

· #4 · Dec 22, 2005

Our theater actually has two supplys. They enter overhead at the rear just over the surround speakers and blow forward. The ducts and openings are oversized for quietness as well. The equipment room has its own 6" supply to keep things fresh and chilly in there.

drunkpenguin

Discussion Starter · #5 · Dec 22, 2005

Ok so I'm assuming I should have an air return in this room to be ideal. Specially since I think the room will be sealed really well. No windows and the entrance door will have some type of seal in order to keep light out.

Question, How loud is the air return going to be in there? I am doing the hvac system myself with the guidance of a profesional who will be more or less just signing off on it. I want to do this right.

What about this.. There is a large closet in the room, 7'x5' that house the video equipt. Should I have a return in there and maybe create some type of vent area between the theater and closet? That way air cold air would enter the theater and be pulled into the closet and out the return. Also helping keep the equiptment cool.

Let me know what you guys would suggest.

wensteph

· #6 · Dec 22, 2005

chs4, what size unit did you use for that size HT?

chs4

· #7 · Dec 22, 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by wensteph
chs4, what size unit did you use for that size HT?

It's a 60,000 BTU furnace ( Bryant 355MAV ) with a 1.5 ton condensor ( Bryant 552A )

Marc Ye

· #8 · Dec 22, 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by drunkpenguin
Ok so I'm assuming I should have an air return in this room to be ideal. Specially since I think the room will be sealed really well. No windows and the entrance door will have some type of seal in order to keep light out.

Question, How loud is the air return going to be in there? I am doing the hvac system myself with the guidance of a profesional who will be more or less just signing off on it. I want to do this right.

What about this.. There is a large closet in the room, 7'x5' that house the video equipt. Should I have a return in there and maybe create some type of vent area between the theater and closet? That way air cold air would enter the theater and be pulled into the closet and out the return. Also helping keep the equiptment cool.

Let me know what you guys would suggest.

What size is your room? Generally speaking, my room (approximately20'x17'x10') was calculated to produce 8000-9000 btu's an hour with eight bodies, projector running and equipment rack on.

The blower we have produces 600cfm's at 75% power, all air ducts are lined with 1/2 lining, are 25% bigger to reduce noise and has at least three bends from blower to supply vent. Slotted liner diffusers for the grills will also reduce noise coming from the supplys.

A return in your equipment closet with a 100cfm rating is highly recommended.

We ended up installing three supply's and three returns including the one in our equipment closet.

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68sting

· #9 · Dec 22, 2005

Is there a ratio between supply and return lines? For instance if I have a 6" supply should I then have a 4" return.

Ed B. 1979

· #10 · Dec 22, 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by documentarymaker
Penguin,

My basement/theater area is a total of 1600 S.F. We are going with a seperate 1.5 ton heat pump system with a supply and return in every room of the basement (3 rooms total incl. theater)

I also opted for a seperate and dedicated 6" supply to the equipment room (no return) to help keep things cool. Total install was quoted from 2800.00-4000.00 depending on equipment brand. We went with a co. that was asking 3200.00 and using a decent brand.

Heat pumps are great, on our 6000 sq foot house our natural gas bill is about 4 dollars a month. This is in winter!!

drunkpenguin

Discussion Starter · #11 · Dec 22, 2005

the room is 22x17 with 10' ceilings.

Digital Man

· #12 · Dec 22, 2005

What's a heat pump?

Thanks.

chs4

· #13 · Dec 22, 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Digital Man
What's a heat pump?

Thanks.

Here you go: How A Heat Pump Works

erick.s

· #14 · Dec 22, 2005

I just put in a few electric baseboards to take the edge off in winter. During the summer the room is always cool as it's in the basement so I didn't feel the need to expand on the A/C. Even with all the equipment running full tilt, it's never gotten warmer than about 68 or so even in August.

StewartFan20

· #15 · Dec 22, 2005

I'm finishing off my basement as I'm building my theater. I had a 1.5 ton unit installed with two ducts routed to the theater (8" each) and 1 6" duct routed to the adjoining equipment closet. The two ducts seem to be ample for my theater (12' x 20') as I can cool off the air by about 10 degrees in about 10-15 minutes. Likewise, I tested it out yesterday and I heated it up in a similar amount of time.

I was concerned about the return air flow since the room will be fairly tight and I didn't want to just dump the return air back into the main room of the basement. I have routed my return registers from my theater through to my equipment closet. From the equipment closet the return air goes into the adjoining unfinished storage area and back to the heat/AC unit.

GPowers

· #16 · Dec 24, 2005

Dedicated heat pump for the 15' x 20' theater and the 15 ' x 15' office/lobby area.

vanut

· #17 · Dec 24, 2005

Will go with a mini split unit system with AC and heat pump.
http://www.mrslim.com/Products/Categ...ctCategoryID=7

Theater is going to be 11X21X9(ceiling)...we are in northern cal so winters are not as harsh.

vanut

· #18 · Dec 24, 2005

Were are in northern cal and our theater is going to be 11X21X9(ceiling)..

We will go with a split mini system (ductless)
http://www.mrslim.com/Products/Categ...ctCategoryID=7

vanut

· #19 · Dec 24, 2005

Were are in northern cal and our theater is going to be 11X21X9(ceiling)..

We will go with a split mini system (ductless)
http://www.mrslim.com/Products/Categ...ctCategoryID=7

formerly HTbuph

· #20 · Dec 24, 2005

Drunkpenquin,

We have a dedicated heat pump for our room.

The amount of sound the return makes depends on the cfm and the cross sectional area of the ductwork and return vent. The slower the air velocity, the quieter it will be. So, if you need alot of cooling, then you will need larger ductwork and vents to maintain lower noise levels.

I would not make a return in the equipment closet the only return for the room. There will be alot that will restrict air flow and therefore create noise. We have two in-room returns and a thermo-coupled fan in the equipment rack. The fan in the rack space vents air into attic space and there is a small vent below the rack through which the fans pull cool room air into the rack.

Tim

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