[asenft]

Im starting construction on my HT in my basement. Its going to be a small theater using an Infocus X1 projector. The only kink in my plan, is the projection wall is a false wall in the basement with the oil burner on the other side. Im planning on walling off the heater with a door for access that wont face into the HT area.


Whats the best way to build the walls to eliminate the most noise from the burner???

 

[brenden]

You may want to check with a HVAC pro to make sure your Oil burner receives enough fresh air. Most people build a "tight" theater room because it has better acoustics, but that could be a big problem if the oil burner uses up all the oxygen in your theater room!


Generally, good theater construction involves creating a room within a room to created acoustical seperation (Keep outside noise out of the theater, and keep the theater from annoying the rest of the home.) via seperate or stagered studs, insulation in the wall, double drywall inside, and single drywall outside. If you have the space, then you'd build a wall around the boiler, with exterior door, then likely another wall for the theater with it's own door.

For the best solution, you'll want to consult with Dennis E, even if you do not have enought to get a set of plans.

 

[asenft]

Thanks for the reply. My "HT" will be a very basic setup. Its going to be 1/2 of my basement, with the other half occupied by a pool table and dart area. So its not going to be an enclosed "Home Theater Room".


Im basically looking for ideas on how to construct the walls to knock out as much of the noise from the burner as i can. I did speak with the HVAC guy when he was there working on my burner, and he said if I close the area that its in into its own room, i'd have to put in a door with slats in it so it can get enough fresh air. Hopefully that will cut down on a lot of the noise. I was thinking of insulating the walls around the burner to contain the sound of it, but i'll have to do some more research on the best way to do that.


Any other comments??

 

[RhinoDude]

There are two ventilation issues with the furnace: removal of carbon monoxide, and supply of oxygen for burning.


The carbon monoxide issue should already be taken care of. However, I would still buy a detector if you don't have one and keep it a little ways away from the furnace in the habitable space near your HT / pool area. This can save lives, it's worth $20 to $30.


If you do seal off the furnace area, you definately want to install a vent in the wall you build, or better yet a full lovered door. That or else you need to rig a way to get fresh air in.


The problem with sealing the room off and going with the louvered door or vent is you aren't going to cut out most of the noise. Maybe you will cut it in half if lucky. If you furnace is anything like mine, then even a 50% attenuation would still make it very noisy if you have an open HT nearby. So this will definately help, but you won't know if it will help enough to make you happy until you are all done.


The best solution is if you can pull in air from the outside for your supply. This is the best solution by far, since it wll then allow you to build a very tight room and block a good percentage of the sound. You could then build a very sound tight wall, as discussed to death in dozens (hundreds) of threads on this forum...use the search engine.


Drawing air from outside can be done very cheaply depending on your current setup. If you have an adjacent exterior wall above grade, it's a snap. Otherwise, check with your HVAC guy, it's possible that your furnace is compatible with double-walled vent/supply pipe, and the same pipe run for exhaust could be replaced with double-wall pipe which will vent the exhause air out the inner pipe, and pull in source air through the outer pipe. This also has the added benefit of leading to a cool pipe that is not hot to the touch. If your current pipe is not ovesized, then he may have to enlarge your openings slightly to do this, but it's easier than running a whole new supply pipe. Even if your furnace does not directly support this, it can most often be retrofitted to work with it, although it won't be quite as cheap of a solution in this case.


So, if you can, get a supply of air into the furnace area in, and then seal it up tight as a drum.


Rhino

 

[dkramer3]

Hey Brenden - Were you attached to the 9th SRW?

 

[brenden]

No. My dad was a plane nut, whose favorite plane was the Blackbird. (Which was big because "real planes were driven by props"). I guess it rubbed off on me.


I like that story and plane as an allegory to home theater. Insane amounts of performance obtained by using both expensive and standard components just to propel 2 people around. The end result is something most people could only dream about.

 

[curtisG]

Quote:

Originally posted by RhinoDude The best solution is if you can pull in air from the outside for your supply. This is the best solution by far, since it will then allow you to build a very tight room and block a good percentage of the sound. You could then build a very sound tight wall, as discussed to death in dozens (hundreds) of threads on this forum...use the search engine. Drawing air from outside can be done very cheaply depending on your current setup. If you have an adjacent exterior wall above grade, it's a snap. Rhino

Rhino - can you expand on the setup to get outside air into the furnace room? My gas furnace room does have easy access to an exterior wall, but I'm not clear what needs to be done. Do you simply run a pipe to the outside? Are there size requirements for different size furnaces?


Thanks


--curtis

 

[SledBC]

Curtis, what you would do is run a 4" (4" provides enough combustion air for quite a large furnace) pipe from the outside elbow it down and stop it about 1" from the floor, set a peice of 5" pipe around it on the floor approx 16" tall....this will keep cold air from flowing in unless there is a negative pressure. If you go to a heating supply store they will have a deal pre-made for this called a pot, but this works as well...I'll try drawing it with ascii

Make sure you insulate the 4" pipe to prevent condensation. If you have no positive fresh air coming in already I would reccomend doing this anyways for your familys safety. If you're worried about losing heat you can install a damper in the 4" pipe and wire it to your thermostat so that the combustion air pipe only opens when the furnace is on, but it is probably not necessary.

I hope I'm not stepping on Rhino's toes here, but this is the way we deal with this situation in new homes, even ones with HRV's, since we treat combustion air seperately from fresh air supply.



fresh air 4" pipe

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Floor and peice of 5" pipe, keep 4" pipe approx 1" from the floor.