Subfloor eco fans for Dust extraction

**havabeer69** · 19th April 2021, 08:46 PM

Hi Everyone,

I have a bit of a mould problem in my garage work shop. The work shop was originally a double car garage under our split level house that I extended into for more space and due to the cold and damp conditions we get mould under there that i'm hoping to help deal with some sub floor ventilation.

I realised I could help kill 2 birds with one stone and use these same fans as some fine dust extraction at the same time. My question is basically about suitability of the fans and their placement. I have other questions about my setup and some changes i want to make but they're probably best for the "shed" subforum

so the fans I wish to install are the CSR/Edmunds eco fan (surprise surprise, sold at Bunnings) for $200 for a 2 pack. I'm looking at these mainly for the mould problem as they will turn on and off based on humidity or you can just turn them on manually.
Bradford EcoFan White Sub Floor Ventilator - 2 Pack | Bunnings Warehouse

The EcoFan will automatically increaseor decrease the speed of the fan depending on thesubfloor temperature (30°C-45°C) and subfloor relativehumidity (65%rH—80%rH).

Maximum flow rate of 734 m^3/hr

the website says for good results use them in a push/pull situation. but i'm thinking about having 2 of them in pull and the other in push pull. My square meterage of the whole area is around 200m3 so one fan won't be enough to give me the air changes I need but 4 should be more then enough. my problem is where to place them, to not only help with mould, but run flat out when I want them as dust extraction.

below is the floor plan of the house and a few photos. the green arrows are where I'm thinking of placing the fans, the red circled area is my main work shop kind of area.

you can see that I'm kind of relying on natural ventilation from the brick work holes/vents. while there is quite a number of them i think these are hindered a bit by the fact that the fence is only 980mm off the house so unless where is a good wind blowing I don't think it really gets as much of a cross breeze that would be of much benefit. but I'm thinking about putting a fan above the work bench/drill press area and then one on the opposite side, the idea being that these would draw in air with the garage door open and vent it out.

I'm hoping with the rear fans being in push full it will create enough air flow to help with mould on things being stored up the back of the house, but the two in pull to help with the fine dust in the work shop.

p.s please don't judge the state of the work shop, its a schmozzle at the moment.

**BobL** · 19th April 2021, 10:08 PM

With those highly restrictive louvres I cannot see how they can move 730 CFM - maybe half that on a windy day with the wind in the right direction.

If you decide to proceed the first thing I would do is replace the fan louvres with much less restrictive mesh like a cake rack.

Other than that, subfloor ventilation is a cleant ventilation direction (most dust naturally falls downwards) - we used it in our ultra clean labs but we had almost tho whole floor covered in a fibreglass mesh with 1" square openings which was very unrestrictive.

**havabeer69** · 1st May 2021, 12:04 PM

In the end I bought 4 of Edmunds fans and installed them over the last couple of days. I ended up installing all 4 on entry side wall. purely for convenience (far less complicated for the eleco to install the 4 power points). so all 4 are drawing air from under the house and exhausting it out side. it does actually make a difference. while purely anecdotal with the 4 fans off and standing next to the passive vents on the opposite side you can barely feel any air flow, with all fans on max and standing at the same spot you can feel a decent rush of air moving past. actually used a recipro blade to help cut the bricks out... ALOT less dusty then using a grinder and ALOT neater then a drill and chisel.

now its just a bit of a play around to see how they perform.

again these where mainly installed to help with ventilation under the house to try and slow down the mould growth so I'll probably just set them up on timers to try and draw in the warmer daytime air and just manually turn them on for the dust extraction benefits (if any)

20210430-212034.jpg

20210430-212058.jpg

i still actually have to fix them in place and put some flyscreen over them to help stop bugs coming in when not running. I also need to do this to all the passive air vents

**BobL** · 1st May 2021, 01:40 PM

Looks good!

Originally Posted by havabeer69

. . . . . actually used a recipro blade to help cut the bricks out... ALOT less dusty then using a grinder and ALOT neater then a drill and chisel.

Neat

i still actually have to fix them in place and put some flyscreen over them to help stop bugs coming in when not running. I also need to do this to all the passive air vents

Unfortunately that will slow them down considerably especially when the starts to trap dust etc.

**Old Croc** · 1st May 2021, 07:55 PM

Is that a clothes dryer in the 1st group of photos? If it is, that certainly won't help with your humidity problem.
Rgds,
Crocy.

**havabeer69** · 1st May 2021, 09:28 PM

Originally Posted by Old Croc

Is that a clothes dryer in the 1st group of photos? If it is, that certainly won't help with your humidity problem.
Rgds,
Crocy.

yeah thats next weekends problem. i never thought about the dryer adding to the problem till recently. As the lovely wife does enjoy giving it a work out

**jack620** · 2nd May 2021, 07:42 PM

Originally Posted by BobL

Unfortunately that will slow them down considerably especially when the starts to trap dust etc.

Agreed. Before long your airflow will be reduced to almost nothing.

**jack620** · 2nd May 2021, 07:44 PM

Originally Posted by Old Croc

Is that a clothes dryer in the 1st group of photos? If it is, that certainly won't help with your humidity problem.

Agreed. You REALLY need to get that thing out of your workshop. Or duct its exhaust to outside.

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