Question

[Cygarbuff]

My new construction house in the basement has a 5" pipe leading outside. The plumber said by code he needed to get more air into my basement. One reason to keep the pilots going. Same for my half bath. The only problem is it brings in cold air in the winter and it's averaging around 15 degrees now. My basement is my gym and I have a lot of equiptment. It's freezing all my electrical equiptment. The plumbing inspector did mention never to plug it as a lot of people do but I could trap the cold air by putting 2 90 degree elbows on it. Does this method work or does this make any sense? He said the air would still come through but trap the cold air. If anyone knows anything about this I would appreciate it. Does it matter which direction the trap is? I want to make sure I understood it correctly. Thank you
Jay

[jadnashua]

If I remember correctly, you need about 1 sq in per 1000BTU of burner. So, maybe you did need more air. I'm not a pro. The best thing I've read about is an air-to-air heat exchanger. These allow air to move from one area to the other and tempers the air going in each direction - i.e., it warms the incoming air in the winter and cools the incoming air inthe summer. Should keep the room much more comfortable without a major energy hit. They typically come with makeup air to ensure the house pressure differentials are okay (i.e, you don't create a vacuum inthe house).

[hj]

If you could "trap" the cold air, which is a ridiculous notion, what air would you be able to introduce into the building since cold air is the only "outside" air available. You probably need more air into that room, rather than less, but you might consider closing it off with walls if that is not already done, and putting a "sealed" door into the new room.

[Cygarbuff]

Yes all that is already done. It's half insulated and a storm door installed. It's just the cold air through the pipe that cools off my gym. I was thinking exactly what you said. How can I trap the cold without trapping all the air. that's why it didn't make much sense to me when he told me. Thanks for you help.
Jay

[hj]

I may be missing something, but if the pipe goes into the heater room, which is where the air is needed, how is it getting into the exercise room?

[jadnashua]

Air-to-air heat exchangers are required in parts of Canada and aren't a bad idea anywhere you have a modern, tight house. They provide fresh outside air, and make-up air for combustion sources, while exchanging fresh outside air with the stale stuff in the house with a minimal loss of the house's conditioned air. It would also solve your problem. But, in lieu of that, insulating and sealing up the room with the heater from the rest of the basement would also do it, without the benefits of helping the entire house out. These exchangers also help quite alot if you have a quality hood vent over the stove - those things can move a bunch of air - it has to come from somewhere - typically through leaks in the house. better to do it through a controlled source like an air-to-air heat exchanger than through every leak around outlets/windows/doors in the house!