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Attempt at conditioning the crawl?


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Are you sure it isn't a clothes dryer booster fan? I've installed half a dozen of them and they look very similiar to what's in the photo. The new ones detect when the dryer is on and switch on automatically.

Marc

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Marc,

I am not sure if it was for the dryer. It was only partially installed. So the reason for it would be to help get the lint to the exit on a long dryer vent run?

Yes. It's a general remedy for those installations that pose too much obstruction to the flow of discharge air, for one reason or another.

A consequence of inadequate air flow is condensation within the duct, which in some instances may block or impede the flow of air, results in overheating of the dryer appliance and perhaps fire.

These are special fans. The blades are engineered to prevent the buildup of lint on them.

Marc

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Well Robert's busy, so I took a look at the Nutone ILF130 manual and found this:

NOTE: If used for dryer boosting the ventilator must be mounted at

least 12 feet from the dryer outlet. For gas fired dryers the

ventilator capacity (CFM) must not exceed the dryer’s fan capacity.

They really need to staple that wiring up to the joists.

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Hi,

It might not be for a dryer at all. There is one large builder here that keeps building homes with half the vents blocked by flatwork. Their cure for this is to install these in crawlspaces and then run a duct to the far corner of the area where the vents are blocked. They seem to think that it will somehow provide enough movement of air that there won't be any moisture issues. Most of the time it doesn't work; in fact, I've found significant fungal growth in a few of them.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

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Hi,

It might not be for a dryer at all. There is one large builder here that keeps building homes with half the vents blocked by flatwork. Their cure for this is to install these in crawlspaces and then run a duct to the far corner of the area where the vents are blocked. They seem to think that it will somehow provide enough movement of air that there won't be any moisture issues. Most of the time it doesn't work; in fact, I've found significant fungal growth in a few of them.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

Right. I think by creating negative pressure in the crawlspace, they are drawing moist air in, a lot of it from upstairs.

I see an occasional bath exhaust fan in the crawlspace, but when there are no other vents to let air in, it's a joke. I tell people to leave them turned off. Every area has their own solutions, but here, a lot of the new crawlspaces have electric heat, so warming the air a bit works just fine. No need to blow it around.

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Sorry for the delay in response. Mike your explanation of the restricted vents due to flat work is pretty much on the money. This is a custom home with an in ground salt water pool in the back yard and nothing but flat work along the sides and back of the home. The crawl space cavity was dry and fungus free. It looks as though the vent was in the process of being installed and then stopped.

Would you call for the fan installation to be completed? Or since there is no negative effects of not having one, just let the client know what it is and the theory behind it.

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I'd go with the second option. I'd probably also recommed they saturate the hell out of all of the framing and flooring in those areas with BoraCare just to be safe. (I'm tend to take a sort of a belt and suspenders approach to stuff.).

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

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