Radon Discharge Connections

[Mike Lamb]

Shouldn't the exterior downspout connection for the radon mitigation be sleeved into the upper connection since air/gases are being pushed upward? It seems common sense but I don't know. This may have been done for water that might run down?

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[Jim Katen]

It's about pressure. The direction of the air flow doesn't make it leak more in one direction than another. When the pressure inside the pipe is greater than the pressure outside, air will leak out, regardless of the orientation of the sleeves.

[Les]

Mike, I don't really know either. that setup seems a tad on the "poor workmanship" side of the spectrum 'tho. it is close to the window, leaky conduit, seems the fan is too large for the capacity of gutter downspout, etc.

[Les]

It's about pressure. The direction of the air flow doesn't make it leak more in one direction than another. When the pressure inside the pipe is greater than the pressure outside, air will leak out, regardless of the orientation of the sleeves.

I partially agree. Velocity is the variable. if the air is moving across an orifice (opening) then it could create a vacuum.

[Charlie R]

Nothing wrong there, but using a downspout is regarded by many radon mitigators to be "cheap."

[Marc]

The venturi effect occurs at a constriction in the flow of a fluid. The downspout has no constriction. Maybe there's some other effect being referred to here.

Marc

[Rob Amaral]

That would not pass mustah around here (MA)... all our mitigators use PVC

[Steven Hockstein]

That would not pass mustah around here (MA)... all our mitigators use PVC

same here. I have never seen a system using the leader pipes for the radon system.