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Loud Mechanical Room/Residential condos

Loud Mechanical Room/Residential condos

Loud Mechanical Room/Residential condos

(OP)
Hello,
 I am a small business owner and I've worked in hvacr for my whole career. I am fluent in service, refrigeration and custom metal fabrication. I am being contracted to fix someone else's horrible engineering problem. OK, I have a 63 unit condo bldg. in NW DC and I have to devise a solution quick. The issue: All 63 units have a mech. room with restricted space. The mechanical contractor installed Carrier furnaces without a return duct system! The only return air that's being cycled is a damn closet door with louvers! There is so many things wrong with this design, I won't insult your intelligence by listing.
 I am being asked to "quiet" the system and from what I understand the new Carrier furnace has a loud blower as well. So my question is: Is there any way to direct the sound to the outside? Can I use a sound-lined return duct with a couple of in-line sound boxes to capture some of the noise? Would an exhaust fan pull any of the noise out of the mech. room?
 The first thing I want to do is to remove the louvered closet door and to design a sound-lined return system. I don't know is there is any room for combustion grills but this system will at least need an over the door transfer grill or equivalent..I am also thinking about using sound line insulation to wrap the actual indoor blower assembly.
 Any advice for quieting a return-less furnace room would be appreciated..
-Thanks

RE: Loud Mechanical Room/Residential condos

I'd build a lined labyrinth into a well gasketed replacement door, and see if that was 'good enough' before punching holes in anything.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: Loud Mechanical Room/Residential condos

Is the sound of the air or blower your problem, or is it the vibration of the units transfered to the building?

RE: Loud Mechanical Room/Residential condos

So it's pulling all the combustion air from the condo too?

Do the condos have working CO detectors?  They sure should.

How easy is it to open the condo door with the furnace, dryer, bathroom fan, gas fireplace and range hood running?

Have you done the flame test with the dryer and furnace , etc running?  The requirements for combustion air may have
been ignored, or an energy conscious condo owner might weather strip themselves into a real bad situation.  
http://www.blueflame.org/datasheets/combustair.html  

Regadless, I'd be kind of scared to touch this.  When a condo owner or two get asphixiated during the upcoming cold weather I'd much prefer the inspector and previous contractor and her engineer got the jail time and fines and bad publicity.

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