Cigar Cave? - or, should I bother exhausting the smoke?

[herfdog]

There was ice on my car today. And in the road. Its freazing coald ouat heare.
But, as some of you might know, I changed house and now have a garage - like many other, garage means winter gar cave. Sloooowwwwwly transforming it into something useable.

Should I bother having some ventilation that exhaust "smoked air" out?

If you have a winter gar cave, please chime in and post pictures, ideas, DOs and DONTs. All opinions welcomed. And ideas.

 

[Smoqman]

Having an exchange of smoke and fresh air is important to me. Furnishings that do not trap smoke help in keeping it stale-smoke-free (think "less fabric furnishings, more solid surfaces or leather")
A smoke buster is a good idea, (better if it has a good ion generator) but you have to (have to) maintain it (clean it) or it can become a smoke trap where the gift of stale smoke keeps on giving.

Old posters of Heather Thomas, Heather Locklear and Farah Fossett would make the place more homey

 

[SFerrojr]

I too am slowly transforming my Garage into a Winter Man Cave. I wouldn't want to be in there after a whole winter of smoking with no ventilation. I put a 14" 1500CFM fan in the back gable and cut some vents into the bottom panel of the door to get a cycle going. I have it on a variable speed control and a delay switch so I can run it on quiet speed while I'm there, then crank it up to "Tornado" and flip it on a 15 minute delay on my way out the door to purge any remnants. It does an ample job of pulling the smoke out and turns the air over quite well. In addition to preventing the stale smoke smells it also alleviates any concerns I have about Carbon Monoxide in the winter if I have propane heater(s) going.

 

[Clint]

Is an attached garage? If so, you have to take the house entry door, and the wall shared with the house into consideration.

 

[SFerrojr]

Is an attached garage? If so, you have to take the house entry door, and the wall shared with the house into consideration.

Good point Clint. Mine is detached so no issues there, but you definitely don't want to be leaking smoke back I to the house, or pulling heat out. Gotta make sure the door is well sealed, no air leaks and that any adjoining walls are well insulated.

 

[Sydgar]

Cave with a decent exhaust would be excellent. Just remember, you want air going in the room and not out. So fan and window placement is crucial. Actually, you may want to limit windows in the room itself. So the exhaust will draw fresh air in from the door. Sometimes, a window will push air out the door if there is a strong enough gust. Along with the smoke.

I don't like ionizers. Too much work. And they make everything sticky over time. Even the walls.

 

[JustTroItIn]

I have a two car garage. If I had 5 people in there smoking then I may consider some sort of ventilation but with just me the smoke dissipates quickly. My garage, however, is not very well sealed so there is most likely enough natural ventilation.

 

[King Kill 33]

I smoke in my garage daily and ventilation is lacking. In the winter it get pretty smoky in here. I am looking at installing a fan with high cfm as mentioned above. I recommend it highly

 

[SFerrojr]

I smoke in my garage daily and ventilation is lacking. In the winter it get pretty smoky in here. I am looking at installing a fan with high cfm as mentioned above. I recommend it highly

Take a look at the Fantech 2SHE series. Metal bladed fan and frame/shutters in one pre-assembled package. Been serving me well for 2 years now with no issues and very reasonably priced.

 

[King Kill 33]

Cool. Thx! What about the fresh air intake?

 

[SFerrojr]

Cool. Thx! What about the fresh air intake?

I have a white aluminum door, so I got 4 4"x12" heat register covers from the depot, cut 2"x8" openings in the bottom panel with a jigsaw/metal blade and bolted the grills on. I'm sure an HVAC guy could do the math and tell me why that's all wrong, but same 2 years, the smoke moves quickly and I haven't asphyxiated yet Makes it a little harder to heat in the winter, but short of pulling the fresh air right through some type of furnace, not much I can do about that. When I'm not smoking the fans off and I block the grills with rigid foam, and then open them up blast the heater right on me when I am.

 

[Jfire]

Hopefully Vitty will chime in here. I send him a pm to post his info.