Pantry stays hot. Is a return air grill a good idea?

12 years ago

We have a small wine cooler in our pantry. This causes the pantry to stay warmer than the rest of the house. I was thinking of adding a 12x12 return air filter grill:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202542259/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053#BVRRWidgetID

with this boot:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202542067/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

and this start collar:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202542800/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

and then attach the two with standard 8 inch insulated ac flex ducting. Every time the ac or heat turns on, it would suck the hotter air out and pull cooler air in under the door. Is this a good idea? Any other ideas?

Thanks in advance.

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Comments (4)

heatseeker
12 years ago
no, How much wine do you have? If it is a large expensive collection then you might want to consider a med temp cooler to cool the space if not worth money then drink it or don't buy so much. You could always get a mini split installed too.
dan_martyn
12 years ago
AV8R,

If you don't have a large collection, and have a "small wine cooler" your idea is right on track. You could scale down your project by using a 6" round duct and 8" x 6" register. Install a balancing damper in the branch near the connection to the main. You should be able to get 50 - 100 cfm thru this size duct. If the register was placed high in the pantry and door was undercut 1", you should get more than enough air circulation to remove the heat.

If you have a large collection, I would agree with the mini split system.

Hope this helps,

Dan
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juliekcmo
12 years ago
Are you over-complicating?

Would a louver in the door of the panty, or undercutting the door by 1 1/2 inches give enough airflow to let the temperature equalize between inside the pantry and outside the pantry.
av8r
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks for the replies. The floor is hardwood and there is almost an inch of space btw the door and the floor. I already have the 8 inch line so that's why I was going with the 8. The space alone under the door doesn't seem to be enough. The ceilings are 12 feet and it does stay noticeably warmer and dryer in there which I really don't have a problem with but the wife thinks it's not good for the food and leaves the door open which makes me crazy. I thought this might be the easiest thing but I wasn't sure if the ducting was rated for the negative pressure or if there could be a downside to trying this and if it would be effective? The pantry is only about 15 feet from the unit in the attic and about 30 feet away from the ceiling intake where the filter is located for this unit. To me it does not seem like it would make any difference in the conditioning of the air in that section of the house if I drew some of the air through a 12 inch filter grill in the pantry ceiling but again, I just wanted to check with someone in the know first. If I use a regular 8x6 register than I would be sending unfiltered air through the unit and that doesn't seem like that would be wise would it? (The filter is located in the ceiling for the return air and I was going to attach the new 8 inch line to the unit in the attic.) Thanks again for the helpful replies.