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Why is the supply air duct not directly behind my vent? (self.homeimprovement)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by mcc to c/[email protected]

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I was investigating why is one of the air vents so loud when AC is running. Turned out the air duct is not actually behind the vent, but to the side of it.

This is looking from the vent towards the duct: https://imgur.com/LoVmJLB

Video for better context: https://imgur.com/a/xije77u

Is this a common thing? The casing for the grille (left of the picture, the white thing) is restricting air flow a bit and making the whole vent kinda loud.

I am thinking to get a dremel and just cut off the extra casing that's serving no purpose

Edit: mixed up return vs supply. This is a supply vent.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I don't really understand what's happening here, can you get a picture that shows a little more or draw a picture?

[–] mcc 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Uploaded a video: https://imgur.com/a/xije77u

This is after I dremeled the casing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

This is actually kinda standard for return vents. Just using a wall bay as a vent chassis. The aire is room temp so no need for metal and it's cheaper so, meh.

As for noise you could dampen it a bit but it kinda is what it is.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Is this a supply duct or return duct? I know you're calling it return, but I wouldn't expect air to be flowing through a return duct with enough force to make any sort of noise... The duct itself looks small for return air as well

[–] mcc 2 points 2 years ago

Oh jesus, I mixed up return vs supply! This is a supply duct.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Seems like an unintended design flaw that just kinda causes more headaches than it should. Ideally you'd want smooth airflow through the duct and grille but your setup is generating turbulence.

I'd clean that up and also try fabbing up some cardboard inserts to get rid of the hard angles in there. Smooth that airflow out!

Just an idea anyway..

[–] mcc 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Cardboard sounds good. I dremeled some of the casing, that has reduced the noise a decent bit, but still very much louder than the other vents.

I thought only software engineers do hacks in production.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

I feel like most professionals routinely go to hack mode as the first course of action. haha