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

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year ago (1 children)

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

This is after I dremeled the casing.

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

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year ago

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