Whatvwouldnbe wrong with venting my shower stall directly into the AC return duct?
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carver
What ac return duct?
Why introduce moist shower air into any interior heating/cooling system?
Why?
Might as well let the bath contain the moisture-no?
Are you thinking that the return air will take out the excess moisture?
Vent bath into AC return
It seems widely agreed upon that the excess humidity in the bath following bath/shower should be vented (exhausted out). My house is brick without soffit near baths. What would be wrong with me running vent duct to central AC return duct. Let the AC condenser remove the moisture and discharge it through the existing drain; might drain it into a rain barrel.
Showering ain't all you do in the bathroom. Do you want to share everything with the rest of the house?
Among other things, I doubt that it's legal,especially if there is no operable window in the bath.
What about during the heating season or during the moderate seasons when the air handler isn't running? Also, the CFMs pulling through the return vent may not be sufficient depending on the duct distance. There are many more reasons why not to do it....
I think using a roof jack vent and running a 4" smooth-wall duct from a dedicated bathroom exhaust fan is your only option.
Although the code requires household bath exhausts to terminate outdoors, it does allow commercial buildings to re-circulate restroom exhausts provided the re-circulated air is 10% or less of the total airflow.
Would this work in your house? Maybe. But there are plenty of objections to it as others have noted.
If you can easily connect the the exhaust to the return, you might try it experimentally with the understanding that it may not work in all seasons, and that you may have to abandon the connection later and re-route the duct to terminate outside.
It might work O.K. when your AC is running. But what about the rest of the time? It would just fill up the ductwork with damp air. The moisture would condense on a lot of the duct surfaces, making the ductwork would rust and/or leak.
Everyone in the house would know when you crap!
Isn't that reason enough?
It only works when the AC is on!
Isn't that alone reason enough?