On Thursday afternoon the contractor was here and we set about getting the venting system hooked up. The temperature in the cellar, halfway through when I thought of it, was 55F.
We did the warm air out vent first as it was the shortest and we could experiment on what would work. I spent a lot of time going up and down stairs to make sure the outside vents maintained their angles as the contractor worked inside putting the pieces in place.
He had gotten the adhesive, which cured slowly, on the outside to help hold the pipes in place and marked the correct angle on the pipes and wall.
Once the vent was in place, it seemed to be pulling the warm air out. We left the blast gate open.
Having figured out a good many details on the warm vent, we started on the cold air in vent. This one was much harder as the elbows were 90° instead of the 45° we used on the warm air.
We also had to use the 22½° to get the pipe oriented and aimed for the diagonal corner. We spent a lot of time trying to determine where to run the down pipe in the diagonal corner. The problem was the light fixture was right in the path we’d chosen.
We had selected the area around the post on the west wall to send the pipe down as it didn’t involve cutting shelving. But the light fixture nixed that.
By the time we’d gotten this solved, it was late, so we just propped the end up under the blast gate. He will come back with tools to cut the wire shelving and we will run the pipe across the ceiling and down the diagonal corner and finally have the venting done.
When I checked the air flow, it had changed. Both vents were letting in cold air. I will have to learn how to regulate the temperature down there.
He also had door jambs for the door and put one up as it was just the right size. But the root cellar is a long ways from sealed to hold temp.
The hearth stone by the masonry heater started rocking again last week, so he looked at that. It, of course, wouldn’t do it for him. We determined that was probably because the heater hadn’t been used for a couple days when it was so warm and humid. The wood had swollen enough to stop the rocking. Sigh…