Ducting Systems and Air Ventilation - Duct in sidewall in basement

I have a duct that runs through a sidewall in my basement bathroom. Here's what it looks like with the vent on (it's at the top of the wall):

http://www.jarsworld.com/chris/duct_vent.jpg

Here's what it looks like without the vent:

http://www.jarsworld.com/chris/duct_no_vent.jpg

And here's a closeup:

http://www.jarsworld.com/chris/duct_no_vent_closeup.jpg

So there are huge gaps around the box that has the round hole cut it in that attaches to the vent. I'm probably losing tons of air into the cavity in the wall rather than getting it out into the room.

Any suggestions on how to fix this? I'm thinking that I need a square-to-round transition piece (or is this called a boot)? I'd like to make the connections as tight as possible to get the air out of the wall and into the room.

Thank you!

I hope a pro did not do that!!!!! Starting over would be best but removing sheet rock would be involved. Id fill in the gap on the round duct with some filler like wood and then duct seal everything. Looks like it is cut into a branch line which is a very bad idea. So you will not get much air any way.

If I did want to start over, can you tell me what would be involved? I'd like to know the "correct" way to do this.

Thanks again for the advice on filling in the gaps, that sounds like the easiest and most cost effective way to improve things at least a little bit.

It looks like you have two grilles off of one duct. Each grille should have its own duct.

I'm not an HVAC expert but it looks to me like they put a piece of 4" PVC into the 6" round duct and cut a hole in it to maybe reduce the flow through that register?

I have never seen anything like that but am far from an expert on normal duct installation practices. Can you see if that 6" duct in back also feeds another register grille somewhere else?

Airman, I haven't seen too many sidewall registers that don't have the separation like that between the two sides. I have a floor vent in another room that is split like that also. I can see your point though, that air is getting forced up in the vent and blocked in the middle by a vent like that.

shane21, what they did was cut a hole in a regular duct that is painted white. then they added a boot type connection with a hole cut in it for a 6" piece of sheetmetal that goes around that 4" hole cut in the duct. that duct also runs to a vent in the kitchen. amazingly the air flow in the kitchen is still pretty strong.

i asked a contractor to add a vent to a room in the basement that previously didn't have one. it used to be unused space and we turned it into a bathroom. it gets pretty cold in there in the winter which is why i had him add the vent. it never seemed to work too well, and now i see why... although maybe it's the best that could really be done with what they had to work with.

thanks again for the replies.

[QUOTE=theseeker;1640371]Airman, I haven't seen too many sidewall registers that don't have the separation like that between the two sides. I have a floor vent in another room that is split like that also. I can see your point though, that air is getting forced up in the vent and blocked in the middle by a vent like that.


If they have that separation it was done by a hack.


http://www.metalcomfg.com/pdfs/Round_Double_Wall.pdf
Pipe with Tap

lyonsduct.com - Spiral Duct Order Form (http://www.lyonsduct.com/spiralDuct.php)
SADDLE TAP

thanks again airman, i'll look into getting a pipe with a tap.

airman wouldn't he be best served getting a saddle tee for that installation?

lyonsduct.com - Spiral Duct Order Form (http://www.lyonsduct.com/spiralDuct.php) Round pipe tap.