Junctioning to dryer vent?

Still putting together my stealth grow. Running LED in a 2x4x6 tent stashed in a basement closet. Ambient temp down here is generally cool, and I am experimenting with my lights to see what kind of base temps I can expect before proceeding to ventilation. As this is stealth, I will be investing in a good fan + filter combo (400CFM Cloudline fan, 550CFM Phresh filter I think - but i may step down to 4" instead of 6" given my relatively small space & natural cooling).

My question is on ventilation. Grow closet borders an unfinished basement room that I'd like to just vent through the drywall to. There's this weird little cubby of a corner that would be super easy to do a short exhaust duct to, and no one would ever know it was there.
...But I'm paranoid about a filter malfunction. The whole house would stink up pretty quick if I'm just venting through the wall into this room, as it's right beneath the middle of the house.

With minimal effort, I could get this outside. Go through the closet wall and into basement room; then junction into existing dryer vent which goes out window. Using something like this: https://www.amazon.com/POWERTEC-70106-4-Inch-Y-Fitting-Connector The downside is it's adding a bit of visibility, but it's not like anyone besides me is ever down there.

My question is two-fold: Venting directly into the unfinished basement room is a bad idea regardless, right? I've heard stories of mold and other issues.

Second: If I were to junction into the existing dryer vent, is there a downside? It doesn't seem like air would back up into the dryer if I went with a nice Y junction, but I want to make sure I'm not doing something stupid.

In regards to venting into the unfinished basement room, you can always put some kind of back up in there. Maybe some Ona Gel and/or a low cost ozone generator that's set to run for 15 minutes every hour. Owning an ozone generator is always a good option as it has numerous uses for the 'closet cultivator' including sterilizing grow equipment, hydroton, tent etc. I use the A2Z Ozone Aqua-6 and it has served me well.

I think as long as the Y pipe doesn't restrict the dryer flow your good.So put the Y right at the exit.Blocking any flow when the dryer is on is no good.

Just Be said:

In regards to venting into the unfinished basement room, you can always put some kind of back up in there. Maybe some Ona Gel and/or a low cost ozone generator that's set to run for 15 minutes every hour. Owning an ozone generator is always a good option as it has numerous uses for the 'closet cultivator' including sterilizing grow equipment, hydroton, tent etc. I use the A2Z Ozone Aqua-6 and it has served me well.

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@myke - Very good point regarding not inhibiting the dryer. If I go this route, I will be sure to test to be sure I am not creating one problem while solving another!

@Just Be - This is a cool idea - Thanks. So, filter failures aside, you don't see any issue with venting directly to this room? I was reading a lot yesterday advising against some indoor ventilation routes because of a fear of mold, but that may be a higher temperature problem than I am going to have. I'm just not sure.

I dont think your small grow will create that much humidity and smell,if theirs a window that you can open even better.Its the last 2 weeks that smell will be strong.

I think mold would be more of an issue if there was excess humidity being vented into the spare room. If humidity is an issue in there, you can always get a small dehumidifier off of amazon. This is the one that I use and it works great even though it's not the biggest. It's inexpensive but the quality is very high. Set it to a desired RH and it kicks on automatically.

Also, for odor control you might consider using zeolite which is a volcanic mineral that absorbs odor and mositure and can be found pretty easily on amazon etc. I bought a couple of pouches of the stuff when I had spilled milk in a car and it took care of the nasty odor. The nice thing about zeolite is that it can be 'recharged' by placing it outdoors in the sunlight for 8 hours.

Just Be said:

I think mold would be more of an issue if there was excess humidity being vented into the spare room. If humidity is an issue in there, you can always get a small dehumidifier off of amazon. This is the one that I use and it works great even though it's not the biggest. It's inexpensive but the quality is very high. Set it to a desired RH and it kicks on automatically.

Also, for odor control you might consider using zeolite which is a volcanic mineral that absorbs odor and mositure and can be found pretty easily on amazon etc. I bought a couple of pouches of the stuff when I had spilled milk in a car and it took care of the nasty odor. The nice thing about zeolite is that it can be 'recharged' by placing it outdoors in the sunlight for 8 hours.

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thanks to both of you. I’ll check these items out as backups. Waiting to see what lighting does to my tent but right now ambient temps (in empty tent) are around 61-63 over night sealed up and dark. RH around 35% — so not even adequate yet. Once I get temps sorted I’ll probably dive in and try to tackle humidity as the situation evolved.

If u buy ONA GEL PRO keep it a good 20 feet away from your grow tent........its powerful shit, bought a gallon container last yr

sorta smells like what they disinfect large mens bathrooms with. Covers up dank smell, though.

I would just put an extra drier vent in especially for the task at hand and call it done.

@coreywebster - as in run a totally separate one out window? That presents another problem in that these are super old basement egress windows. Was hoping to use the hole someone already cut in one pane rather than making a new one. But I’ll do what I gotta do!

olegren said:

thanks to both of you. I’ll check these items out as backups. Waiting to see what lighting does to my tent but right now ambient temps (in empty tent) are around 61-63 over night sealed up and dark. RH around 35% — so not even adequate yet. Once I get temps sorted I’ll probably dive in and try to tackle humidity as the situation evolved.

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If its a gas dryer don't splice into the vent.

olegren said:

@coreywebster - as in run a totally separate one out window? That presents another problem in that these are super old basement egress windows. Was hoping to use the hole someone already cut in one pane rather than making a new one. But I’ll do what I gotta do!

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Oh sorry, I figured it was already cut into a wall not in the window. I would rather cut through brick than glass myself.
My bad for missing the "window" you clearly stated.

Could feasibly do brick instead — but not currently equipped to do so and would have to answer a lot of questions from the wife if I went that route. I saw some videos describing the window cut approach, but to be honest they are old as hell and I doubt I’ll get them out without breaking them. Maybe I should just get a new window down there and opt for one that’ll slide — so I can just pop a board in if/when I need to vent out.

electric Dryer thankfully! But thinking I’ll just vent straight into room to start — and see what that does. Maybe I won’t have to get it outside.

A friend tried hooking the tent exhaust into his dryer vent with a Y connection.
The grow tent exhaust fan was off and his wife used the dryer that night.
The next day he could smell slight burning coming from the tent which turned out to be dryer lint/particles had covered everything in the tent...the HID light hood warmed up enough to make the 'burning' smell.
The dryer not only vented outside, but also back into the tent. Prob increased humidity for a bit too
So you may need to install a reverse blocking pipe on your tent exhaust...not sure of the name of it, but it only allows air to flow in one direction.
Good luck and happy growing

Mak'er Grow said:

A friend tried hooking the tent exhaust into his dryer vent with a Y connection.
The grow tent exhaust fan was off and his wife used the dryer that night.
The next day he could smell slight burning coming from the tent which turned out to be dryer lint/particles had covered everything in the tent...the HID light hood warmed up enough to make the 'burning' smell.
The dryer not only vented outside, but also back into the tent. Prob increased humidity for a bit too
So you may need to install a reverse blocking pipe on your tent exhaust...not sure of the name of it, but it only allows air to flow in one direction.
Good luck and happy growing

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Wow, definitely didn't think of this scenario. Thanks for sharing. I think there's something like this on the exterior of the vent; basically some flaps that only allow it to open if it's being pressed from one side; but locked if the pressure is coming from the other.

Mak'er Grow said:

A friend tried hooking the tent exhaust into his dryer vent with a Y connection.
The grow tent exhaust fan was off and his wife used the dryer that night.
The next day he could smell slight burning coming from the tent which turned out to be dryer lint/particles had covered everything in the tent...the HID light hood warmed up enough to make the 'burning' smell.
The dryer not only vented outside, but also back into the tent. Prob increased humidity for a bit too
So you may need to install a reverse blocking pipe on your tent exhaust...not sure of the name of it, but it only allows air to flow in one direction.
Good luck and happy growing

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Ive been curious whether or not this potential problem would come up. I clean my dryer exhaust vent twice a year (from the outdoor side) as well as the lint trap. There are two different size brushes, the vent one has a 3 or 4 ft rigid cable attached to get up inside a bit and the lint one is maybe 18" or so. Crazy how much lint gets past your lint trap. If you dont clean it , I recommend it. Lint is a wicked fire starter.

olegren said:

Wow, definitely didn't think of this scenario. Thanks for sharing. I think there's something like this on the exterior of the vent; basically some flaps that only allow it to open if it's being pressed from one side; but locked if the pressure is coming from the other.

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Would also keep your exhaust from working if the dryer was running, or pump exhaust air into the dryer. May piss off the wife if there are clothes in there.

olegren said:

Wow, definitely didn't think of this scenario. Thanks for sharing. I think there's something like this on the exterior of the vent; basically some flaps that only allow it to open if it's being pressed from one side; but locked if the pressure is coming from the other.

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Most just use louver(s) on the outside, but yes it slows down air coming in...doesn't stop it totally which is what you would want.
Could even run into problems with the dryer over powering the exhaust fan and burning it out.

Pop the window out totally put in some ply and then 2 vents out of the ply. I think your asking for problems combining the two.

Mak'er Grow said:

Most just use louver(s) on the outside, but yes it slows down air coming in...doesn't stop it totally which is what you would want.
Could even run into problems with the dryer over powering the exhaust fan and burning it out.

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Sounds more and more like I need to stay away from this bright idea of a junction.

I'll plan to vent directly into the room for now -- and if I need to get outside, I think I'll go back to the plan of going through the other window. Worst case I could just use plywood or plexiglass -- something easier to put a dedicated port in. Cheers.