Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 16

Thread: Car exhaust from garage

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Fort Wayne IN
    Posts
    1,210

    Car exhaust from garage

    I want to make a panel for the bottom of my garage door so I can vent the exhaust from my car. This will allow me to run the car this winter with the garage door closed.

    I plan on using a 3' long piece of this 2 1/2" tubing:

    https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pr...iABEgKxlvD_BwE

    I thought I could go to a muffler shop and have them make me two parts. One would be a 2 1/4" to 2 1/2" adapter. This would connect from the tail pipe on the muffler to the hose. The other would be a 2 1/2" straight piece to go thru the wooden panel for the garage door. I was going to make this panel from stock 2 x 4 pine. The hose would be attached with hose clamps to both metal tubes.

    Do you think I have to worry about the. wood burning? I have a Toyota Matrix. I have no idea how hot car exhaust is.

    Does anyone see any problem with this design?
    Sometimes decisions from the heart are better than decisions from the brain.

    Enjoy Life...

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    N.E, Ohio
    Posts
    3,026
    Years ago most service stations had a port in the door for such use and it was a metal port in the door and in those days the doors were wood. I do not think exhaust is that hot. Hold your hand in the exhaust from your car and see how hot it is.
    George

    Making sawdust regularly, occasionally a project is completed.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Monroe, MI
    Posts
    11,896
    Google Garage door exhaust port. Still made and probably cheaper than you can fabricate something.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,694
    Just be sure that whatever you do for this, the sealing is complete so you don't get any CO from leaks. It can be deadly...
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    West Lafayette, IN
    Posts
    6,529
    I warm up the cars in the garage frequently in the winter. I just open the garage door as i enter the garage to leave. Never though there was an issue.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    McKean, PA
    Posts
    15,596
    Blog Entries
    1
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Day View Post
    I warm up the cars in the garage frequently in the winter. I just open the garage door as i enter the garage to leave. Never though there was an issue.
    There are several issues with warming cars in a garage beyond the risk of CO poisoning. It isn't necessary for the performance of the vehicle. You waste gas. Some numbers cited by various no-idle campaigns estimate that 10 minutes of idling uses about 0.1 gallon of fuel (for a small car). If you idle 10 minutes a day, it adds up to more than 35 gallons a year. What you're basically accomplishing is wearing out the car without racking up any miles.

    If you need to run the car to work on the engine, then add a garage door exhaust port. You can even get pre-made hoses for single or dual exhaust.
    Last edited by Lee Schierer; 09-11-2017 at 12:44 PM.
    Lee Schierer
    USNA '71
    Go Navy!

    My advice, comments and suggestions are free, but it costs money to run the site. If you found something of value here please give a little something back by becoming a contributor! Please Contribute

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Longview WA
    Posts
    27,347
    Blog Entries
    1
    It might be better to install a small electric heater to warm the interior of the car before starting, if this is why you want to run the car a few minutes before you take off.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Medina Ohio
    Posts
    4,516
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Koepke View Post
    It might be better to install a small electric heater to warm the interior of the car before starting, if this is why you want to run the car a few minutes before you take off.

    jtk
    Or get a block heater that way the engine would be warm when starting

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    West Lafayette, IN
    Posts
    6,529
    In the cold months I warm the car up so it's comfortable for my kids (and me!) on our drive to school. I know the car doesn't need it (I listened to that episode of Car Talk!) and obviously it uses gas. The 35 gallons per year number is probabaly more like a couple gallons in my case based on how much I do it. If I lived in Alaska I might get a block heater but it doesn't make a lot of sense in Ohio.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Fort Wayne IN
    Posts
    1,210
    Good tips everyone. Thanks. I want to do this for emergency preperation. I have a power inverter and would like to run the car in the attached garage if it is freezing out. Some years back we had an ice storm and had no power for 5 days.

    I did see those exhaust ports ( Thanks Matt) for the doors but chose to go another way. I just did not want to cut into a steel insulated door.
    Sometimes decisions from the heart are better than decisions from the brain.

    Enjoy Life...

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,694
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Day View Post
    I warm up the cars in the garage frequently in the winter. I just open the garage door as i enter the garage to leave. Never though there was an issue.
    CO can build up quicker than you might think...and what if you get distracted while the vehicle is running in the closed garage? Folks have died from that, Matt...
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Fort Wayne IN
    Posts
    1,210
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker View Post
    CO can build up quicker than you might think...and what if you get distracted while the vehicle is running in the closed garage? Folks have died from that, Matt...
    Danger noted Jim. Thanks!

    Here is my exhaust plan. Anyone PLEASE provide feedback if it appears this will not work.

    I purchased a section of 2 1/2" diameter high temperature flex tubing and the proper clamps. I plan on having a muffler shop make me a reducer to connect from my 2 1/4" exhaust pipe to the flex tubing. I am asking for a tight slip on fit to the muffler. Then on the other end of the flex tubing, I will have a 2 1/2" piece of tubing pressed into a 2 1/2" hole in the panel I am making for under the door. I assumed with this setup, all exhaust would exit the garage.

    If this is faulty logic or I am missing something, anyone please chime in and offer suggestions or correct me. I really kinda enjoy life and have no plans to exit the planet soon.

    Thanks everyone.
    Sometimes decisions from the heart are better than decisions from the brain.

    Enjoy Life...

  13. #13
    Buy yourself a generator. Your car is not made for this and you will damage some very expensive parts that will make you wish you bought a couple generators. All of this is contingent on you not killing someone in your household first. I am a garage owner, and ASE Certified Master Automobile Technician with over 40 years in the business. Please heed my advice.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    N.E, Ohio
    Posts
    3,026
    As Bob Leistner has said a car is not designed to idle for hours on end. The cost of repairing the damage could be as much as having a standby generator installed that ran on natural gas.
    George

    Making sawdust regularly, occasionally a project is completed.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    Modesto, CA, USA
    Posts
    9,889
    More then driving a car in or out of a garage raises CO levels in the house for about 6 hours. Not enough to cause damage but enough that mental function is maybe slightly impaired and the children raised there will always do slightly poorer on academic testing.
    Bill

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •