I am investigating container homes. Something about the modularity appeals to me.
Regardless, I am thinking about one of the challenges that they face is to get adequate air flow without cutting holes in the container (and compromising the structure).
In most buildings, I have seen them use quite large ducting to provide the necessary cubic feet per minute/CFM.
My question is: why not use high pressure air lines (e.g. like the kind that are used to run pneumatic tools) to provide incoming air and vacuum lines to remove outgoing air?
It would appear to me to be a way to provide air circulation without having to have large ducting.
Best Answer
Creating compressed air is expensive If you consider most air handlers are pushing over 100 cubic feet of air a minute (many in the 200-300 rang). An air compressor 5 horse power will have a rating of 10-15 scfm at the working pressure so you would need a huge compressor just to move the air that would be expensive. Compared to the fractional HP motor on the air handler.
The best way to heat and cool this type of space in my opinion would be with a mini split. A 2-1/2” hole is all that is needed for that size space (each container) for heating and air conditioning the hole is for the electrical control from the main unit, a drain line and the high and low pressure lines that carry the “Freon”. No duct work just those lines.
You can use conventional ducted methods and all that space is lost but mini splits are very efficient and the inside units are small only about 32” to 48” long about 12” wide and protrude From the wall about 8-10”. Depending on the number of containers and layout you could have a large outside unit with multiple inside units or several small outside units connecting to the inside units.
But we don’t use compressed air because of the cost it could be done but no one would be able to afford to.