Advise on reconstruction please

[Bubblingbrooks]

So, we need to put a root cellar in our lightly heated crawl space. Its a 4 foot space the entire foot print of the house. Dirt fill floor covered in plastic.
The plan is to wall in an area, and pipe in the cool air needed to chill it. Pans of water will be used to correct humidity.

The choices of areas to tie in for cool air are the following.
The dryer vent outlet and the convection oven vent.

Help me brainstorm here. Is it possible to utilize one of these vents without compromising either of them, or letting the stove or dryer heat from getting in the cellar?

 

[moolie]

If I'm understanding you correctly, you want to tie in to one of two exhaust vents for appliances on the main level?

I'm not sure I would do this, as it could introduce dampness/mustiness from your cellar into those vents/appliances and would likely mean that your appliances would vent into your cellar as well as outdoors--neither good outcomes.

The cold room that we had in our old place didn't have a vent and was totally sealed off and insulated from the rest of the house. It wasn't in a crawl space, but a room in a concrete-walled and floored basement. If you insulate your cellar from the "lightly heated" area, it should stay cold enough?

Hubby's Grandma also had a cold room in her home back in the 60s and 70s in a similar concrete-walled and floored basement and it just had a "cold air return" type vent on the outside wall. I'm guessing this would make it too cold in your root cellar in your climate!

I would think that a dedicated dryer vent or some other vent with a flap just for your cellar would be a way to go if you could somehow regulate when the flap was open vs. closed.

 

[Boogity]

Hello Willow, Alaskans. Your OP is a little puzzling to me as you talk about "piping in cool air" but you consider using the exhaust from the dryer or the oven. That ain't exactly cool air here in the lower 48.

We have a root cellar that was a cistern under a portion of our house. I did some modification several years ago to convert it into the root cellar. For ventilation I installed a used bathroom exhaust fan in one corner. I used 4" PVC pipe to go out through the wall and up through the soil to a "gooseneck" discharge in a flower bed. In the opposite corner of the room I installed 6" PVC pipe in a similar manor (without the fan) to allow air to enter the room. I ran this intake pipe down to about 6" off the floor. I have found that this amount of airflow is more than adequate for our 8'Wx14'Kx7'H room. If your room is deep enough the temperature inside the room will not fluctuate very much whether winter or summer.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Hello Willow, Alaskans. Your OP is a little puzzling to me as you talk about "piping in cool air" but you consider using the exhaust from the dryer or the oven. That ain't exactly cool air here in the lower 48.

We have a root cellar that was a cistern under a portion of our house. I did some modification several years ago to convert it into the root cellar. For ventilation I installed a used bathroom exhaust fan in one corner. I used 4" PVC pipe to go out through the wall and up through the soil to a "gooseneck" discharge in a flower bed. In the opposite corner of the room I installed 6" PVC pipe in a similar manor (without the fan) to allow air to enter the room. I ran this intake pipe down to about 6" off the floor. I have found that this amount of airflow is more than adequate for our 8'Wx14'Kx7'H room. If your room is deep enough the temperature inside the room will not fluctuate very much whether winter or summer.

I am thinking about using that duct, but with a separate pipe run through it to the outside.
Does that help?

since the dryer duct is flexible, right up to where it exits, I would think we could work with it a fair amount.