Ventilation blowing back

[Thirteenmoons]

This sounds like a silly question to me but here goes...

I live in a valley. An east west running, windy valley, with open farm fields all around. Sometimes I think I'm going to end up in Oz it gets so windy. I work in my basement and I can only pipe my ventilation out a window. The only windows are on the east and west sides of the house... where the wind blows. When it's not windy my 650 cfm fan works great. Am I just destined to not work on windy days or is there a way to prevent the wind from blowing back into my ventilation pipe and right into my face?

[rosiescreations]

My husband made me a hood like thing that goes on the outside of the window and is secured to the frame. It comes even or just below the fan. It helps a lot. The only time I get wind back is if it is really blowing hard really hard.
Is your basement a walk out basemen? Maybe your hubby could make you something that would sit out about 2 feet from your fan.
Good luck.

[Starrr]

Do you have a damper installed to your vent system? I have a 3 louvered damper that keeps the wind from blowing back into the studio.
Edie

[Dale M.]

A solution may be to take you ventilation outlet straight up to above roof line and exhaust it vertically with a vent cap to prevent rain from entering... Best thing is to avoid exhausting it horizontally directly into on coming wind...

The problem with dampeners or shutters is that they may be closed more than open on windy day and you have effectively stopped your ventilation from functioning.

Dale

[MikeAurelius]

If the window that you vent out of is close to the north or south face of the house, run additional ducting to the north or south face and terminate at that point. By terminating on the north/south face, you are eliminating the possibility of blowback by taking the duct our of the wind path.

My personal preference is for manual dampers, as noted, the so-called pressure or automatic dampers can close if there is a strong enough wind.

[Starrr]

I'm assuming my damper is a manual because when my system runs it has never closed due to the wind, I'm running 2, 650cfm blowers. Without it, I would have snow blowing back in through the ducting when I wasn't working.
Edie