I feel like I’m being trolled, because we have so many windows. Why is there a hole here?
I just moved into a new mansion and there’s a literal hole in my living room about the size of a melon. After googling around it appears to be a either pipe fan hookup or the world’s biggest hole for an air conditioner pipe. My A/C is on the other side of the room and there’s a ton of windows here, I’m confused at what I’m looking at or why someone would need it. Needless to say, this is an older building.
I guess the previous owner had some kind of ventilation fan there, but I don’t understand how this works. I’ve only seen them in bathrooms, why does anyone have one of these in their living room? Like did these people have a serious flatulence problem or is there something I don’t understand about the japanese way of regulating a living room with an always-on exhaust fan year-round?
My instinct is to cover it it with some plastic cap and fill it with insulation, or is that foolish? I don’t understand why someone would have one of these year-round with how cold the winters get here
Can someone school me on this?
6 comments
You have any pics?
If it’s an open hole then it needs to be covered up, or you’ll be freezing your R’s off this winter. And creepy crawlies coming in in the summer. If you’re renting, get the management company to deal with it. If you bought the place, have at it with the plastic cover and insulation.
the largest common size is the A-hole.
without a pic hard to say.
> Like did these people have a serious flatulence problem…
And, if so, why would they try to vent it? (Unless the hole leads to the neighboring apartments.)
Maybe you are referring to air vents (通気口・換気口・吸気口)? Circular types are often opened and closed by twisting the knob in the center or pulling/pushing to close/open, while newer mansion will have square ones that you can push several times to open to varying degrees or to fully close. Since your bathroom most likely does not have a window, these vents in the living room or bedroom walls allow air flow from outside to flow through the flat and out the ventilation fan in the bathroom. When cooking, your overhead fan above the stove can create a significant vacuum. The air vents help increase airflow and reduce load on the overhead fan motor. Homes has some extensive info here albeit in Japanese ([https://www.homes.co.jp/cont/living/living_00459/](https://www.homes.co.jp/cont/living/living_00459/)) and some useful info in English here that is less detailed ([https://living.rise-corp.tokyo/house-ventilation-systems/](https://living.rise-corp.tokyo/house-ventilation-systems/)).
These are pretty common but usually have a cover. You can buy one. There is no real installation aside from a foam sticker to hold it in place.
[https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B00SZRJMEA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1](https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B00SZRJMEA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1)