How can I heat/cool my basement?

Question

I just bought a new house with an unfinished basement, and I would like to heat/cool it so that I can use it as living space. Only half of it is below ground, and the back has a true walk-out that goes straight onto the declining grade. I also have 2 small windows on the sides and a full sized window in the back area.

The regular system uses a furnace/AC unit for the down stairs, and a forced air/seperate AC unit for the upstairs. The basement area that I want to control is about 30'x20' (I really don't have the actual measurements now).

What is the best unit/system to put in to control the climate and what would be the average cost to install it? I don't want to tap into the existing system because I heard it will interfere too much with the upstairs. Should I wait until I actually finish the basement? Thanks!

Answer 1

I am guessing that "best" is a pretty relative term when it comes to such things. For instance, forced air conditioning and a furnace are the most expensive options as far as i know. but they are extremely easy to operate and for humid climates, forced air conditining is the only(?) way you can go.

here in california we use swamp coolers. no need for air conditioning. A window box swamp cooler would do a big room just fine and they are very cheap to operate. they need a water line run to them is all and it does not have to be a big plumbing pipe.

to heat, i use a wood stove. wood stoves can also give you hot water. since a cord of wood costs only $10 if u cut it yourself, it is very economical for some folks. also other folks say the heat is of a different/better quality than furnaces or electric. if a wood stove would work for you, then, house design permitting, the extra heat would rise and offset costs for the rest of the house.

^the reverse of that can be expected to work in the right air flow situations>>the cool of the upper house can flow down (like in the summer).

following the warm and cool will do for much of the year in many climates. like if u have a tv/internet connection run to the top deck and the basement you can migrate.

"Alternative" heat or cooling might be something to think of as well.

With sun heated water u can heat air as well as showers.

Solar cooling is not mainstream yet but maybe they have some new invention, idk. PASSIVE solar coolong is done with walls made of certain materials i think. It is, however, easy to use an electric solar panel to run your swampcooler or AC.

for solar power in general, i think prices are just under a dollar per watt but maybe five times that if u need batteries/storable power capacity to go with it. Prices will come down a LOT in the next number of years due to the new more sensitive films/photocells they invented. they say the price will come down to maybe .10 per watt but idk how long it will be.

overview of conventional alternative methods:

http://www.greenbuilder.com/sourcebook/H...

conventional alternative<<ha ha.

alternative energy directory:

http://www.energyplanet.info/Alternative...

as far as tapping into the current system<<i hear you when it comes to heating x number of cubic feet with only x number of modified air. but so it might depend on a few things. like one, the dude who bought the first system might have been planning to make a basement and so he may have bought a big size. or Two, many dudes overbuy just to be safe, so as to not put a big load on the system so it might be that one more room is really no big deal. Three, maybe it would be overloaded if u run all of the rooms at once but maybe u do not intend on doing that. like my house you can close off certain vents and so heat some places more than others. <<maybe that 3rd option is not code but thought i'd throw it out there.

a home repair forum to ask or talk about this type stuff:

http://www.homerepairforum.com/forum/

another one:

http://boards.diynetwork.com/eve

and a list to weed through:

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=home+re...