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We have a 2 story house, plus a walk out basement. All floors are finished. The HVAC and ducts run through each story in our home. We can keep our main and upper floor at great temps but the basement is always freezing. If I adjust the thermostat for warming up the basement the top too floors get wayyyy to hot.
I need a solution as we have 2 guest rooms down there plus a big den. My parents stay regularly and the poor things are freezing. I'm thinking I'm going to need some stand alone system down there. I need something that is as efficient as possible but mainly safe, no fire hazards.
The guest bedrooms in the basement do great with radiant heating panels we have when the doors are shut. But the big den is freezing. We've got it set up for guests to enjoy but it's too cold. Really need ideas to warm the space and keep it warm. The basement den is probably 18 X 21 feet. My folks love their little apartment down there when visiting but it needs to be much warmer. Do I get a gas fireplace installed? Floor board heaters? I'm at a loss and we want to utilize this space. Cannot do radiant floor, we just got the floors done and dont want to rip them up. And I don't want my house to burn down if something gets left on like a space heater which doesn't really help to heat that much space anyway.
What type of HVAC system(s) do you have? How many?
What are the Btu's? A/C?
"HVAC ducts run through each floor"- doesn't say anything.
If I had to guess- you have a finished basement with tapped ducts that were designed specifically for the first floor- not the basement AND first floor.
A basement with a standalone system is usually the best thing to do- how to do "after-the-fact" depends on a lot of things.
Well I'm just a wife and mom so I don't really know about btu's etc, I'll have to look. I know there is no return in the basement, just in the upper 2 floors. The basement has vents that look like the ones on the other floors, the 10 inch wide ones with metal plates.
There's efficient, and there's total cost -- electric is "efficient" but will cost more to run.
Look into where the heat is going -- is it all escaping to the upstairs, or are there drafts or insulation issues with the basement itself?
As mentioned, with no returns in the basement, the main heating system is going to have issues keeping the basement comfortable. It should be cheap enough to add a return to the basement.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DoodlemomCoS
The guest bedrooms in the basement do great with radiant heating panels we have when the doors are shut. But the big den is freezing. We've got it set up for guests to enjoy but it's too cold. Really need ideas to warm the space and keep it warm. The basement den is probably 18 X 21 feet. My folks love their little apartment down there when visiting but it needs to be much warmer. Do I get a gas fireplace installed?
For a basement den, I would get a direct vent gas fireplace (for ambience) or a quality direct vent gas wall furnace (for efficiency). Both styles are available with thermostats, remotes, timers, etc.
I have a Rinnai gas-fired wall furnace with "modulating" burner and variable speed fan, it does a great job of keeping a closed room comfortable. When the room isn't in use, can put it in a freeze-protection mode where it only comes on when the room gets unusually cold.
Well I'm just a wife and mom so I don't really know about btu's etc, I'll have to look. I know there is no return in the basement, just in the upper 2 floors. The basement has vents that look like the ones on the other floors, the 10 inch wide ones with metal plates.
You need to have return ducts in order to get the rooms warm air circulation.
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There's efficient, and there's total cost -- electric is "efficient" but will cost more to run.
