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Controlling Cold Air

Cheaper Summer Cooling

Keeping Cool This Summer

Five Summer Energy Savers

Cold Air Control

We moved into a home that has a basement. There is only one air duct in the basement, but it has been freezing down there since we have turned on the air conditioner. I am wondering if there is any way to blow the cool air up the stairway this summer to save on turning the air up?
P J in Fishers, Indiana

Get the Humidity Out

Instead of trying to blow cold air up the stairway from the basement to the main living level, close the vent supplying air conditioning to the basement level for the summer but make sure that there is a functioning cold air return for the basement level. Run a low-temperature dehumidifier in the basement. The small amount of heat generated by the dehumidifier will add some warmth in the basement during warm weather, making that level feel more comfortable. By using a dehumidifier, you can raise the air conditioning temperature on the main living level.

One of the primary purposes of air conditioning is to dehumidify the interior air. Dry air feels more comfortable than humid air. Whole house air conditioners are typically oversized, which doesn't allow them to run long enough to dehumidify the air properly. So if you boost the dehumidifying process, you can raise the temperature on your whole house air conditioner as well as keep the basement drier and prevent mold/mildew from forming. I have been using this practice for years and keep my air conditioning level comfortably at 80-82 degrees. I also have ceiling fans in all the bedrooms for sleeping comfort. Moving air feels cooler.
DS in Pennsylvania

HVAC Insider Speaks Up

My husband works in HVAC and he said to turn it from "auto" to "on" on the thermostat, which will make the fan run constantly. This will circulate the air from the basement to all the other rooms in the house. We used this in a two-story home and the upstairs was much cooler.
Dana

Why Fight It?

It's hard to get around the fact that cool air sinks and hot air rises. Also, do you remember your cave tours? Inside the earth, it's a constant temperature. Well, a basement is a lot like a cave! The more underground it is, the more the temperature will be constant year-round.

What does this mean? For my parents, who had a split-level house, it meant finishing out the basement. Not only did this double the livable area, but the den was the best place in the house year-round. It was always cool in the summertime, and in the winter, when the wood-burning stove was going, it was the warmest place in the house.

Rather than trying to move air against its inclination (i.e. making cool air rise), try going to where the cool air is! With some supplies from a Habitat for Humanity ReStore, you can probably make part of your basement livable for the same as it would cost you to turn up the air all summer long.
Keri in TN

Simple Cooling Tricks

We live in an old farmhouse with a substantially cooler basement than our upstairs. Half the floor is dirt and the other half is concrete. We do not have air conditioning. To cool off, we open the door to the cellar, put up a gate (to keep the dogs and baby out) and place a fan at the top of the stairs to pull the cool air up. We have a cellar hatch that opens outside, and we open that to not only cool the upstairs faster but to help dry out the cellar. Of course, we always draw the shades first thing in the morning to keep the sun's heat out.

At night, we shut off the downstairs (all bedrooms are upstairs on the second floor), open one window in the kids' rooms and turn on the fan in our room to exhaust, so that cool air is pulled into the kids' rooms. We do this about 7:00pm as it cools outside. By the time we get to bed, we usually have some cool air in our room as well. It can get downright chilly by 4:00am! With these simple tricks, we only need to use fans to move the air around to be comfy during almost all of the summer!
Steve and Judy

One-Time Expense Will Pay Dividends for Years to Come

Why add to the expense of cooling by trying to now send the cold air from the basement back up to the first floor? If you are not handy with HVAC ductwork, you can have a duct damper professionally installed into the single line going to the basement, and shut off or severely restrict the cold air going down there.

The one-time expense will pay off for years. Since your basement is underground, it will keep a much more constant temperature, not needing nearly the same amount of cooling.

Another quick fix is to simply tape over the single duct with a piece of plywood. The lack of free-flowing air will affect your system, but it will keep the cold air upstairs until you can afford to have it properly re-balanced.
Kamia

Take the Next Step:

Check air conditioner product reviews at Cheapism.com before making a purchasing decision.

Discuss "Using the furnace fan to cool the house" in The Dollar Stretcher Community

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