I cant even begin to say how helpful that was. All day i have been thinking of how do i heat this unfinished basement and then how do cool it from the attic.. then i see this and basically explained it all.
Nice job! Thanks for the videos- I'm about to get started on my own project with Eddie Case's videos. Question: If there's no air return to the basement and your 15 light door to the upstairs is closed, do the A/C vents push much air into the basement? Do you have a gap on the bottom of your 15 light door perhaps? My air handler is in my basement. I was hooking up the "C" wire to my air handler a few weeks ago (so I could switch to one of the new WiFi thermostats) and had a cover off the unit. My builders left a good 1.5 inch gap under my door between 1st floor and basement (not sure why) and the air was just rushing through it while I had that cover off. I had my builders put in radiant floor pex for heat under my basement slab. I am hoping that the basement is cool enough in the summer that I don't need A/C, but if I do, it will be easy to tap into my trunk to add some vents. I assume I need to add a return air down there as well but am curious that you did not. Thanks again for the videos! On my prior house (bachelor pad- before wife & kids!) I gutted the kitchen and bathroom and completely rebuilt them doing all the work myself. Size wise my basement is much larger- between that and now having two young kids, I'm a little nervous about starting this. I was also in my late 20s then and now I'm in my early 40s! Anyway, great job and thanks for sharing!
Hey, thanks for the comment. So ideally, a return from the basement back to the air handler would have been the preferred route to go. I just didn't have the space to tuck another duct into a closet on the first and second floors. My line of thinking here was something was better then nothing. The AC does work great in the basement however. The bottom of the 15 light door does have a gap as you've stated and i do feel the air whizzing by at a pretty good velocity when the system is running. If you can, I definitely recommend adding a drop or 2 to your space. My basement was a constant temp year round but I wanted to add air flow to help exchange the air and help prevent the common basement odors and control humidity. The 2 drops have definitely solved those problems. The radiant heat in your slab should work great. I wouldn't have any worries about that. Remember, the basement won't see the temp extremes the rest of your house does so even a marginally good system will work just fine. I hear you on being nervous finding time for projects. I was in the same boat. My first house I completely gutted and rebuilt when I was single. Many late nights until 3 or 4 AM doing work - I was crazy. Now with a wife and 3 kids, NO WAY - you know where I'm coming from I'm sure. I have some good stories while doing my basement, let the kids play down there when it was safe while I was working on it. Insulating the walls and my son was following behind me ripping the bats down. They filled up my ejector pit and bathroom floor plumbing with toys several times when I was doing the plumbing...luckily I noticed and snaked them all out before backfilling and pouring the concrete. It was the only time they could build sand castles in the house and not get in trouble. Gouging out the mud while I was doing the drywall work, ohh yeah, they specialized in that. I have a lot more stories but you get the drift. Hardest part, just get started then I guess you'll make it work like I did. Good luck man. The end result is what kept me going. Great sense of self satisfaction knowing you did all the work when finished.
I have a hydronic system and was wondering if its safe to use the oxygen barrier pex on any part of the boiler line? Also the pex fitting reduce water flow, will that matter at all? Thanks for this great video!
This video has given me some hope! I gave hydronic baseboard heating throughout my house here in Indiana. Could you tell me how ac unit and air handler hook up to three boiler?
I see you ran the pex behind the wall where it appears to be on the cold side next to the foundation wall. Why did you do it that way vs. running it through the wall where it would be insulated, similar to how electrical is run? Thanks for vid. Looking to do my basement soon.
What state are you in ? When doing a load calculation we don’t add the basement because they are naturally cold unless it is a walk out and actually has a heat load
Great video. Researching how to add baseboard heat to my basement with my Dunkirk boiler and I think this pretty much answers it. Plumbing question- do the check valves on the feed side of all three zones prevent the other zone pumps from pumping into the other two zones from the return side?
Thank you! Yes, the flo checks on the supply side prevent the zones that aren’t calling from receiving water flow - mainly from gravity and head pressure of the other zones higher up in the building
Yeah, this is an overall bad setup that I inherited from the previous homeowners. When I replace the boiler at some point, it’s all getting ripped out and redone
Joe Dai There was a hydronic heating system and ducted AC system already installed so this was the only option. If you were building a house from scratch, sure... you could share the duct work for each system. Thanks for watching.
miguel jaiman They prevent the water from moving through the zone when the circulator is off. If you don't have them, your circ pump might be one that has a built in check valve. Thanks for the comment
Thanks, I did some work years ago with a heating and air contractor. No pex back then though. Stuff makes it very easy to get your project done quickly. thanks for watching.
Yes, you would need to set up a mixing valve that would mix colder boiler return water with the radiant zone supply. 80 degrees is a little on the cold side for floor radiant heat, step it up to around 100
What ac do I need to cool my basement in my house? My basement windows do not open and I can't do portable ac. What should I do because my basement become humid every summer?
I have gas heating for my first floor apartment and electric baseboard heating for the finished basement apartment. My gas furnace is in the basement right next to the basement apartment. Can I add duct work and heat the basement with gas? Or will there a safety issue?
lala land Shouldn't be any safety issue of all you're doing is tapping of the supply trunk. You might run into some problems though with zoning since the tstat won't be in the basement I'm assuming.
A Font Best would be hydronic baseboard with a standard boiler (non-condensing). If you're gutting and ripping up floors, radiant with condensing boiler. Easiest retrofit would be forced air with duct work.
