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• Weatherproofing (Score:2)

  by ziggy (25)

  The fan vents aren't designed to be airtight seals, they push a little less of a cold draught into the already-cold basement.

  For every home improvement problem there are two equally suitable solutions. Some homeowners tend focus on the one that involves hundreds of dollars, a new/replaced appliance or a team of contractors. The contractors see the one that involves about $2.00 (or less) in materials, and about 15 minutes of labor.

  Have you thought about sealing off the vents in the basement with som
  • Re:Weatherproofing (Score:1)

    by belg4mit (967)

    Ermm, sealing off too many vents
    can create back-pressure. Not a
    good thing.

    --
    Were that I say, pancakes?
• In addition to ziggy's suggestion... (Score:2, Interesting)

  by clintp (2)

  Assuming this is a standard centralized air system(single-point forced air), go to where the air ducts all meet at the heat exchange unit (where the blower will be). Each of the 6" or 8" galvanized ducts may have a valve.
  
  From the outside it'll look like a bolt just screwed onto the duct with a metal lever on it. (On the inside, it's a butterfly valve). If installed correctly, the lever pointing the same direction as the duct is "open" and purpendicular is "closed".
  
  In the summertime, close the vents
• Backwards. (Score:1)

  by ct (2477)

  You don't need to seal the basement, you need to vent the top floor to pull the cooler air up.

  If the roof sits in sunlight for any decent stretch of the day, get a powered attic vent on a thermostat. A fan that blows the hot air out of the attic when it gets to, say, 105, will make an ASTOUNDING improvement in the temperature of the third floor in the summer. A friend of mine just had to replace his attic vent fan. He knew it had gone bad when his otherwise nice and cool second floor suddenly became unfom
  • Re:Backwards. (Score:2)

    by ziggy (25)

    I saw something like this on a This Old House many, many moons ago. They were renovating a colonial house in Georgia that had some a form of air conditioning in the 19th Century[1]. How'd they do it? By installing a ring of propane burners around an open vent in the center of the roof (at the top of the central spiral staircase, IIRC). When it gets hot, just fire up the burners and watch the air rise and circulate. Same basic principle. :-)

    [1] You can date the technique to the introduction to gas lin
    • Re:Backwards. (Score:1)

      by ct (2477)

      Convection cooling. What's good enough for a G4 cube is good enough for a house :)