Basement Heating Questions

[dumouc56]

I am new to this board so bear with me if I have not placed this in the right forum. I am currently finishing my basement and the current furnace that is installed in our house can't take the additional load of heating the basement. Replacing the furnace with a larger one is out of the question. With that being said, I am looking for some ideas/suggestions as to what path I should take. Our basement is about 800-1000 square feet and most of it is underground. The walls are insulated and it remains at at constant 60 degrees and a humidity level of around 47%(this is with the dehumidifier running). The other important information is that I live in upstate New York. Any help/suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Ed Janowiak]

Budget?

Small
Med.
Large?

[dumouc56]

Between small and medium. Thinking around 800-1200.

[hivacer]

how did you determine it wasnt big enough? Doesnt sound like you have much of a load at all anyway and you just need to get the airflow to the space. With that budget you cannot do much more than run a couple of registers/ ducts and hope for the best. What you need to do for it to be precise is add a zoning system, and this includes reworking the ductwork you already have and adding new duct for the basement.

Or you could add a minisplit system seperate from your other system that does only the basement, a heat pump. Either route you go, to do it right will at least triple your budget.

[Ed Janowiak]

Dumo,

You might want to look into electric baseboard or infloor elec radiant on your budget.

[bobb25]

I seriously doubt that your present furnace isn't big enough to handle the load, unless someone came in and did all the calculations. Maybe you had someone come in to look at it, and they told you to get a larger heater. If so, call a few more contractors. I've added basement supply ducts several times for people. It's just a matter of sizing the ducts correctly, because the thermostat will still be upstairs.