Hi All,
I have a property that has a single family upstairs (3b 1.5ba) with a partially finished basement (3b, 1ba) that I will be finishing and turning into a separate unit. The whole house is on one HVAC system. Additional ductwork will need to be ran to a few rooms.
I need some ideas for how to zone the upstairs and basement without adding a new hvac system. Any ideas? Some that I have stumbled on and a few notes regarding each:
- Smart-vents (Keen, Flair, Ecovent): The issue with these, is it seems as though they only open and close the vents based on the temperature. This will be an issue with the basement as in winter, simply keeping the vent open will not force additonal warm air out of the furnace. Does anyone know about these?
- New HVAC: $10,000 pill I wont be swallowing if I can help it.
- Electronic dampers: I don't know how these work really, and if the separate thermostat would force warm/cool air.
- Mini-split/wall units: Since I would have to put one ($900) in about 5 rooms ($4500) in the basement to fully separate the systems, this is also a tough solution. I also lose space.
I'm really scratching my head on this one and could really use the help.