Heating/Cooling 2100SQFT Basement/Arcade

OldSchool84

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Well I just moved down from Dayton OH to Cumming GA (Who in the heck named this town!!!). My 2100SQFT basement is not finished. It is framed and for the most part like the layout (May have some headers beefed up to move/remove a wall or two).

Anyway, I have all of my 20 games sitting down in this basement and I am constantly emptying my dehumidifiers (3 of them, once per day). I need to get some air flowing in this basement ASAP! I don't want mold, moisture and crap collecting on my games. I spent way too much money restoring them to have them turn into crap. I had a heating/air guy come out and he said it would cost $4500 to install a 2 ton heat pump and run all the duct work.

- Is a 2 ton heat pump enough to heat/COOL (I heard it gets hot down here during the summer time) AND zap the moisture out of the air?
- Is $4500 an average price or am i getting screwed?
- What else should i have installed (dehumidifier, ect...)?
- anything else I should know about this area?

Thanks!
 
old school,
Any windows down there? Just sun light helps. Just hooking up a few ducts from the upstairs helps! Do you have a gauge down there to tell you how much humidity you have?

Can't help on heat/air costs.
 
Well I just moved down from Dayton OH to Cumming GA (Who in the heck named this town!!!). My 2100SQFT basement is not finished. It is framed and for the most part like the layout (May have some headers beefed up to move/remove a wall or two).

Anyway, I have all of my 20 games sitting down in this basement and I am constantly emptying my dehumidifiers (3 of them, once per day). I need to get some air flowing in this basement ASAP! I don't want mold, moisture and crap collecting on my games. I spent way too much money restoring them to have them turn into crap. I had a heating/air guy come out and he said it would cost $4500 to install a 2 ton heat pump and run all the duct work.

- Is a 2 ton heat pump enough to heat/COOL (I heard it gets hot down here during the summer time) AND zap the moisture out of the air?
- Is $4500 an average price or am i getting screwed?
- What else should i have installed (dehumidifier, ect...)?
- anything else I should know about this area?

Thanks!

I'm not sure that a 2 ton is enough for that much space. I'm looking at a 2 1/2 ton for the 1000 sq. ft gameroom I'm building. That price is in the ballpark of the quotes I've gotten.
 
Best and cheapest way to get this done is to ask around and find someone who will work with you where you (and your friends) do most of the labor. With an unfinished basement to work with it will be a cinch. We installed an electric heating/cooling system in an entire house with a finished basement in a weekend. You need someone in the business with the knowledge - they will also be able to help with inexpensive sources for materials, and lots of bodies. It's not hard to do, you just need someone to tell you what to do. Dehumidifier is a must for sure.

Good luck!!

Bill
 
Better figure out where the moisture is coming from and fix that. Regrade yard, perimeter drain system, gutters routed away from the house to a Dry well or pumped to the street, etc.
 
I'm not sure that a 2 ton is enough for that much space. I'm looking at a 2 1/2 ton for the 1000 sq. ft gameroom I'm building. That price is in the ballpark of the quotes I've gotten.


We have 4-5 quotes before we picked a heating/cooling company.
We installed a 2 ton heat pump in our 720 sq ft shop.
Works great all summer and winter. R-19 in the walls and R-39 in the ceiling.

Steve
 
WELCOME TO THE SOUTH!! LOL!
Im right up the road from you in greenville, SC. Im in the same boat - ill be looking to heat/cool my 1900 sq ft basement soon as well. Nice to see another hoobiest close to me - I seemed to have left all my "arcade friends" back in the WI/IL area this summer.
 
Called another heating/air guy. He didn't give me a price up front. He said he needs to run some calculations first. He thinks dual zone is a must. 1 zone for the arcade room and another for the rest of the basement. He said if I didn't do it that way, if the thermostat was not in the arcade, when all my machines are on, that room would heat up pretty quick. If the thermostat was in the arcade, I would freeze everyone out of the rest of the basement. Hence, 2 zones are needed. He also said 2 ton. He said he likes to undersize a little bit so the unit runs longer to zap the moisture out of the air. When the summer time hits, if it gets too hummid (> 55%), I can attach a dehumidifier to the duct work. He said such a unit can pull up to 90 quarts of water a day if needed.

(The arcade room has no windows).
 
The arcade room is 30' x 12'. Decent size room. He said he's going to push a lot of air into that room. 1 ton just for that room.
 
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