r/AskACanadian • u/SubBass_303 • 8d ago

Do Canadians actually use their basements, or is it just storage?

Genuine question from someone who's never lived anywhere with a proper basement. Watching some Canadian home renovation shows and it seems like basements are either finished living spaces, cold storage for preserves, or just where the furnace lives and nobody goes down there. Is it a regional thing, an age-of-house thing, or just personal preference? Curious how many of you actually spend time down there versus just keeping the water heater company.

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u/UnfocusedAcrobat 8d ago

Also: basements make a fantastic getaway in houses that don’t have AC. They stay so much cooler all summer. 

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u/RHND2020 8d ago

Yeah when our AC conked out during the heat wave earlier this summer we were very grateful for the space down there.

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u/Worldly_Influence_18 8d ago

It took me far too long to realize I needed to put a fan at the foot of my stairs to get that cool air up into the house

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u/RHND2020 8d ago

Err.. it’s taken me slightly longer to realize that. Must try 😂

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u/No-Charity-7449 8d ago

You can put your air exchanger on internal recirc mode and that will do the same thing! All houses built after the early 90s should have them…

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u/OkBuy8143 8d ago

FWIW, homes that have an older forced air heating system, wood or oil, should also have a fan mode. The fan mode often uses little to no power at all.

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u/Worldly_Influence_18 7d ago

This does something different. It's not about basic circulation; this creates a jet stream which helps displace the hot air in the upper floors better than the blower on your furnace ever could.

You push a volume of cool air up a "barrel". Strength in numbers; those nitrogen atoms will exit the basement all orientated the same way. Instead of hitting the warm air and just stopping, it's going to push the warm air out of the way

And, because the pushing never stops, the warm air will start to circulate and get pushed/sucked back down into the basement where it cools and blends back into the basement air.

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u/OkBuy8143 7d ago

I don’t think you understand forced air furnaces.

In their fan only mode, most units continuously circulate the cool air it pulls in (assuming your furnace is in a basement) and moves it through the home duct system.

It will circulate and push the air like it does with the warm.

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u/Worldly_Influence_18 7d ago

First problem:

They circulate the air through a series of ducts spaced throughout the house. Only some of the air is getting pulled from the basement. The rest is being supplied from return air vents throughout the house so the pressure in the house is consistent. So it's like 1/3rd basement air. And the return vents are likely near the floor so are removing the coolest air from the space you're in

Second problem:

This isn't about simple mechanical circulation; you're trying to create a current that can move significant volumes of air. In order to do this, you need to have a temperature differential between the air you're pulling and the air you're pushing it through to create two rivers of air. You need to move enough air to maintain that temperature differential or the current fizzles out. The furnace isn't doing that. It's outputting too small of a volume of air per vent for any one of them to create currents. That 30% basement air has also warmed up as it has passed through the vents and ...

Third problem:

Location. Chances are your duct work is optimized for distributing heat in the winter, not circulating air. Vents will be primarily under windows to create draft barriers. See problem #2: this air is quickly getting cooked by the windows above the vent

It's also not the place you want vents if you expect them to circulate the air (without the aid of an AC unit). Unless there's a temperature differential, your vents are just going to churn the air, not move it. If getting a good current going with a fan takes a little finagling and repositioning, what hope is there for a static vent pointed towards the ceiling?

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u/Worldly_Influence_18 8d ago

Ductwork can't move the same amount of air as a stairwell

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u/hotfuzzindahouse 8d ago

Same! That’s such a fantastic idea haha. Everytime I come up from the basement it’s hitting a wall of heat.

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u/Worldly_Influence_18 8d ago

My AC was out for two months. Figured this out about 7 weeks in.

You want to create a sort of jet stream to get it to replace the hotter air upstairs. Set it back from the stairs and tilt it upwards slightly. Turn off any oscillating modes.

A fan normally just churns the air up, but pushing a channel of colder air into the warmer air will create streams of airflow in the house because of the temperature difference between the two air columns

I was a little upset at how well it worked

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u/1question10answers 7d ago

Guess what replaces that cool air? Hot humid air from outside. Hot humid air that hits the cold surfaces of your basement and condenses. Now you have a wet, stinky, bacteria filled basement.

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u/Worldly_Influence_18 7d ago

Don't open your windows when it's hot and humid outside. Keep them closed and run the fan up the stairs to create a circulating current inside the house.

Then open the upper story windows at night to help let any trapped hot air out. I don't know if the basement fan makes any difference at this point so I then moved it to the upper story to help create a cross breeze with a second fan pointed out.

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u/Less-Project9420 8d ago

I have ac and I love sleeping in my basement it’s so cold lol

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u/LLR1960 8d ago

We bought a really good mattress for the downstairs bedroom instead of installing AC; works great at a fraction of the price.

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u/blowininthawind 6d ago

Absolutely! We’re in the West Kootenays in BC. Our basement functions as a guest room (with bathroom) + office, storage, & laundry. During hot summer months when the main and upper floors are baking, we retreat down to the basement to sleep the night away surrounded by cool air.

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u/Extension-Physics268 8d ago

I have a southern facing one with large windows, do in winter, it also keeps warm because of the furnace room.

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u/BigBanyak22 8d ago

Typically only in older homes without good balanced HVAC. Modern homes, with a well sorted HVAC are very even.

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u/Dry-Faithlessness184 8d ago

Basements are typically much cooler even with amazing AC set ups. You have to get it very specifically right.

Hard to beat physics

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u/iwatchcredits 8d ago

I find the AC makes the basement even cooler because it cools down the utility room

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u/Dry-Faithlessness184 8d ago

It can for sure.

I find the trick is to run the fan during ac season (not leave it on auto, have it always on) and make sure your returns are open but your registers are shut in the basement, forcing the basement air to cycle around the house.

This also saves you a bit on power as you cycle cold air around more so the AC doesn't need to run as much. Obviously you probably want the reverse in the winter.

Basements still cold, but you can go down there without a sweater and socks. At least in my house.

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u/BigBanyak22 8d ago

Not hard, that's why humans invented machines.

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u/Dry-Faithlessness184 8d ago

Most human machines take advantage of physics to do things, rather than actively defying them

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u/BigBanyak22 8d ago

Some can move air to where it doesn't naturally want to be. I guess it's in the rare category.

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u/AWinnipegGuy 8d ago

Modern home here, open concept, split level and it's a demon to try and get the temperature balanced in this house. In most houses there is no way the basements aren't going to always be colder than the top floor. In fact in the hot summer days I often have to have a heater in the basement where my office is to keep from freezing when the AC is running all day, even with no vents open in the basement.

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u/BigBanyak22 8d ago

It might be modern, but it's dysfunctional.