How can I cool my house with basement air?

I have a small 60s 2-BR ranch in northern Illinois with central forced-air heat and A/C. The basement is unfinished, and on 90-degree days, it's a steady 65 degrees, even cooler near the concrete floor. There's one outflow vent (which is closed) in the basement, and no intake vents.





Could I cool my house on warm days by punching a couple of vents into the intake ducts in the basement and running the fan alone? At least delaying having to crank up the A/C? Maybe leaving the basement door open to facilitate air flow?





I did a radon test, and that's not a problem. If the above is practical, what can I do to maximize the air exchange? More intake vents? Running an intake duct to the floor?





I'd appreciate hearing from any HVAC experts. Thanks!|||You could put some registers in your return duct as long as your water heater is in a separate room if it is gravity vented so that the fan does not pull the carbon monoxide back into your house. One other thing that may occur is that if your basement has a musty smell to it, it will put that smell through out your house. Many times by just running your fan constantly it will help your house feel cooler.|||Hi Yes it is somewhat feasable to do that. Good luck|||The amount of cooling effect in your basement air is negligible, so it is not of that great a benefit as it seems.





The comfort of an air conditioned home comes from the removal of moisture from the upstairs air. To do so the air must be dropped below the dew point to condition the air, in fact in AC it is dropped to around 40 degrees to get the moisture to "rain out' and make the air comfortable.





The removal of moisture is a phase change and takes a tremendous amount of the cooling capacity of the condenser to do so. Remember from your physics, a phase change, IE going from a vapor to liquid takes nearly a 1000 times more energy to do than simply cooling the air.





So to condition the air in a home, first, the moisture is removed, second the temp drops in the home.





And as Ive said, your basement at 65 degrees is in no way capable of providing the energy to do much to condition that upstairs air. You need a lot more energy to do that.





About the only thing you can do to enjoy the 65 cool basement is to bring a couple chairs down there when it gets hot outside.|||Let's see...Your air handler should have returns on one side or the other, down near the floor. Air Handlers have a knock-out on the very bottom. You may be able to expose this down into the basement with 14 x 22 sheet metal box and running the system on fan only. I would run a de-humidifier in the basement. The cooler air would mix with the other air entering the AHU %26amp; running just the fan in the on position is cost effective - just a blower.|||You could add a return register or 2 in the basement further down the return trunk line, Would be best if they were run down the wall to the floor. The registers you would use would have to be dampered or you will suck in cold basement air in the winter. I have an open return system and use the same principle to cut down on energy costs, have been HVAC tech for 21 yrs, just run the fan continuously regardless, will break up any hot/cold pockets in the house|||You can cut openings in your return duct to drawl in the cool air. I would suggest shutting some of the returns in some of the other rooms so that the drawl is more from the ones in the basement. This will also help to drawl some of the moisture out of the basement. I would also cut at least one or two in the supply side because the furnace works on a balanced system which means you need to take in what you put out. You can also open all the windows at night and then close them and drawl the blinds during the day. I am doing the same in my basement but I have a wood stove and want to get the heat upstairs.