Cellar Construction Question

We just spent $6k to frame in a spot in the basement, insulate walls/ceiling, drywall, trim, flooring, and paint about a 7x7x8 cellar. Added the Cellarpro 1800xts to cool it. The racks came along from the old house. I would guess with the cooling unit and racks it would have topped out at $10k.

At this point the cellars is holding in the low 60% for humidity with a set temperature of 56 degrees. I have yet to see anything dripping out here of the drain tube.

Bob, thanks for the data point. My cellar would be similar sized and I’ve looked at the same CellarPro unit. What do you think of the noise?

The unit vents out the back of the cellar, opposite the door into unfinished basement. Even if you next to it it’s not that loud. But it does run about 50% of the time or more. With the door closed you don’t hear the unit at all in the finished side of the basement. I picked it based on the recommendations by folks on this site.

Rajesh, the drip line issue becomes more of a pain if you don’t have a sump pump to drain it into (which I have) so Tom’s suggestion of draining it to a bucket will work but you have to drain it every few weeks during the summer; if you do this, put some charcoal in the bucket. I concur that you don’t need to go to the cellar “experts” if it’s just to install the unit and electrical components, as finding an hvac person who can repair the unit your purchase will save you time when you need a rapid repair if/when a component of the unit goes south. My breezaire is really old technology and its rather easy for almost any hvac person to repair. There is probably a thread about this here or on CT, but I like that my breezaire is easy to repair, but some of the electrical components can fry easily with slight power surges or power outages. That’s what keeps me from giving a firm recommendation, and why I have spare parts on hand so that it can be repaired in a few hours without compromising the temperature.

I agree with taking the racks out and doing it from inside the cellar. Otherwise you will end up with a mess. If you take out all of the drywall and put spray foam in the walls and ceiling, you can get a great airtight cellar. The suggestion re densarmor fiberglass is spot on as well. It is a great product that looks like drywall, but it is far more water resistant than greenboard.

When I built my cellar I had a contractor come in and do the spray foam. It was less than 2 grand. Before the densarmor went it, I caulked every seam between the studs and floor, where 2 studs were side by side, etc. the result was a cellar that is so airtight that the cellarpro unit does not produce any condensate. I have a small condensate pump that routes through the outside wall, but it has never been needed.

The cellarpro cooling unit is relatively quiet, but I think it is a bit loud for a bedroom.

Oops. You’re right. That’s for 2x6s.

I almost missed that! Well done! champagne.gif

But for the OP, don’t think of insulation only as batts or spray foam. You can get sheets of extruded polystyrene. They are their own moisture barriers.