Basement – How to add ventilation to the basement office

basementervhvacventilation

I have a finished basement with an office, guest bedroom and bathroom. All about 700 sq ft.
I work 12+ hours in the office and really need to get some fresh air circulating by extracting stale air. I'm looking for a good method of doing this. I had considered running an air vent with a slow/continuations fan or a high volume fan that I can turn on a time for 15 minutes. The office is adjacent to a utility room and I'm concerned that too much of an exhaust could extinguish the water heater pilot light and cause other problem.
I do have an air-in vents (heat/cool), but nothing going back out (circulating).
The office is next to a window which opens to a window well.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Best Answer

Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV) You may want to consider either spot ERV or whole house ERV.

These devices both exhaust and intake fresh air, doing some energy exchange to reduce the impact on your air when the temperature differences between inside and outside are great.

Some ERV discussions here

As a spot unit, you could just run the unit in your office. The Panasonic unit I've read about has automatic controls, but I would supplement them with a countdown timer to limit use even further as necessary.

Leviton 12 Hour countdown timer

Leviton 12 Hour countdown timer

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The divided wall cap means only 1 penetration is needed and it incorporates a pre filter for the incoming air.

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Declaration: No financial interest in Panasonic or Leviton. I have used (personally) and installed (for customers) Panasonic fans and Leviton switches.