I have “volunteered” to be on the Board for my golf club and I know enough from reading and commenting here over the years to know I need to improve the basement / locker room “air quality system” from its original design from the 60’s – which consists of opening up large vents to the outside air every summer (you know, to get rid of the humidity…).

Setup: The building is in the Albany NY area (zone 5). The 8,000sf first floor is conditioned with rooftop HVAC units and the commercial kitchen has its own makeup air supply which can be cooled when needed. The 8,000 sf basement contains lightly used locker rooms, lightly used showers (maybe 10 showers / week), walk-in cooler for the bar and a tap line cooler. There are large-sounding motion-activated exhaust fans for the showers and bathrooms and the 4 large vents to the outside. No heating, cooling, or dehumidification. Temps are pretty comfortable, slight moisture /basement smell, but not too bad. It’s tough times for golf clubs so not much budget.

Ideas:
#1 Leave the vents closed all summer so we stop letting the humidity in. Stop there and see how it goes.
#2, Close the outside vents and run an exhaust fan or two 24×7 or 12×7 most of the year. Rely on stairwell and leakage to bring some conditioned air from the first floor to the basement. Or add jump ducts to supply first floor air.
#3. Close the outside vents and run stand alone dehumidifiers as needed.

Your thoughts?

Thanks as always to the great community at GBA!