The front of the house is under ground and there is a room under the concrete front porch.

If I picture it correctly that room sounds ideal - cool, dark, and dry - just like a root cellar. We have a similar "room", it was a crawl space that was later excavated out under the front concrete porch and with a vent added for outside air exchange ti has proven to be ideal.

The laundry room, from your description, would be my next choice because again cool, dark, and dry. Is there room for any shallow shelving in either? The heated finished room with the furnace in it would likely be too warm IMO.

Dave

Dave...at least I was thinking right in the fact that the room would be an ideal place! The only thing I can't seem to get perfect yet is the temperature. It's been staying around 70 in there right now which if I"m correct is too high. Would I be better off to have that vent open all the time to help get the room cooler at night? I don't know if it's the fact that the furnace is down there or since it's the front porch it gets some sun that is making it warmer then what I'd want.

I just went down to check it....the entire basement is 69 degrees including my room and it was in the 40's last night. Maybe I should open the vent in there (which is at the top of the room) and maybe cut in a vent at the bottom of the door to help move the air through. Or will that make me too warm in the winter when there is heat in the rest of the basement?

For those of us without a basement or airconditioning, 70 degrees sounds fabulous.

Maybe I should open the vent in there (which is at the top of the room) and maybe cut in a vent at the bottom of the door to help move the air through.

Is it venting to the outside or to the basement inside? Needs outside air cross venting to be ideal if that is possible. In the winter you want the cooler outside air coming in and in the summer the hotter air moving out with the cross venting.

Dave

Dave...thanks as always for your thoughtful responses. The vent is to the outside. I tried opening the vent to the outside and keeping the door propped open to the laundry room to see how much of a cross ventilation I get and what the thermostat looks like tomorrow after it cools down outside. If it seems to drop the temp maybe I'll cut a vent into the bottom of the door to try and get some cross ventilation going to drop the temp.

Glad to help. Let me know it works. If needed you can always put a small fan in front of one of the vents to pull more in or exhaust more out if needed. Those small exhaust fans they sell for installing in bathrooms work ok but are noisy. A small muffin fan is much quieter.

Dave

I have no place cool. In fact, I really have hardly any space, period. My storage spaces tend to be the hottest places in the house. My house can be as warm as 80-84 in summer near the thermostats, warmer in warmer areas.
That's barring AC failure which happens almost once a year, always on the hottest day. What I wouldn't give for a cold climate and a storm cellar!

Some years ago, we divided a bedroom to make half pantry, half new bathroom, with a connecting door between them. They are on the north side of the house. A dual window fan installed into the bathroom - not only exhausts damp air out of the bathroom, but can also bring cool air in, and helps to control the pantry temperatures.

I use the pantry to ferment sauerkraut and wine, cool canned goods, etc., and this air circulation system works well.

The pantry is also used to grow seedlings under fluorescent lights installed under the pantry shelves, but they are semi-enclosed - and do not affect air temps that much.

This works quite well - and even on hottest days - the dual air fans keep temps at acceptable levels.

Love that pantry.

Bejay