Temperature My basement is very well insulated because the house has a thick granite foundation. With the furnace in the basement, the basement temperature rarely drops below 55 F even on cold winter days. I was able, therefore, to use a unique heating system in the bird room. My house is heated with hot water circulating heat and radiators. I had the bird room zoned separately with its own thermostat. Inside one corner wall, behind the plasterboard, a hollow depression contains a hot water pipe fitted with fins to radiate heat. When the room gets cold, the heat comes on. This drives heat out a vent near the ceiling and passively pulls the cooler air in from a vent near the floor. The system is inexpensive and the outcome is adequate. In fact, it rarely comes on since the room is insulated and the lights generate heat. Because of the lighting near the ceiling and this passive heat system my room is a bit stratified with the temperature near the ceiling about 10F higher than at the floor. This has not resulted in any problems. My thermostat allows me to set the night tempereature lower than the day temperature. My usual settings are 70F day and 65F night. I keep a humidistat/thermostat in the room. The temperature outside the room is displayed on top and on the bottom the bird room temperature is listed alonog with the relative humidity. I also use a cheaper high/low thermometer.
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