Best option to dry out cellar

ben501

My mid terraced property has a single room cellar, about 4m x 3m, and about 1.8m-2m in height. The only ventilation, other than a gap of about 100mm at the bottom of the kitchen door that leads down to it, is from the leftovers of a small, between 100mm-150mm diameter pipe, which is situated in the corner of the cellar, near the ceiling, on the outside wall. I think there may once have been a boiler in the cellar, and the pipe is the remains of the ventilation.

At first I had ambitions of getting the room tanked and usable, but as time passes I’m less inclined as I don’t really have a good use for it that would justify the expense.

I would like to try and dry the room out a little, just to make it better to store stuff.

Previously, I’ve put a dehumidifier down there for a few days to see if it made a difference, but shortly after doing this, some of the wood and wood based boards I had stored, started going mouldy. I’m guessing the increase in temperature from using the dehumidifier was a big factor. That had a good ending though as it encouraged me to have a clear out, and throw away all the affected boards.

My latest idea is to just get some sort of extractor fan, and connect it to the ventilation hole, hopefully improving the airflow, and drying the room a little. I’m aware that either this, or using a dehumidifier, would require the device to be running constantly, or at least on some sort of humidistat, which would mean the running costs would probably be more than the initial unit cost.

My query; is the extractor fan likely to be effective, and if so can anyone suggest a suitable model from the myriad of choices? No point spending £200 on a fan if a £50 would do the job just as well, or as is more likely in my case, buying a £50 fan when something more substantial would be needed.
Or would a fan alone be a complete waste of money? If so can you suggest the best low cost (wouldn’t want to throw more that £500 at it for now) method of getting & keeping the cellar dry enough to store boxes in, without them staring to disintegrate within 6 months?

Doozergirl

Airbricks. You have none? You should! It's important to keep your suspended floor rot free and the ground floor free of condensation.

If the ground level is too high, then dig out neatly to create them.

Much cheaper than any fan and a proven and effective method in any house with a suspended floor.

A dehumidifier would just endlessly draw the moisture out from the earth around it.

Jonesya

Is there a low level (outdoors)/high level (in the cellar) opening that might have been blocked up or bricked off?

ben501

Doozergirl wrote: »

Airbricks. You have none? You should!

Jonesya wrote: »

Is there a low level (outdoors)/high level (in the cellar) opening that might have been blocked up or bricked off?

I don't know if it makes a difference, but it's a Victorian terrace (about 1880), with thick stone walls.
Apologies for the poor sketch, but it may still make explaining easier.

The steps are down to the cellar in the bottom left hand corner. The old pipe I mentioned is in the top right of the image, between the door (which opens to outside steps) & wall. Inside, the pipe is a few inches from the ceiling, outside it's only about 6 inches from the ground. Apart from the doorway itself, there is no other place that could vent externally. The remainder of the 'external' wall is completely isolated from outside as the kitchen covers the rest, along with some steps leading down, out of the kitchen, away from the building. (2nd even worse sketch, of ground floor, may help explain)