Vacant house air circulation

I have a two story farm house at my farm, which is about 200 miles from my residence. I get there about once a month, more often in the fall. The house is two story, 1500 sq ft, built mid 1800's stone/mortar basement. Problem is it gets musty/mildew from being closed up for long periods. Tried bags of charcoal to absorb humidity. Since spring, I have been trying to increase air circulation passively within it, thinking that would dry it out. Installed 3" PVC tube through three walls on first floor, and screen in upstairs scuttle to attic, thinking Bernoulli effect of drawing air upward through it. Seemed to work fine for a month or so. However now I get the impression it is pulling some damp air out of basement during summer. I don't heat it most of the year--propane or electricity to run dehumidifier would cost me an arm and a leg, so trying to do it with wind currents. Thought of running PVC tube up basement to roof, and putting turbine vent on it to draw air into basement and see if that circulates and dries it out. Also considered putting humidity controlled flaps on the other vents to shut them if outside humidity goes over 90% (i.e. rain, fog).   
Any suggestions?

rent it out. a home will deteriorate faster without someone living there!

No electricity right?

also watch out for mold. you can't see it, but it'll be there in an empty house. I got caught up with that in Dad's house when it was empty for about a year before we got someone in it to live. almost died from it, took over a week in the hospital after being in the house for an hour.

Vapor barriers or paint will do NOTHING to control moisture in the basement.
 The basement , being under ground stays below the dew point temp all summer long, so any outside humid air brought in only condenses on whatever is below the dew point temp.
 The only way to keep it dry, is limit outside air coming in or warm all surfaces to a point above the dew point temp.
 I have a half basement of limestone walls, with minimal air leaks. I dump 3 to 4 gallons of water out of the dehumidifier daily to keep it below 65% humidity.  It's the only way I can keep the ductwork from raining on my basement floor when the air conditioner is running in the summer time.
 It used to dry out a bit more in the winter when I had a wood burner in the basement, but my current primary heat is a corn burner so the basement doesn't get near as warm or stay as dry.
 I recently saw a "This old house" episode where the owner added a wood  floor in his basement and it rotted. The stupid answer, or repair, was to lay a vapor barrier down, pour concrete over it and replace the wood frame floor with treated lumber. The problem with that is, the dew point temp of the new concrete will soon be the same as the rest of the basement and moisture in the air WILL condense on it.
 I don't care how good a vapor barrier you have, if outside humid air meets cool basement floors, water condenses. The water doesn't come up thru the floor, it comes from the air.
 A better fix would have been to insulate the new concrete and plumb it for heat, to get the temp above the dew point. A might more costly, but the only effective way to limit condensation if air in the basement is humid.

When the furnace is off for the summer,  the dehumidifier is on and stays on till the furnace starts to run again.

Dehumidifiers aren't the only way, but often the most cost effective.  My brother who has the same designed and built old brick house, as we do used to use de-humidifier, when he changed hot water tanks, went an electric unit, that has a heat pump, to scavenge latent heat in the house, since then, hasn't needed the dehumidifier...

Edited by DiyDave - 25 Aug 2018 at 7:18pm

We live in an old stone farm house. The house is on grade so no basement. When we remodeled I started with vapor barrier under new concrete slab with radiant floor heat, framed out inside and spray foamed closed cell insulation. I also installed ductwork with AH in the attic and Geothermal HVAC [ that's what I do]  Our temperature is steady all year, Our humidity is low and if I need to dry it out I can turn up the radiant floor heat and the ducted system will remove the humidity.  In your case your best bet is to seal/ vapor barrier everything best you can and Install a dehumidifier. I like the Aprilair whole house dehumidifier. they have several models. for comparison they will remove 95 + pints/day as compared to 30 pints per day that the little portable units will remove also they come with a washable air filter that is easy to maintain.    

Electricity stays on year round. Just ask Consumers Power. What I puzzle over is why the house gets musty, but the garage does not. Only thing that makes sense is air circulation or basement

Thank you for all the responses and insight. I appreciate it!

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