advice on cooling our home

[homesteadingnky]

Hey guys, I haven't been able to check in in a while. We sold our house and moved. Built a pole barn and converted it to a 24x30 house. It's been an interesting trip! More about this in another post.

Anyway, we have a great wood stove and a lot of insulation so winter is really cozy! However, these upper 90 to 100 degree days warm it up pretty fast. We have a propane cookstove, refrigerator, and back up heater. Also, a flushing potty:-} Much better than the 5 gallon bucket (though it was handy and served the purpose while we needed it.

But the heat I haven't figured out yet. I'm looking to start with a simple solar system, probably 12v, and build as I'm able. Something that could at least pull a couple of fans to move the air around. In the winter time I could build a small fire and let it go out before midnight and we could sleep with the windows open and it in the teens outside all night long. Our insulation is really good. So if I can get it cool enough I can shut the windows (all 4 of them lol!) and hold the cool air in for some time. I hope to share more later on our adventure but for now would appreciate any useful ideas.

Thanks,

Homesteading Dad n KY

[flatwater]

What we do hear when it gets above 80 is place tin foil on the windows to reflect the heat, keep windows open all night to cool for the daytime and keep a fan going to circulate the air. It seems to work but if the temp does not go below 60 at night for three days , it's going to get hot anyhow unless you have an AC unit

[bee_pipes]

12vMan recently put up a link for cooling and dehumidifying the home without airconditioning:
Free Home Air Conditioning (http://mb-soft.com/solar/saving.html)

Regards,
Pat

[NCLee]

Keep the curtains closed on the side of the house facing the sun. As the sun moves around, open the curtains on the shady side.

If possible install attic vents with wind-driven turbines that you can open / close as needed for the seasons. Since hot air rises, you'll get that hot air at the ceiling out of the house. And, with a window open on the shady side of the house, you'll set up a good draft to help pull in the cooler air while pushing out the hot.

If you don't already have them, plant trees, especially on the west side of the house to provide shade in the summer. Depending on your tree choices and direction of prevailing winds, these may provide a wind-break in the winter.

Add awnings to your windows for summer time use. And/or install operating shutters. If the sun can't hit the glass you won't have the solar gain.

Another option, especially while waiting for tree growth is to add a trellis and plant vines to cover it to shield windows, doors, deck, etc. from the sun.

Hope some of these ideas will be in line with your budget. For a while we lived in a small trailer without AC. Even with the fans running 24/7 that wasn't enough to keep even reasonably cool with temps in the upper 90's and the humdity to match. The more non-fan options you can use the better. Plus it'll make fans even more efficient when you use them. (Moving cooler air around in your home. Hope that makes sense.)

And, I hope this post helps.
Lee

[NCLee]

Oh... one more... (I'll be glad when I can edit my posts.)

When you get your fans, set one to blow out a window on the sunny side of the house. Open a window or 2 on the shady side. The one exhausting will be pulling out the accumulating hot air.

This is the way I cool my shop in the summer. Have a large box fan at the south window. Open the door on the north side (that's in the shade of a big tree). That sets up a cooling breeze through the shop.

Lee

[MooseToo]

12vMan recently put up a link for cooling and dehumidifying the home without airconditioning:
Free Home Air Conditioning (http://mb-soft.com/solar/saving.html)

Regards,
Pat

the link takes you to a site that is nothing less than stupendous if you will explore it -

somehow the site should be a permanent resource on this forum -

[homesteadingnky]

Thanks guys. I have read some of that article before. I'll re-read it again. We are working on many of the ideas that were mentioned, but what I'm really looking for is what do I need to put together a solar system that will power a couple of fans and a few lights. Thanks for your help

[bee_pipes]

Also worth mentioning, much simpler than the air conditioning provided by the link above, if you have a spring up hill you can run it through a heat exchanger - something like an old radiator. Spring water is cool unless you have a hot spring. With a small slope a buried line would create a siphon, run through your heat exchanger, and could be harmelessly returned to the creek or other storm drainage.

Regards,
Pat

[homesteadingnky]

Oh how I wish I had a nice spring close!! There is an old well out back that is simply an open casing in the ground. There's no cover on it. I've been wanting to check the water quality to see if it was worth fooling with.

As far as the other idea goes, isn't there a risk of mold growing in the underground pipes?

[12vman]

"As far as the other idea goes, isn't there a risk of mold growing in the underground pipes?"

They address that issue. Use smooth interior pipe to avoid collecting water and a slight drop to a drain to get rid of the water.

[homesteadingnky]

Thanks hadn't got to that yet.

[Michael32170]

12vMan recently put up a link for cooling and dehumidifying the home without airconditioning:
Free Home Air Conditioning (http://mb-soft.com/solar/saving.html)

Regards,
Pat

Ignoring some errors in his heat calculations, that scheme doesn't work well because the soil is a very good inslulator. The soil around the pipes will increase in temperature over a few days, and his cool capacity will disappear in 2 or 3 weeks.

[MooseToo]

Ignoring some errors in his heat calculations, that scheme doesn't work well because the soil is a very good inslulator. The soil around the pipes will increase in temperature over a few days, and his cool capacity will disappear in 2 or 3 weeks.

i wonder if installing the pipes beneath a leach field would aid in heat transfer ?

[backlash]

I saw a saw a show that used a big pit filled with the biggest boulders they could haul.
The pit was then covered.
2 large diameter pipes ran from a sun room with a black tile floor to the pit.
In the winter the hot air from the sun room was blown into the pit and heated the rock.
At night they would blow the warm air from the rock back into the house to warm it.
In the summer they just reversed the process and cooled the house.
It was a long time ago so I really don't remember much more than that but it seemed like a good system.
backlash

[Teg]

I saw a saw a show that used a big pit filled with the biggest boulders they could haul.
The pit was then covered.
2 large diameter pipes ran from a sun room with a black tile floor to the pit.
In the winter the hot air from the sun room was blown into the pit and heated the rock.
At night they would blow the warm air from the rock back into the house to warm it.
In the summer they just reversed the process and cooled the house.
It was a long time ago so I really don't remember much more than that but it seemed like a good system.
backlash

Saw a similar system on another show they used gravel and had it set up in the house but the concept was the same seemed pretty good, saw another where the guy built a indoor waterfall system to get a cooling effect.

[12vman]

"..i wonder if installing the pipes beneath a leach field would aid in heat transfer ?

By all means. If the surrounding soil is kept damp, the warmth from the piping would be conducted into the surrounding soil much better and keep the soil around the piping cooler. That's the key. Dry soil would build up heat because it couldn't conduct it away.

There's a lot of mass in the earth at 4' deep. It would take a lot of hot air to make any drastic temperature change in the area of the piping at that depth. Especially if it's kept wet. We're only talking a temperature difference of 20-25 degrees of the incoming air compared to the surrounding earth temperature. With such a huge mass, the heat would be dissipated with no problem..

In my area, the frost line is only 14". (N.E. Ohio) It would take months of zero temperatures to freeze the earth solid at that depth, even without snow covering.

[Michael32170]

i wonder if installing the pipes beneath a leach field would aid in heat transfer ?

Yes it would. I think if you had a septic tank, you could do this in the lateral field and get reasonable results, provided it's big enough. The best option is to go down to ground water.

[bgarrett]

I am going to try his idea.
I have ordered 400' of 15" PVC
Thats four earthtubes to be set in sand about 6 feet down, with wastewater from the sink and bathtub plumbed to drain through the sand.
This is for a 40 X 40 pole barn with a concrete floor and spray foam walls.
I anticipate that I will need fans pulling air thru the tubes and a solar chimney for the building.
The fans will be solar powered attic fans.
I have searched for information on earthtubes for several years and its all theory.
We shall find out if it will actually control the temperature of a building.

[12vman]

Idunno if I woulda went with 15" pipe. I believe that a smaller diamater pipe would have a chance to cool the air easier. That's a large volume of air to cool, IMO..

More smaller tubes would give you more cooling surface per square foot of air passing through.

[backlash]

I wonder how much heat transfer you will get with PVC pipes.
Even with wet soil I just don't think it would be efficient.
I think the reason they used a pit full of rocks was so they could get heat to and from transfer from the rock.
I would run hot water through a length of PVC to see if it warms up.
I suspect it won't get hot.
Please keep us posted on how it works.
backlash

[Naughty_Pines]

Yes it would. I think if you had a septic tank, you could do this in the lateral field and get reasonable results, provided it's big enough. The best option is to go down to ground water.

I don't think I would go down to ground water, I am at 6000+ foot elevation.