Re: Home heating system - Off grid home?

[kawalekm]

In addition to wood heat I heat our cabin with a Corona kerosene heater. It holds almost 2 gallons of either kerosene or diesel fuel and burns for about 16 hours per fill. I light it before sundown after 4pm, and it will burn till about 8am the next morning.

[machinemaker]

I just finished reading Rex Ewing's book Power with Nature and would suggest that you check it out at the library. I found it to be a great read and very informative. I too am looking at converting our grid tied home to more renewable energy. We primarily heat with wood and use our forced air propane heater as a secondary source. I am starting to build a wood fired boiler to heat both my shop and home and want to tie it into some flat plate solar panels below the south facing deck. I love the wood stove in the living room, but the hot water boiler will be more effient, and will not require more than one fire a day or every two days. We will still want a fire in the wood stove at night, but more for atmosphere than need. The hot water system will be in several zones and I am still deciding whether to use AC or DC pumps for circulation. I considering using a heat pump, I'd definitly look at a geothermal loop just to increase the effiency. You can start sizing the system and look at the electrical loads for the heat, well, and the usual household loads. With an estimate of your total electrical loads, you can start looking at what will be required to power that. Just a note: if you are looking at wind verses solar and you have the sun light, I am finding that the solar is cheaper by half to a third kwh to kwh. Have you looked at www.windstuffnow.com? Interesting diy wind site.
kent

[AlchemyAcres]

I heat with wood now! but this is the plan....PAHS...passive annual heat storage...heat all winter with the heat from the sun in summer!!! with all the other advantages of undergound!
Plus, I'll be able to be a total recluse and curmudgeon!!!! BWAHAAHAH hahahahahaha!!! ;)

http://www.norishouse.com/PAHS/UmbrellaHouse.html

~MARTIN ;)

[12vman]

If you ain't gonna have the chance to get power there for 5 yrs, I'd plan to never have it.. ;)

I heat with wood here..

Wish I knew then what I know now when I was building. Things would be different..
~Don

[bee_pipes]

...Wish I knew then what I know now when I was building. Things would be different..
~Don

Aw c'mon!
Don't leave us hanging with a statement like that. Here's perfectly good experience that could be put to use!

Maybe a new thread - "lessons learned" ? Not only what you would do different, but what you're doing now, too.

Your experience and hindsight makes your brain a gold mine buddy - share with the rest of the class.

If it sounds like a monumental writing task, maybe as an article for the magazine? They pay pretty well.

And you, Martin - Pennsylvania may not be Wyoming or Montanna, but you don't exactly live in a tropical region. You seem to accumulate these tid-bits of information - what would you do differently? Aside from being a subterranian hermit and curmudgeon?

This sort of stuff oughta be catalogued - both you guys have enough experience to fill a book.

Regards,
Pat

[kawalekm]

Hi 999
We're week-enders for now as we develop the land. To tell the true, I don't know how long the kerosene heater would hold out using it day in, day out, over the whole winter. We also have a propane tank nearby, but its not hooked up yet. Propane might be a more reliable source of heat for your cabin if you have to be gone for a few days. It can also be used to keep the cabin above freezing only if the woodstove fire goes out. And of course, you can have lights, refrigeration, cooking, and hot water with propane.
Michael

[machinemaker]

Alchemyacres / Martin,
Great site, make the wheels spin in my mind. We are still thinking of the next home stead, but we will probably be here for quite a while. Thanks!
kent

[chrisser]

I heat with wood now! but this is the plan....PAHS...passive annual heat storage...heat all winter with the heat from the sun in summer!!! with all the other advantages of undergound!
Plus, I'll be able to be a total recluse and curmudgeon!!!! * BWAHAAHAH hahahahahaha!!! *;)

http://www.norishouse.com/PAHS/UmbrellaHouse.html

~MARTIN *;)

Interesting link, Martin.

The idea of having an underground home doesn't appeal all that much to me though.

I wonder if one could build a separate "heat mound" type structure and connect it to the main house using earth air tubes. Then, you could get that mound much hotter in the summer - warmer than would be comfortable to actually live in - so you'd have more heat to utilize in the winter. You could also regulate how warm the main house was.

Another idea that comes to mind is using an earth heat sink for a greenhouse. If you got the sink hot enough during the summer, you could route the heat through the greenhouse in winter, where the plants would benefit from warmer temps than are probably comfortable for your home. Then take that warm air and route it to the house. The plants would "scrub" the air of pollutants too.

[AlchemyAcres]

Going underground isn't essential.
Check out Annualized Geo Solar, basically the same general principles are applied to more standard types of construction.

http://www.greenershelter.org


~Martin :)

[chrisser]

Going underground isn't essential.
Check out Annualized Geo Solar, basically the same general principles are applied to more standard types of construction.

http://www.greenershelter.org


~Martin :)


That is pretty awesome info.

[SolarGary]

Hi,
The main thing on heating is to build the house so it does not require a lot of heat. Very good insulation, good sealing, ... (see links below)
Then, design the house to take advantage of passive solar gains.
Then, think about active solar space heating and solar water heating.

Some zero carbon homes have been built with solar PV driving a geothermal heat pump. This is an expensive solution. Geothermal heat pumps operate with an average Coefficient of Performance (COP) of around 3.5 -- meaning they have an efficiency of around 350%. Regular electric heaters have an efficiency around 100%. But, the solar PV panels are only about 12% efficient, so the overall heating efficiency of solar PV running a heat pump is about (3.5)(0.12) = 42% efficient. Regular solar heating collectors are more efficient and cost a lot less. So, I don't really see any advantage unless you need a lot of AC as well as heating.

You might find some helpful info here:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SolarHomes/solarhomes.htm

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SolarHomes/constructionps.htm

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/Space_Heating.htm

Some of the solar heating schemes use a small PV panel to drive a pump or fan -- so they don't consume any of your off-grid PV power.

Gary

[chrisser]

I'm certainly no expert, but back, when I was in college my Dad built a fireplace in our house with the help of a contractor friend.

He installed a remote flue damper, which was basically a knob that projected out of the face of the fireplace. You cranked it to open and close the damper.

It let you easily control the flue and shut it off without bending over backwards and sticking a rod up into the flue.

Maybe that is standard these days - it was almost 20 years ago that he built that fireplace, and they've since moved to another place and he put a wood stove into the fireplace there.

Dad always said it was the best money he ever spent.

[jott]

A sealed up house is good for heat but remember when you seal the place up you need to let air in. If you want a fire place you will have to provide combustion air. Also as you get closer to air tight you have less turn over of your air so you can get poor air quality. Most commercial buildings are more air tight then houses but they also have fans and ducts for both exhaust and supply, now they have sensors and computers checking CO2 levels and other pollutes to control the air turn over. Make things too air tight and you will add a whole new set of problems to deal with.

[AlchemyAcres]

Ventilation is certainly a major concern.
I have plans for a user built air-to-air heat exchanger that provides ventilation while conserving heat. If anyone is interested in a copy, send me a PM with your email address.

~Martin