Comments on: New House Borer http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/2010/02/06/new-house-borer/ A Field Guide to the North Side of Old Mill Hill, Atlantic Mine, MI Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:12:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Andy Kaiser http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/2010/02/06/new-house-borer/comment-page-1/#comment-2280 Andy Kaiser Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:40:55 +0000 http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/?p=1316#comment-2280 Very cool. Some day, I hope I can live in an intelligently-designed house like that! Very cool. Some day, I hope I can live in an intelligently-designed house like that!

]]> By: Tim Eisele http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/2010/02/06/new-house-borer/comment-page-1/#comment-2278 Tim Eisele Sun, 07 Feb 2010 10:52:37 +0000 http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/?p=1316#comment-2278 Well, during periods in winter when the sun shines every day, the temperature peaks at about 80F, falls to about 70F overnight, and then back up after sunrise. During those periods, the house heating system never turns on, and the temperature is being maintained entirely by the solar gain. And this is passive solar heating, just from the sun shining in the windows - no moving parts are involved, so we don't have to deal with the equipment maintenance issues that go along with a lot of active solar heating systems. Of course, this *is* Michigan, one of the most reliably overcast states in the Union, so in Febuary we only get sunny days about 1/2 to 1/3 of the time. So, the in-floor heating system does have to come on to maintain the temperature on the overcast days. Still, the house is well-insulated enough that the heating system doesn't have to strain to maintain the temperature either. And the complete lack of drafts makes it *feel* warmer, too. Well, during periods in winter when the sun shines every day, the temperature peaks at about 80F, falls to about 70F overnight, and then back up after sunrise. During those periods, the house heating system never turns on, and the temperature is being maintained entirely by the solar gain. And this is passive solar heating, just from the sun shining in the windows – no moving parts are involved, so we don’t have to deal with the equipment maintenance issues that go along with a lot of active solar heating systems.

Of course, this *is* Michigan, one of the most reliably overcast states in the Union, so in Febuary we only get sunny days about 1/2 to 1/3 of the time. So, the in-floor heating system does have to come on to maintain the temperature on the overcast days. Still, the house is well-insulated enough that the heating system doesn’t have to strain to maintain the temperature either. And the complete lack of drafts makes it *feel* warmer, too.

]]> By: Andy Kaiser http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/2010/02/06/new-house-borer/comment-page-1/#comment-2276 Andy Kaiser Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:49:20 +0000 http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/?p=1316#comment-2276 Tim, Sorry for taking the original topic off-track, but can you give more detail on this: <i> On sunny days in February, the solar gain is enough to heat the new house to as much as 80 F</i> Are you saying that the solar system can heat your house to 80F in the winter?! Or is it helped along by a gas heater? Andy Tim,

Sorry for taking the original topic off-track, but can you give more detail on this:

On sunny days in February, the solar gain is enough to heat the new house to as much as 80 F

Are you saying that the solar system can heat your house to 80F in the winter?! Or is it helped along by a gas heater?

Andy

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