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How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

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Re: How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

#61

Post by wcoenen »

mattlondon wrote: post #33

I wonder how these "no heating"/"no cooling" homes work in situations like mine: my wife is permanently freezing cold, sitting around inside with multiple layers on, sometimes a blanket, and the heating on full-blast while I am walking around in shorts and t-shirt sweating? I.e. people have different ideas about what a comfortable temperature is. In my wife's example it seems like unless she can actually "feel the he…

It's the opposite for us; I'm the one feeling cold, while my wife is comfortable. I started wearing a layer of thermal underwear in the cold seasons to compensate.

Re: How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

#62

Post by Cthulhu_ »

Mromson wrote: post #11

It saddens me that construction quality is almost irrelevant when building a new building nowadays. The profit difference between a well-isolated passive building and one that merely meets the minimal standards, is often very small, so why bother building a passive building? My personal interest in passive buildings generally revolve around maintenance. Passive houses seem to require far less maintenance.

> It saddens me that construction quality is almost irrelevant when building a new building nowadays.

Depends on where you live; houses in the Netherlands are built to high standards when it comes to things like insulation, build quality, electrification, etc.

Are houses in the US still built with 2x4's and drywall? You'd think they would move to what we have here in the Netherlands, mostly sturdy concrete blocks, insulation layer, and a pretty brickwork or brickwork-looking facade.

I mean the amount of clips I see on the youtubes of people breaking walls make me cringe. A wall should break you, not the other way around, :D

Re: How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

#63

Post by jsiaajdsdaa »

uoaei wrote: post #58
jsiaajdsdaa wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In America the latest building craze seems to be a veneer of beauty over bad functional design, and a strong mentality of "fuck you pay me" from the seller.

Yep, the flippers and the cash-hungry are riding this high as long as they can. It's bred quite a bit of entitlement but with the bonus that their poor attitudes are rewarded with large sums. This will happen (and has been happening) as long as housing is an investment vehicle with profit potential.

I can live with flippers and the cash hungry, since they mostly just do cosmetic repairs and they take some considerable financial risk.

But I absolutely despise big corporate builders who hire junkies as laborers and conmen as project managers. They will cut every corner, deliver late, charge a gigantic premium, and not answer your calls after you've taken delivery.

Re: How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

#64

Post by kitd »

poseva wrote: post #43

I've also built a simple and small (99sqm) PassivHaus in Romania, 5 years ago. Everybody, and I mean everybody from family to friends called me nuts, but I've got my payback this winter when the energy prices went trough the roof and I'm just slightly affected. The house is elevated from the ground on 12 concrete columns so that I can insulate under the foundation beams using glass foam, insulation on walls is 30 cm…

It is interesting that you insulate under the house.

One of the more intriguing passive house designs I saw was one where the insulation went down 2-3m into the ground all around the house footprint. This trapped the natural ground heat within that area and fed it upwards into the house. It took about 18 months for the ground to warm up, but once it was there, the ground/house warmed itself with virtually no input.

This was in the UK. Colder climates may vary ofc.

Re: How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

#65

Post by Cthulhu_ »

surfmike wrote: post #5
Terry_Roll wrote: post #4

Its all very well using environmental energy sources to heat and cool a building, but very little attention is given over to clearing the air. Besides the pollutants from cleaning products and product breakdown, CO2 levels inside a building can have a stimulating effect on the body, which kind of destroys the purpose of a relaxation of a home.

The passive house standard requires mechnical ventilation using heat exchangers to minimize energy loss. http://tepperarchitects.com/?p=522

There was a big Thing in the neighbourhood I live in (built ~15 years ago) where this kind of two-way ventilation system did not work correctly; it did not have the right capacity on the one hand, and was too loud on the other (meaning people shut it off). But they're so well insulated that that was not an option.

My house has a one-way ventilation system, air is sucked in through vents in the windows. We keep it at the lowest setting though, again because of noise, but that seems to be all right for us.

Re: How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

#66

Post by meerita »

Last year I rented a reformed old fabric and I cannot be more happy with. The building is really well done now and it's energy efficent. I usually turn on the heat for a couple of minutes and the flat stays warn for hours. The windows are really good not only to keep the heat but also letting light in and blocking 95% of the sounds.

Re: How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

#67

Post by mdp2021 »

mattlondon wrote: post #33

I wonder how these "no heating"/"no cooling" homes work in situations like mine: my wife is permanently freezing cold, sitting around inside with multiple layers on, sometimes a blanket, and the heating on full-blast while I am walking around in shorts and t-shirt sweating? I.e. people have different ideas about what a comfortable temperature is. In my wife's example it seems like unless she can actually "feel the he…

> about what a comfortable temperature is ... it seems like unless she can actually "feel the heat" as it were, she is not comfortable

You wrote it yourself... Comfort is not with the temperature (scalar quantity for C implemented roleplaying¹), it is with the "warmth", with the effect obtained in the internal environment, a quality you feel. This is why heat exchange feels ineffective compared to radiators. Sheer temperature is only partially indicative even outdoors.

Spend time in a car under the sun, in general, but even when paradoxically heated by the sun to a good internal temperature in cold winter, and see the reaction of the body.

(¹A memory cell with a scalar for "health", one for "strength", one for "agility"...)

Re: How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

#68

Post by Cthulhu_ »

orthoxerox wrote: post #54
locallost wrote: post #7

I watched a report on a block of "passive houses" in Germany and the people liked it, but had a complaint that the air is too dry, so they dried their laundry indoors. I'm a fan of the idea, so not really critical, but I wonder what it's really like to live in one.

Yes, the ventilation system inside a passive house needs not only a heat exchanger, but a humidifier as well. Actually, I'd rather dry my laundry to humidify the room than rely on a humidifier that can grow bacteria and mold inside.

> [...] than rely on a humidifier that can grow bacteria and mold inside.

That's down to maintenance and care; change the filters and clean it regularly. Like everything else in your house. You need to change and maintain filters in a heat exchanger as well.

Re: How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

#69

Post by 35mm »

dhruval wrote: post #50

Reminds me of 'Earthship Houses' that are completely off grid, recycle their waste water to grow crops, are built using repurposed car tires and grow their own food. There is a community in New Mexico https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgUkjbMhF18 And even some in Canada https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAvY5JeMz9w&t=62s

Yes! Any they typically make good use of passive + solar thermal management. For example automated window openings to draw heat through etc

Re: How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

#70

Post by whirlwin »

kitd wrote: post #64
poseva wrote: post #43

I've also built a simple and small (99sqm) PassivHaus in Romania, 5 years ago. Everybody, and I mean everybody from family to friends called me nuts, but I've got my payback this winter when the energy prices went trough the roof and I'm just slightly affected. The house is elevated from the ground on 12 concrete columns so that I can insulate under the foundation beams using glass foam, insulation on walls is 30 cm…

It is interesting that you insulate under the house. One of the more intriguing passive house designs I saw was one where the insulation went down 2-3m into the ground all around the house footprint. This trapped the natural ground heat within that area and fed it upwards into the house. It took about 18 months for the ground to warm up, but once it was there, the ground/house warmed itself with virtually no input. T…

We have an old house from 1988 located in Norway. Walking on the non-insulated wooden floor is very unpleasant. We will refurbish, and insulate under the floor, but it will not be anything near a passive house because of other construction shortcomings
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