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Not heating your house will make it uninhabitable within a year because of mold.
I've been thinking about the inverse problem. I live in a very warm city. Air conditioning (cooling spaces) is the norm, but tons of money are spent with installations, maintenance and the monthly electricity bill. The new houses are designed with zero consideration about ventilation, designers seem to take for granted that you are going to buy an AC system. Oftentimes, a very simple change in the project would be en…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just curious, what part of the world do you live in? I've lived in cities where we experience anything between below zero to 120F throughout the year. I couldn't imagine not having AC/Heating in those areas even with more efficient ventilation/insulation.
How, that's a huge temperature gradient. I live in Fortaleza, Brazil. Temperatures here are very stable along the whole year (78F - 90F, it rarely falls out of this interval). I'm not advocating this no-AC model as a general solution though. I'm aware we're a bit lucky here. I used to live in Sao Paulo and temperatures vary more wildly there, sometimes within a single day.
We take the general concept of heating people, not the space, to heart for our outdoor swimming pool. While most other folks heat their pool, we go ahead and swim in the cold water... but we buy everyone in the family a wetsuit. A few hundred dollars on wetsuits each year is far better than many hundreds on propane every month.
Not heating your house will make it uninhabitable within a year because of mold.
Not heating your house will make it uninhabitable within a year because of mold.
Care to elaborate? How does cold cause mold?
Interesting whether this would happen in an entirely unheated building.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just curious, what part of the world do you live in? I've lived in cities where we experience anything between below zero to 120F throughout the year. I couldn't imagine not having AC/Heating in those areas even with more efficient ventilation/insulation.
Mainer checking in. Wednesday afternoon it was 70F. The next morning it was 5F Friday a snowstorm. Today -2F in AM. We all just dress in endless layers.
I've been thinking about the inverse problem. I live in a very warm city. Air conditioning (cooling spaces) is the norm, but tons of money are spent with installations, maintenance and the monthly electricity bill. The new houses are designed with zero consideration about ventilation, designers seem to take for granted that you are going to buy an AC system. Oftentimes, a very simple change in the project would be en…
These are two separate problems.
In the ideal situation, you generally want the house to be fairly air tight and condition the air for (a) temperature and (b) humidity. Each of (a) and (b) are taken care of by different mechanical units: one is monitored by a thermometer and the other by an hygrometer. The latter triggers a stand alone dehumidifier:
* https://www.aprilaire.com/whole-house-products/dehumidifiers
For fresh air you have an HRV/ERV, which brings outside air (through a filter) into the house (usually to bedrooms), while at the same time blowing out stale inside air (usually taken from bathrooms and the kitchen), with the two moving through the unit so that the outgoing air tempers the incoming air:
* https://www.ecohome.net/guides/2276/choosing-between-an-hrv-...
You still have opening windows, as they're mandated for emergency fire exits.
Not heating your house will make it uninhabitable within a year because of mold.
Care to elaborate? How does cold cause mold?
But good building design following current standards isn't going to be affected by this.
Not heating your house will make it uninhabitable within a year because of mold.
Care to elaborate? How does cold cause mold?