Have you tried negotiating with her first?Nearholmer wrote: ↑3 Oct 2022, 4:21pm Yes, this is all making me think about putting a different blind over the big widow that causes trouble on our top floor.
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; - )
Jonathan
Have you tried negotiating with her first?Nearholmer wrote: ↑3 Oct 2022, 4:21pm Yes, this is all making me think about putting a different blind over the big widow that causes trouble on our top floor.
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Goes away to Google how to convert light into heat ...
Yes, external shutters are the most effective at keeping radiation out but interal shutters are still very effective, as are thick floor-length curtains and even roller blinds. They all prevent radiation warming a room's internal surfaces, reduce draughts and form a layer of insulating air between the glass and the room. Improvements in radiation, convection and conduction. Internal barriers will soak up some heat themselves, but less so than a flag floor or internal wall. But a sheet of steel wouldn't make a good internal blind, so clearly choice of material matters.Cugel wrote: ↑3 Oct 2022, 9:29am I've never been able to picture (using my 6th form physics of 55 years ago) how closing the curtains can make any difference to heat loss or gain in a house from radiant heat (the sunshine) coming through the window glass. Once the radiant heat is caught in the house (by the furnishing, walls, etc. or just the closed curtains) it'll heat whatever it shines on...
To prevent inner house heat gain from sunshine on the windows, you'd have to have the curtains (or shutters) outside the window, wouldn't you?
I think 853 is in the experimental stage, I don't believe he's intending carrying bricks around to keep warm. Although if you carried enough, you definitely would be
Yes, a highly insulated house will keep the heat in overnight far better than a tin shed, so in the sort of summer we had this year it'd be oppressively hot. A hot roofspace won't help, but the heat will have warmed up the whole internal structure (stone worktops, concrete floor, corckery in cupboards etc to a high temperature, the insulation will prevent this escaping so easily. Open windows and fans running through the night would be a partial solution, although with nighttime air temps approaching 20C that's not much of a differential to pull stored heat out.al_yrpal wrote: ↑3 Oct 2022, 5:04pm The folk with the mock Georgian house who suffer high temperatures have ultra thick loft insulation and the whole place is insulated way way beyond usual standards. In the winter they heat with bottled gas which costs them only £60 per annum (old prices) for a 2000 sq ft house, so I think their problem is solar and air temperature gain, gained very slowly.
There is a company called Magnaglaze that does acrylic window panels. But on sliding sashes you cant really use them because the magnets on the upper sash would foul the lower sash. In the summer we play with the sashes in hot weather to get optimum temperatures. I have thought about acrylic sheets temporarily fixed in place though.
The windows fit tightly there are no draughts.
We have to be so careful what we do here because of the listed building folk who have a terrible reputation for draconian rulings.
YES!
You are, of course, correct. Again.Biospace wrote: ↑2 Oct 2022, 10:00pmA good result. Time to work quickly if you want any free heat this year, there are only a few weeks left where the sun will significantly warm things up!853 wrote: ↑1 Oct 2022, 6:31pm
Following advice from my consultant ( ), I am very happy to report success in experiment 2
I managed to find an old plastic cool-box, from about 30 years ago, so I used this with the acrylic sheet on top. Although it has been sunny here in the North Midlands, it has also been very windy with gusts of 30mph. I couldn't angle the cool box to the sun because of the wind, and I had to use two bricks on top of the acrylic sheet to keep it down. My thinking was that only the top brick would get any real heat, and this would only be if it was raised within the box. To my surprise, when I came back about 6 hours later I had four hot bricks which I carried inside the house within the cool box. I don't have measuring equipment to find out how hot they were, but they were definitely hot to touch and probably around 50 degrees C.
853 wrote: ↑3 Oct 2022, 6:23pm
I think that by the time I have designed and built something that will be worth doing, it might be ready for March to catch the equivalent spring heat. I take on the advice of all of my consultants, and so it all hinges on whether I can obtain a radiator free of charge. One of my neighbours is going to replace their elderly ones soon, so I may develop the idea further.
In the mean time, I have a better idea. Or at least I think it's a better idea, so I'd be grateful if those of you who know more will scrutinize it fully. Here goes:
Imagine filling 100 litres of tap water, (currently around 15 degrees C), into plastic containers and putting these into an empty freezer and freezing them to -15 degrees C. Then, once frozen, taking out the ice and discarding it in the garden and repeating this with 100 litres of 15 degrees C water again.
If I did this, the freezer could be used like a ground source heat pump - but with a very different initial cost outlay. Is this viable?
Any constructive advice/criticism/calculations gladly accepted
Er, this is the 'Heat in the home' thread
In the lounge, this is the only room I heat; the bathroom and main bedroom sit above the lounge, and as the house was built in 1986 there is no insulation above the lounge ceiling. I accept there would be 30-40db of noise from the freezer, which may influence positioning
Possibly, we had a gas powered fridge at one point and that kept the kitchen nice and warm. though I think it would make better economic sense to do away with the freezer all together and buy a halogen heater853 wrote: ↑3 Oct 2022, 6:23pmYou are, of course, correct. Again.Biospace wrote: ↑2 Oct 2022, 10:00pmA good result. Time to work quickly if you want any free heat this year, there are only a few weeks left where the sun will significantly warm things up!853 wrote: ↑1 Oct 2022, 6:31pm
Following advice from my consultant ( ), I am very happy to report success in experiment 2
I managed to find an old plastic cool-box, from about 30 years ago, so I used this with the acrylic sheet on top. Although it has been sunny here in the North Midlands, it has also been very windy with gusts of 30mph. I couldn't angle the cool box to the sun because of the wind, and I had to use two bricks on top of the acrylic sheet to keep it down. My thinking was that only the top brick would get any real heat, and this would only be if it was raised within the box. To my surprise, when I came back about 6 hours later I had four hot bricks which I carried inside the house within the cool box. I don't have measuring equipment to find out how hot they were, but they were definitely hot to touch and probably around 50 degrees C.
I think that by the time I have designed and built something that will be worth doing, it might be ready for March to catch the equivalent spring heat. I take on the advice of all of my consultants, and so it all hinges on whether I can obtain a radiator free of charge. One of my neighbours is going to replace their elderly ones soon, so I may develop the idea further.
In the mean time, I have a better idea. Or at least I think it's a better idea, so I'd be grateful if those of you who know more will scrutinize it fully. Here goes:
Imagine filling 100 litres of tap water, (currently around 15 degrees C), into plastic containers and putting these into an empty freezer and freezing them to -15 degrees C. Then, once frozen, taking out the ice and discarding it in the garden and repeating this with 100 litres of 15 degrees C water again.
If I did this, the freezer could be used like a ground source heat pump - but with a very different initial cost outlay. Is this viable?
Any constructive advice/criticism/calculations gladly accepted
100 litres of water weighs 100kg. The specific heat capacity of water is 4184J/kg/1 degree C this equates to 418400J/degree C. In other words, a large number of heat would be produced - which might be significant for a small and well insulated houseBiospace wrote: ↑3 Oct 2022, 6:52pm853 wrote: ↑3 Oct 2022, 6:23pm
I think that by the time I have designed and built something that will be worth doing, it might be ready for March to catch the equivalent spring heat. I take on the advice of all of my consultants, and so it all hinges on whether I can obtain a radiator free of charge. One of my neighbours is going to replace their elderly ones soon, so I may develop the idea further.
In the mean time, I have a better idea. Or at least I think it's a better idea, so I'd be grateful if those of you who know more will scrutinize it fully. Here goes:
Imagine filling 100 litres of tap water, (currently around 15 degrees C), into plastic containers and putting these into an empty freezer and freezing them to -15 degrees C. Then, once frozen, taking out the ice and discarding it in the garden and repeating this with 100 litres of 15 degrees C water again.
If I did this, the freezer could be used like a ground source heat pump - but with a very different initial cost outlay. Is this viable?
Any constructive advice/criticism/calculations gladly accepted
Very intriguing!
My initial thought is that it will work from a point of view of heat generated (although not so much heat), but economically not.
Unless you've a diesel generator running on free, waste plant oil to power the freezer. In which case you'd hook it up to a small electric heater.
Somehow I doubt it, I believe the workings of a domestic heating HP aren't the same as those on a freezer. There will be a little free heat, but it's perhaps best thought of as a small background source rather than something to keep you warm - unless your home is to passivehouse standards or nearly so.853 wrote: ↑4 Oct 2022, 1:46pm
I have been told that a ground-source heat pump produces 4W of heat for every 1W of electric used to power the pump. If that is true, and I can get any 'issues' sorted out, that's what I'm looking at. Of the 1W used for pumping, any inefficiency would result in further heat in the house.