boisdevie1
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Passive solarWe're planning to convert our barn into a house. The south facing gable end is all oak and I'd like as much passive solar gain as possible. But if we have it entirely glazed with double glazed panels does this mean we'll fry in the summer? If so, would there by any easy way to keep the place cool. Blinds perhaps? Or would we be better having say a greenhouse attached to the barn at this end and then this gives us the option to close it off from the barn when it gets too hot?
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Northern_Lad
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You can now get certain glasses that let the light but not the heat through - don't kow the name, nor the price, but I suspect that blinds and a window will be cheeper.
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chez
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You could put a couple of ground-level opening windows and a couple of roof-windows high up to let the cool air in and hot air out? Like in a greenhouse.
Our attic conversion in the old house used to get really hot - but opening the velux windows meant that the heat just went straight up and out in summer and the rest of the year it was really cosy.
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dougal
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Re: Passive solar | boisdevie1 wrote: | | But if we have it entirely glazed with double glazed panels does this mean we'll fry in the summer? If so, would there by any easy way to keep the place cool. Blinds perhaps? |
The 'natural' solution is a pergola affair, with, say wisteria and/or vines.
These leaf up in summer, providing shade, and in winter provide almost no restriction to light/heat getting to the house.
Also consider eaves that provide shade from the summer sun (high in the sky), but that allow the lower angle winter sun to "get in under". {Though the further North you go, the wider the eaves would need to be... }
Where passive solar gets interesting is in the *use* of the heat.
A barn isn't naturally going to have a high thermal mass (store a lot of heat in the fabric of the building.
Thermal mass is how you smooth out the temperature change, not heating or cooling quickly.
Have a Google for Trombe Wall.
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chez
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Re: Passive solar | dougal wrote: | | Have a Google for Trombe Wall. |
There's a chunk about this in John Seymour, too.
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boisdevie1
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Thanks for all the helpful advice guys. In terms of thermal mass the barn floor is concrete so if we cover that with dark coloured tiles that should be pretty good at storing heat energy.
I do like the idea of having a pergola attached to the barn with a wisteria or vine.
It's all quite exciting because it's my first real opportunity to have a house built along eco principles. I"m also going to store rainwater for the bathroom loo flush etc.
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chez
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| boisdevie1 wrote: | | I"m also going to store rainwater for the bathroom loo flush etc. |
Would be very interested in your system for this - a lot of the places we are looking at, including the one we have an offer in on, are on spring water - so a rainwater collection system makes sense.
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