On Fri, Feb 7, 2014 at 10:09 AM, Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> OK, so this summer, we've got to do some remodeling of the house
> exterior. New siding, new windows (we'll do what we can afford) and
> maybe a couple modifications to the solar area. It would be really
> sweet to bring the house up to current "Passive House" standards. It
> was done right in 1984 when it was built. But it is time to replace
> stuff.
>
> Our condo was also built in 1984. It had passive solar out back in the,
errr, Solarium.
The back porch has a roof that's completely skylight, and there were two
fiberglass panels hanging on the wall that were filled with a
heat-absorbing chemical solution. Vent fan on the back porch would get
turned on at a certain temp and pump the heat back into the house. Problem
is, about 10 years in, the panels both developed leaks and all of the
solution dripped out. It's happened to all of the units in our block,
which were all built to the same specs and within a couple years of each
other. There were retractable solar blankets that covered the skylights at
night to retain heat.
Would be nice to rework the system so it functioned again, but that's a lot
of money, and we have a new A/C compressor to replace in the Spring, along
with the stove which is also 30 years old.
Last month, our furnace croaked on us. Unbeknownst to us, it was
> failing a rapid and painful death and it's only through a specific
> isolation and airsource to the furnace room was that we didn't get
> CO1'd to death. But while it was failing it also took a whole lot of
> natural gas with it and our heating bill was over double normal.
>
> I feel your pain...errr... your cold. Ours was 30 years old when the heat
exchanger cracked and started pumping CO into the house.
New furnace is 95% efficient, with high-efficiency variable-speed motor on
the fan, and a fancy Honeywell thermostat with wifi and an iPhone app.
--
Paul Braun
Certified Music Junkie
"Music washes from the soul the dust of everyday life." -- Berthold Auerbach
--
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