Help me modernize my 1980 passive solar home
We moved into this home last summer and I’d love to hear some ideas about how I can bring it more in line with current best practices and science. I’m located in western CO, zone 5. High desert climate.
The sunroom and surrounding design is what I’m most curious about. It’s great on winter afternoons but then bleeds heat at night and builds up heat in the summer. The sunroom is open to the crawl space through decking on the floor and to the attic through slats at the the roofline. The attic is unvented but there are operable vents that open for the summer with a garage door opener which allows hot sunroom air to vent and pull cooler air from the crawl space.
Heating and cooling is an area I’m wondering if I can improve on:
-Cooling is via an evaporative cooler, which is very common in the area. It works well and is efficient if a little heavy-handed and loud. When it is running a lot it also greatly increases inside humidity, which can be problematic with the swing to our very dry winters.
- 除了日光浴室之外，电动踢脚板加热器除外，该加热器的运行昂贵，并且在去年冬天很难控制。我研究了智能恒温器，但没有正确的电线配置。我目前正在将车库的一部分改建为媒体室/办公室，并将使用迷你拆分，并想知道另一个或两个单位是否适用于房屋的其余部分（想想卧室的楼上一个短管道和一个单位楼下？）
Other details
-Insulation is 2×6 batts
-windows are probably 20 years old…I replaced trim on one and was shocked that insulation wasn’t replaced around the window and fear others are the same
-crawl space walls have 2” eps but much of it has fallen down or was removed for some reason for some kind of work done in the crawl space. No insulation in the floor joists.
- 我还想知道是否应该密封车库和房屋之间的双层墙。似乎我只是在冬天用冷爬行空间的空气围绕着房屋。
-I assume sealing lights etc in the attic would be low hanging fruit. When I blow in insulation for my garage attic I could also add more in the main attic.
It’s an awesome house and I think thoughtfully designed but much of it just seems overly complicated compared to just making everything tight and well insulated.
GBA Detail Library
由气候和房屋部分组织的一千个建筑细节的集合
答复
Interesting! Yes, the general thinking is that these designs are overcomplicated compared to jsut doing good insulation. But I think your climate is one where they can work better than in many climates, so it could be that you can preserve much of the original intent and get great performance.
Indirect evaporative coolers are a great option for climates that are dry enough for evaporative coolers to work--you can get about the same cooling but without the humidity produced indoors. Unfortunatley, I don't know of anyone still making them for residential sue. You might be able to rig one up with your own heat exchanger added to the evaporative cooler you have (or a new smaller, quieter one). Or you could use the new minisplits that you add for winter heating.
谢谢,我没有听说过间接蒸发首席运营官ling. Overall the cooling is pretty effective. The annoying part is the few weeks where it's 100+ and we have to keep it on at night and it is constantly cycling on and off.
这也有助于我们在夏天从树上有良好的下午阴影。尽管在东侧并不多，所以似乎很快就会加热。
北侧双层墙之间的空域是设计的组成部分。想法是，白天将在日光浴空间中变暖，并升入阁楼，从爬行空间中拉出较冷的空气。随着阁楼空气冷却，它将通过北壁腔降落，以返回爬行空间。一个大的被动对流循环。希望空气会慢慢温暖整个建筑物的外壳，并且热量足以在夜间或什至一两天的云彩天气中沿着沿海地区进行沿海壳体。这些设计中的一些具有阻尼器，可以关闭，以停止对流，而太阳没有闪耀。
IIRC，他们发现这种设计有效，但前提是外壳非常绝缘。但是，如果外壳非常绝缘，则不需要双壳的所有复杂性和成本。这使我们成为今天的隔热水平，而不是异国情调的设计。当然，这些历史没有任何帮助。我会非常仔细地升级。为了开始理解这个想法，只需Google“双壳被动太阳能房屋”。您会发现一些文章和分析。IMO，添加绝缘材料的最大风险将与加热空气中的高露点有关（尤其是在日光浴室中存在植物），从而导致阁楼和/或北腔壁的冷凝。如果根据现代建筑科学的建议，将其隔离开来的是东墙和西墙的风险。
Thanks, this is very helpful. I knew that there had to be some convective loop in the design but didn't know the exact terminology so never found the exact design. I found a couple diagrams that are the exact design.
One thing I definitely agree with when reading through some critiques of the design is regarding the crawl space actually retaining heat. Last winter I was down there a few times and it was very cold...
...Which makes me wonder if some insulation in the flooring/crawl space might be a safe thing to tackle.
我确实认为，在绝缘车库空间后，这个冬天的情况可能会好得多。车库里只有一个空心的门，去年冬天肯定感觉就像是房子里的一个冷点，尤其是在厨房/用餐区安装瓷砖后（这是通往车库的门所在的地方）。
正如彼得所提到的那样，弄乱设计可能会搞砸了。如果您不想手动操作，您可能会考虑的某些事情是添加动力阻尼器以使用恒温器调节气流。添加恒温控制的风扇还可以增加循环循环，以移动和去除热量。小型的PV设置可用于为这些设备（小型直流电动机或风扇）供电，因为它们不需要大小大，足以完成工作。它还使您可以反向运行空气流，从而可以将热空气从阳光房间向下迫使爬行空间首先在湿度高或真正的寒冷天气下保持温暖和干燥。温暖后，您可以将其切换回正常操作。将其视为在烹饪前预热。
像窗帘或阴影这样简单的事情在防止夏季加热方面可能会大有帮助。
As far as the crawlspace, what type of floor does it have...concrete, dirt? Since the crawlspace acts as a big duct, insulating the surface area of the interior may help to keep it warmer. Or you can add a vent opening and damper above the crawlspace in the living area to drive the return air into the house rather than into the crawlspace when more heat is needed inside, rather than heating up the crawlspace. Once insulated it should prevent colder air from infiltrating the floor above.