[Strawbale] Free energy

[Speireag Alden]

On 2007, Dec 02, at 23:50, Shody Ryon wrote:

>> I also buried some 4- inch flexible pipe for air.  But water or  
>> coolant can transport far more energy, far more quietly, than air  
>> can, so the air pipes are there in case the water pipes spring a  
>> leak and I have to go to the backup plan.  All of these pipes are  
>> now pretty nearly impossible to get at for repair.
>
>
> Did you consider having the air pipes drainable and putting the PEX  
> inside of them making repairs easier?

     The air pipes are drainable; they're perforated drain pipe.

     Putting the PEX inside them would greatly decrease the  
transmission of heat from pipe to earth, because there would be  
almost no direct contact, and so all the charging would have to be  
via radiation and convection, rather than conduction.  (On the other  
hand, the loop slopes up from where it comes out of the ground, so I  
suppose the air in the pipe would warm up and stay there.)  However,  
in years to come, in a pinch, I could probably fish a line or two of  
PEX through the drain pipe if I had to.  Something is better than  
nothing.

> Also, filling the air pipes with water to increase the thermal mass  
> that is charging the earth?

     Well, they're perf pipe, so I can't fill them.  I suppose if  
they were filled with water it would help a little bit in theory,  
what with convection within the fluid, but probably not  
significantly.  However, there is no thermal mass charging the  
earth.  The earth is the thermal mass.  Adding a comparatively small  
amount in the form of a bit of trapped water wouldn't significantly  
increase storage.

-Speireag.