[Strawbale] Passive Heating

[Greg Haas]

When I was designing my strawbale house (still not built. *sigh*) I 
kept playing with the idea of solar gain --> floor.  But I kept running 
into the reality of furniture shading the floor.

So then I moved on to trombe walls or some other kind of dedicated 
space for 'gathering' heat.

Do other readers find that furniture blocks enough sunlight from a 
thermal mass on/in the floor so as to be a problem with such a design?

-greg


On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 13:43:01 -0600, David Neeley wrote:
> Ilan,
> 
> The key is whether the windows will gain more heat during the heating season
> than they lose. With insulated curtains or shutters for night-time use, the
> balance is likely to be very favorable, assuming they are well located and
> sized.
> 
> If you build a strawbale with adequate insulation in the roof structure, you
> are not likely to need a large amount of heat in addition to that you put in
> from the inhabitants, cooking, bathing, etc.
> 
> Normal practice is to have substantial roof overhangs, so the windows don't
> gain too much heat during the summer, and to protect the walls from driving
> rains as well.
> 
> David
> 
> On Dec 30, 2007 12:24 PM, Ilan Ungar <adrihalut at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Hello
>> 
>> A short while ago I posted here for some advice on sub floor radiant
>> heating.
>> I received replies suggesting I do not need it here in Israel (5-15
>> Degrees
>> Celsius in the heating season)
>> and careful design will allow for  comfortable indoor temperatures.
>> 
>> That lead me to explore an approach of allowing sunlight in the house to
>> heat thermal mass surfaces.
>> But then I open my Architectural Graphic Standards and find that the R
>> value
>> for double glazing openings is a
>> very poor 1.61
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