[Strawbale] Low-Cost Solar Assisted Heat Pump System littlehouses cross post

[Michele O'Malley]

Thanks for the ideas. This site is amazingly informative. I have already found numerous links that I had not found on my own. I actually hope that my strawbale house with the numerous passive solar elements I want to incorporate will need only a minimum of back-up heat. I am planning on a wood stove with cob or stone surround but I think the building codes require more than that as a back-up system. I will have to do more research into my options. Its good to know that radiant floors don't have to cost the $10-$14k that I keep hearing about. Primarily I will need some heat in the 2 bedrooms on the north side of the house and in the basement. 


Michele O.


> From: speireag at gmail.com
> Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:59:30 -0500
> To: STRAWBALE at LISTSERV.REPP.ORG
> Subject: Re: [Strawbale] Low-Cost Solar Assisted Heat Pump System	littlehouses	cross post
> 
> 
> On 2007, Nov 28, at 14:06, Michele O'Malley wrote:
> 
> > Thanks for the advise. I know the winters are brutal, it can get as  
> > low as -40F at night. Most people use propane I guess but I was  
> > really hoping to get away from the fossil fuels. Any suggestions  
> > for eco-friendly but affordable back up heat?
> 
>      Wood?
> 
>      Electricity, if you have the option of buying green watts.
> 
>      The key to making it affordable, no matter what it is, is to  
> build the house such that you don't need much heat.  Passive solar is  
> a must.  Some thermal storage, passive or active, is a must, to carry  
> you through the cloudy days.  Solar thermal collection is your  
> quickest payback after reducing usage.
> 
> > I have heard that radiant floors are expensive and I really don't  
> > have a lot of money.
> 
>      They don't have to be.  My entire radiant floor system,  
> excluding the heater itself, was around $1000, including a brass  
> pump, lots of fittings, and lots of pipe.  It used to be hooked to a  
> propane demand heater, but right now it's on an electric tank heater  
> (no vent, so I can move it as I put on an addition).
> 
>      My system has one zone, and works off a timer switch.  Simple.
> 
> > What is the consensous with eco minded people about using  
> > electricity as back-up heat vs natural gas/propane.
> 
>      It's fine, if it's minimal, or if they're green watts.
> 
> > Even now in my W. Pa home I tend to use an electric space heater  
> > (that looks like a woodstove) to take the chill off the main living  
> > space and not have the natural gas kick on. Any opinions on which  
> > is best both economically and environmentally?
> > I guess it is unrealistic to expect any solar design, passive or  
> > active to keep a house comfortable in that climate during the winter.
> 
>      It is not unrealistic.  But it takes research, because most  
> builders don't know a thing about this kind of design.  You may not  
> be able to get every last bit of your heat in that climate, but you  
> can probably get 80-90% without too much difficulty, and the generate  
> the last bits during the darkest, coldest weather by minimal use of  
> backup.
> 
> -Speireag.
> 
> 
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