Re: SB: Re: SB appropriate thermal mass-heat storage

[hollen@woodsprite.com]

On Mon, 23 Sep 2002, Chuck & Linda wrote:

> The solar designer has always used sand inside the heat box/floor. Well to
> fill this two feet deep will cost about $1800 in sand or rock. Meanwhile I
> am sitting with huge mounds of loam and wondering about incorporating the
> loam. Again the idea is to use part of Aug and Sept and October to charge up
> the floor and then slowly release the heat over the cold season. I am
> wondering about the thermal performance issues of loam versus sand. The
> solar designer has never done anything but.... I thought about using the
> loam in the first foot at the bottom where the tubes are buried and sand or
> rock up top. I don't want to do it if the performance would drop, but I am
> wondering if there would be any drop in performance?

One of the reasons to remove all loam from a building site down to clay or
sand or rock is that the loam contains much organic material that will
continue to decompose and shrink.  I would assume that it will do the same
in your "heat box".  If it shrinks and you lose volume, how will you
replace it later on?  Will it be a "don't care", or do you need the box to
stay full forever?  If you need it to stay full, I would aviod the loam.

Can't say anything about performance issues, but potential shrinkage sure
would steer me away from it, especially if it is subsequently enclosed
where you cannot go back and "top it up" in the future.

dion

--
Dion Hollenbeck  Email:  hollen@woodsprite.com
Home Page:       http://www.woodsprite.com
Brewing Page:    http://hbd.org/hollen


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