Posted on 08/02/2021 5:29:41 PM PDT by Jonty30
Just a point of curiosity. I've been reading up on how buildings can be designed to draw heat from the ground and have it sent upwards, which keeps the ground floor cooler.
So, I'm just wondering how often southern homes make use of this design and why it isn't used more?
How did they work? Simply whatever motion the breeze would impel, or some mechanical means?
They throw out a lot of black soot unless their chimney vent is well-sealed. All the chimney pipe fittings are available to buy. The chimney pipe comes out of the top or back of the stove and is inserted up into the flue of your fireplace chimney.
When we wanted to install a wood stove in my former old brick house, we didn't have a fireplace, but luckily, we had the upper part of an chimney in the back corner of the room which had once served an old-time wood-fired kitchen stove, and had been plastered over during an earlier renovation. We were able to open that and had to reline that old brick chimney with new terra cotta interior pipe and a new cap on the roof, so that the dried out old cement between the bricks wouldn't catch fire or leak oily gases from the burning wood; he also reworked the top of the chimney so it wouldn't throw sparks onto the roof. If your chimney is fairly new, all of that probably wouldn't be necessary, and the installer could run a wide metal stove pipe part way or all the way up your chimney to your roof; but get advice.
For ours, the mason cut a round opening in the old chimney about 18" from the ceiling, lined it with a round concrete gasket, and inserted and sealed the metal chimney pipe from the stove into that. There had to be fire-resistant hearth blocks under the feet of our stove, which was a rectangular box up on legs about 10 inches from the floor, and the stove had to be a certain distance from any flammable material like sheetrock walls or ceiling, carpeting, etc.
Then there was the time our 3-year-old found out Mommy wasn't lying—stoves really are hot when you touch them. We spent the afternoon in the ER. So think about how to deflect kids, visitors, grandchildren and pets when you lay out your traffic arrangement near the stove.
I've noticed a lot of old homes in the east coast mid-states region are insulating from the outside, using Tyvek wrap on the existing exterior walls, (with or without an additional layer of R16 insulation, which would require some wood lath framing), and then cladding the exterior with wood, pvc or vinyl siding as the final finish. It may be easier than trying to redo your interior walls, and would probably be much tighter than an insertion from inside.
Of course this requires rebuilding deeper window openings; but you would want to refit your windows with pre-built double-glazed tilt-to-cleans, or at least add storm/screen fittings to supplement your sash windows.
We’ve thought about that, but it’s too pricey for us. It’s ok, though; I hear Uncle Joe’s going to make everyone’s house energy efficient, and it won’t cost us a penny!/s
In the old house I described above, we had two old chimneys. The one I described where we vented the wood stove, and the other that vented our gas main house heater. The mason said we should not attempt to use any part of the gas furnace chimney stack for the wood stove, but keep them separate, which is what caused us to rework the other chimney.
My current house 30-year-old "new construction" townhouse has a conventional fireplace for wood with a glass door, and the chimney lining is a metal stove pipe with insulation and vinyl siding on the outside. (No wood stove.) So maybe you'd be okay running a wood stove through yours if you get the chimney cleaned, and have the gas line for fake logs removed well far away from fireplace. You need expert advice on that. Or boom!
Its easier to just install HVAC.
Our neighborhood is "new construction" from a huge, well-known developer in Maryland, around 30 years old. There are settlement cracks in nearly every room of every house, and several have big ones in the poured concrete basement walls that have needed major repairs.
A couple of years ago I renovated a relative's modest cape cod that had been built in 1936, knowing it would be inspected before sale. Solid as a rock. There was one miniscule hairline crack less than a foot long in the above-ground part of the foundation. Inspector didn't bat an eye.
Southerners are stupid and racist and anti semites
They can’t do anything....
You want to know about them....watch Deliverance ...a top shelf documentary
A fireplace is not usually about heating a home anymore
It’s a luxury...a real one...ambiance
A heat design fireplace is overkill in the Deep South usually
I had a working fireplace in coral gables ...sure don’t need one there
A buck stove or insert will run you out of all but truly cold season rooms
No AC till I was 15 in Jackson Mississippi ...1972
Attic fan
It were hot......later the weather changed and it was simply hot.....90 at night....80% humidity
Slippery women...lol....in that heat...
My AC has been out in Nashville area for two weeks ....hottest weather since 2012....97-98
You can’t get parts hardly
Thanks for your posts, and personal experience info.
Yes, we would definitely consult a fireplace mason/expert before proceeding.
No booms wanted!!
I finally ran a hose from mine into the sump.
There is a very easy way to save on both heating and cooling costs, in any part of the country, with a very simple change in how homes are built.
That would be to have half to three quarters of the exterior walls sitting either half way below grade, or similarly behind berms many feet wide to accomplish nearly the same thing.
The earth is a very great insulator. The below grade ground temperature (below the frost line, about 3 to 5 feet down) is, on average, about 53 degrees Fahrenheit, making it cooler than the air in summer and often warmer than the air in winter. With it is a major insulator, the work/energy/power needed to complete cooling or heating is much less.
The trick is how to get developers to build that way (building partially below grade &/or sculpting the development’s landscape to create berms against half to three fourths of the exterior walls) and how to get folks to live with the style of homes built that way, instead of the style they think they want.
LOLs!
Darn right! :-)
Look up “dogtrot house”.
These were cabins and houses built with a large center breezeway that created natural cooling.
“Here is some “basic physics” for you. Hot air rises. Heat doesn’t rise. It radiates in all directions.”
Yes, heat from a specific source does radiate in all directions. It also moves from a warmer area to a cooler area.
The earth radiates heat out into space, where it is eventually dissipated by cool air. That heat is, indeed, “hot air.” (It’s one of the reasons it is colder on top of a mountain than it is on the desert below.)
And, as you know, heat is transferred via radiation (transfer of heat from a warm object to a cooler object); conduction (transfer of heat between connected or touching objects); and convection (transfer of heat by circulation of liquid or gas).
So, the thread is about heat in homes; specifically, how Southerners dealt with their natural environment (especially before man-made electricity).
The sun beats down on the roof of the house, and the heat from the sun radiates onto the roof (warmer to cooler transfer); that heat conducts through the roof and radiates to the attic floor and conducts again from the attic floor to the ceiling below; that heat radiates to cooler surfaces in the house, where it moves via convection (the medium being a gas; i.e., air).
Thus, that heat necessarily means hot air. And hot air is just air that has been heated.
And since heated air is less dense than colder air, it necessarily must rise.
Whew!
“Some poor servant pedals all night?”
Pretty much so. :)
“You forgot the big shade trees planted on the south and west sides of the house.”
Yeah, those big magnolias and pecan trees! Can’t forget them!
My husband and I looked at a house with geothermal heating and cooling in eastern NC.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.