Posted on 08/02/2021 5:29:41 PM PDT by Jonty30
I was in Columbus, GA. AC costs dwarf heating costs. Though you have an insert, many do not, and seem to like the fireplace for its aesthetics. I resented ours because it made it a lot more difficult to place furniture, and we didn’t have a supply of cheap wood.
How would such an arrangement remove the moisture from the air? I am thanking God for air conditioning else my books, clothes, and shoes would mildew overnight.
They used to. The answer to your question is AIR CONDITIONING. And, to an extent, cheap electricity.
A mechanical hand crank on the Driver’s door makes perfect sense.
Hydraulics?; not so much.
It’s not the dumb..it’s the stupid.
I’d like to see underground homes tried in Florida and southern Louisiana.
This.
A single AC unit kept my house in Jacksonville, FL (a 2012-built 1800 sq' suburban home) comfortably cool without skyrocketing electric bills. Modern windows helped as well.
On a related topic, I read Mark Bowden's excellent book about the 1968 battle of Hue City in Vietnam. Probably the most brutal urban combat since Stalingrad. Much of the city was built in French Colonial-style, utilizing 3 foot thick masonry walls that provided natural air conditioning and brought with this a unique challenge to the street to street fighting.
A thing called humidity...
Friends have incorporated a whole house fan that vents in the attic. Vert effective.
Don’t forget, we make good use of our porches and ceiling fans. Lots of trees and brick. Everything is less expensive here so a good AC, lots of quality windows and cheap electric keep us cool. It is a humid heat but that’s what the ceiling fans inside and on the porches are for. 🌞💦
I don’t know about the rest of the south, but here in Oklahoma, the water table is too high to have basements. And boy, do I miss them! Back in Illinois, you could hardly sell a house without a basement.
I’ve only ever seen one geothermal unit installed here in NC. In this case the property had a lake and the pipes were run along its bottom to pre-cool the water before using in the AC and pre-heat for the heat pump in the winter.
Yep. The HHH components.
Every underground house I’ve been inside felt like it was underground.
Yes to humidity. I keep a bucket under mine. On a typical summer day I get from 7-10 gallons drained from my a/c drain pipe
That just gave me a flashback to my grandfather’s house in North Louisiana. The attic fan was a noisy rattle trap. It wasn’t noticeable on the first floor but was very, very loud on the 2nd floor. No AC either.
The up stairs bathroom vent fan gives a significant change of heat elimination, but are not made for that use.
But the up stairs bathroom vent fans show what is needed.
If we lived Underground, there would be no need for AC/Heat.
I live in upstate NY where we get a lot of snow and ice build-up. I have always wondered why homes haven’t been designed in a Nordic style, with more sloped roofs and much longer eaves
Every builder I ask shrugs and gives some version of higher cost, no one designs them that way, and they don’t have time to train workers
Everything is cookie-cutter. Its cheaper and faster that way.
Wood stove inserts fill up the entire fireplace and usually extends out to the edge of the hearth. We have one in a fireplace with the chimney located in the center of the house. After a day of running the chimney mass heats up and keeps the house toasty warm.
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