tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post6847072853358262369..comments2024-03-27T06:42:31.956+00:00Comments on Mark Brinkley (aka House 2.0): How Denby Dale weathered the cold snapMark Brinkleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03473684038478246288noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-54745849847503498722011-08-01T11:12:13.665+01:002011-08-01T11:12:13.665+01:00I've no idea what the degree days were for Den...I've no idea what the degree days were for Denby Dale in Dec 2011. But is the comparison relevant? Did you keep your house at 21°C throughout December?Mark Brinkleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03473684038478246288noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-70972862472461132562011-08-01T10:50:42.312+01:002011-08-01T10:50:42.312+01:001600kWh in one month is pretty high for a state-of...1600kWh in one month is pretty high for a state-of-the-art house, even allowing for the cold weather. How many heating degree days were there in December? By contrast, I live in an ancient relatively un-insulated house, no optimization for solar gain and I used only 2000kWh for a total of 739HDD18 - and this in a 179m2 house with 90m2 of heated basement. Average temp over the whole month was Towel Radiatorshttp://www.cnmonline.co.uk/Towel-Radiators-c-63.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-85753437830155587382011-05-05T00:44:25.172+01:002011-05-05T00:44:25.172+01:00The cold period last year was not at all sunny in ...The cold period last year was not at all sunny in Cambridge either. It was notably cold + grey at the same time, and there was very little solar gain to be had.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-39157220803243511042011-04-23T09:17:29.884+01:002011-04-23T09:17:29.884+01:00Good point David. As you see, I have adjusted the ...Good point David. As you see, I have adjusted the settings.Mark Brinkleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03473684038478246288noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-7629870955325319552011-04-16T10:57:04.363+01:002011-04-16T10:57:04.363+01:00Mark, is it possible to tweak some of the display ...Mark, is it possible to tweak some of the display features on the blog, for example, for comments to articles, it shows the TIME of day of the posting, but not the DATE, and surely, the date is the more important, especially if we are discussing weather and the seasons.David Nicholson-Colehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01631439607557079305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-28379779157137709612011-04-16T10:54:49.211+01:002011-04-16T10:54:49.211+01:00Thanks Fasulent - I posted a few days ago a discus...Thanks Fasulent - I posted a few days ago a discussion between Technology and Insulation, a topic that Mark and others mention above.<br />http://chargingtheearth.blogspot.com/2011/04/insulation-technology-and-embodied.html<br />Of course you need both, and first you need insulation, but I dont go as far as Passivhaus extremists in saying that the house would need no heating at all!David Nicholson-Colehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01631439607557079305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-89950396250576386262011-02-18T13:34:50.043+00:002011-02-18T13:34:50.043+00:00There's nothing in PassivHaus that says you ca...There's nothing in PassivHaus that says you can't have large south-facing glazed areas, you just have to make adjustments elsewhere. In Denby Dales's case, there is an electrically-operated blind system that is designed to keep the sun out in summer.Garethhttp://www.cnmonline.co.uk/Towel-Radiators-c-63.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-63168959107833422952011-02-11T18:49:17.231+00:002011-02-11T18:49:17.231+00:00Hi Mark, I did a little write up about your write ...Hi Mark, I did a little write up about your write up, on my Solar blog - <br />http://chargingtheearth.blogspot.com/2011/02/mark-brinkleys-blog-denby-dale.htmlDavid Nicholson-Colehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01631439607557079305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-23583872441912092182011-02-11T11:28:53.843+00:002011-02-11T11:28:53.843+00:00I should have mentioned that it is also easy to fi...I should have mentioned that it is also easy to fit a Water Meter to the Hot Water pipe leaving your main tank, so you know exactly the volume of DHW used, weekly or monthly.David Nicholson-Colehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01631439607557079305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-6796696962436713502011-02-11T10:44:24.754+00:002011-02-11T10:44:24.754+00:00Hi again, Mark, I just looked at my December 2010 ...Hi again, Mark, I just looked at my December 2010 figures for my own house. Our GSHP used 763.88 kWh in that exceptional month (degree days were 499 [base 15.5] for the month in Nottingham).<br /> Of that 50 is the underfloor heating circulator and 65-70kwh is the hot water, leaving the heating to be approx 645 kWh. <br />As I have solar charging of the boreholes, the deep ground temperature was,David Nicholson-Colehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01631439607557079305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-3882008236781254152011-02-11T10:32:42.424+00:002011-02-11T10:32:42.424+00:00Hi Mark, we met in 2006, at Nottingham.
There seem...Hi Mark, we met in 2006, at Nottingham.<br />There seems a simple way to settle this, for the Denby house family to have a gas engineer fit a gas meter on their boiler, to give a separately readable consumption.<br />I have a GSHP with a meter to distinguish its consumption from the rest of the house. 4kW of PV roof above also muddies the calculations for consumption, so the GHSP meter provides David Nicholson-Colehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01631439607557079305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-40175442780655431392011-02-03T13:18:14.965+00:002011-02-03T13:18:14.965+00:00Exactly - what goes for coatings, multiple panes e...Exactly - what goes for coatings, multiple panes etc on windows goes for (or can go far) solar collectors as well. But the coatings and panes don't fully 'block' escaping long wave radiation - they only resist and reduce it to varying degrees. A top-tech 3G coated window will still let plenty of the gain of 10mins ago escape, when the sun goes in. That's what happens in a PH Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06796325006077141917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-36323253599488071722011-02-03T12:39:31.484+00:002011-02-03T12:39:31.484+00:00Tom,
just one flaw in your logic about solar gain...Tom,<br /><br />just one flaw in your logic about solar gain being re-radiated out of windows. Low-e coatings on glass allow short wave IR into the house but block long wave IR from escaping. This is essentially the greenhouse effect. The sun's IR is at a temperature of several thousand Kelvin, but the warmed objects in the room are at a few hundred K. The same argument could be used for Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04159273748602638912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-74297541560860852752011-02-03T10:44:17.190+00:002011-02-03T10:44:17.190+00:00Good stuff, Paul and Alan.
Paul, part of the "...Good stuff, Paul and Alan.<br />Paul, part of the "thermal storage ideas that have enough capacity to bridge extended cold periods" package must be that the solar collectors that feed the storage must operate at extremely low flow/return temp e.g. 20C flow, 17C return, in order to drop the collectors' gain/loss threshold low enough that collection can happen on as many days/hours asUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06796325006077141917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-31330959661576013222011-02-02T19:40:44.299+00:002011-02-02T19:40:44.299+00:00Tom, a window is well equipped to make good use of...Tom, a window is well equipped to make good use of passive solar in winter - compared to say a solar hot water panel it is far better insulated since the glazing is triple, argon filled and low emissivity, and the heat loss is from an absorber at the lowest possible temperature to be of use to heat the house - ie it is at room temperature.<br /><br />I've seen the peak watts going into my Alan Clarkenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-13971514039167848142011-02-02T18:31:59.476+00:002011-02-02T18:31:59.476+00:00Maybe I was exaggerating a bit by saying "dis...Maybe I was exaggerating a bit by saying "disingenuous" - but I think there's more to it. Passivhaus levels of energy usage claim they have low space-heating requirements but, really, it's all the "waste" heat from lighting, appliances and so on which allow this claim. The point I was making is that one can achieve a similar total energy consumption through some adroitUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04159273748602638912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-11569691540161456872011-02-02T07:51:15.651+00:002011-02-02T07:51:15.651+00:00Paul,
Aren't you using GSHP? With a CoP of 3...Paul,<br /><br /><br />Aren't you using GSHP? With a CoP of 3+? Doesn't that distort the calculations somewhat? <br /><br />And the point about the multiple uses of gas at Denby Dale isn't "disingenuous" - it's critical. The famous PH target is for space heating only, and doesn't include DHW. In a normal winter month, Denby Dale will be using the majority of its gas Mark Brinkleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03473684038478246288noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-68934405671864775642011-02-01T23:51:01.906+00:002011-02-01T23:51:01.906+00:001600kWh in one month is pretty high for a state-of...1600kWh in one month is pretty high for a state-of-the-art house, even allowing for the cold weather. How many heating degree days were there in December? By contrast, I live in an ancient relatively un-insulated house, no optimization for solar gain and I used only 2000kWh for a total of 739HDD18 - and this in a 179m2 house with 90m2 of heated basement. Average temp over the whole month was Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04159273748602638912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-30440805238480215352011-02-01T18:10:15.846+00:002011-02-01T18:10:15.846+00:00Well, in Devon mid December was definitely days on...Well, in Devon mid December was definitely days on end of high pressure cold clear sunshine.<br /><br />Big south windows PH-style don't do it - as soon as the sun goes in the gain radiates straight out again to the cold surroundings. It's a technique that guarantees that you only collect the current solar average. In deep winter that's usually more loss than gain, and in summer is Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06796325006077141917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-12943603783188973842011-02-01T13:31:05.047+00:002011-02-01T13:31:05.047+00:00Tom,
That's nonsense. Not only was the cold s...Tom,<br /><br />That's nonsense. Not only was the cold spell NOT typified by clear sunny days (the Alpine ski resort climate) but Denby Dale has an unusually large south-facing glazed screen area, ideally suited to picking up any passive solar if it's there to be had. <br /><br />There's nothing in PassivHaus that says you can't have large south-facing glazed areas, you just have Mark Brinkleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03473684038478246288noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-78685526526492805782011-02-01T12:57:39.770+00:002011-02-01T12:57:39.770+00:00That cold period was also a clear-sky period of we...That cold period was also a clear-sky period of well above average solar incidence. It's a pity that PH isn't equipped conceptually to make significant use of such solar opportunity - it puts a very low, really defensive limit on solar gain, for fear of uncontrolled overheating. Far from requiring extra fuelled heating, that cold period could have required reduced, or no fuelled heating, Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06796325006077141917noreply@blogger.com