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Old 02-11-14, 04:28 PM   #71
Exeric
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Xringer, it sounds like you're living the Vida Loca in the basement, wearing Hawaiian shirts and listening to Jimmy Buffet cd's - or not. It might be time to accept that your climate is never going provide enough heat on a consistent basis in the attic to provide heat to your basement. Just a thought, though I might be out of line here. Let me know if I am.

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Old 02-11-14, 05:54 PM   #72
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Default Too much snow on th roof and more on the way!

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Originally Posted by Exeric View Post
Xringer, it sounds like you're living the Vida Loca in the basement, wearing Hawaiian shirts and listening to Jimmy Buffet cd's - or not. It might be time to accept that your climate is never going provide enough heat on a consistent basis in the attic to provide heat to your basement. Just a thought, though I might be out of line here. Let me know if I am.

You're right. It's terrible when the roof is covered with snow.
For some reason, snow reflects the sun beams right back into outer space.

But, we do have some days when it's sunny and the system turns on..
Doesn't supply a large amount of BTUs, but it moves out the stale air and deadly Radon gas..
Since it only runs when the humidity is low, it helps keep the basement dry.

Luckily the radon level is staying low. It will jump up when the melting starts
and water table becomes active.

More snow on the way.. And of course it will be preceded by more Zero weather..
Woburn February Weather 2014 - AccuWeather Forecast for MA 01801
Maybe 8 days of sun before March..

I watched it dropping last night and couldn't believe how low those Sanyos can go.. Still cranking out heat when I crashed at 1:45AM..


I was wondering why my temp sensor reported 12.2F and just down the street it was 4.8F
I'm pretty sure radiated heat from the Den is warming the sensor pod..
Need more insulation under there..


The Sanyos were still working at 12.2F, which might have actually been closer to 4.8F !

So, early this morning, I moved the outdoor sensor a few more feet away from the house and tonight it reads 18.3F degrees,
which is very close to the 18.0F at the weather station down the street.

Gonna be cold again tonight. Might be burning oil by midnight..
2- 3- 4- 5- 6- 7- 8- 9- AM
7° 7° 5° 2° 0° 1° 5° 10°
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Old 02-24-14, 01:09 PM   #73
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Default Running good today..

Mostly overcast, but still warming up the attic. It's 14 degs warmer than the basement.
It actually takes a little of the 'chill' out of the basement air..

Temperature Sensors
50.9 F Basement
35.6 F Outdoors
64.9 F Attic

The Radon is up a little, and these warm attic days will bring it down..
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Old 03-07-14, 10:37 AM   #74
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Default Getting some very cold nights here lately

but on these bright sunny days, we are getting 5 or 6 hours of good heating from the attic air.

Last night, it was very cold, but this morning it warmed up fast.
The back-up space heat was on half the night.
The Sanyos were back online at 7:20AM. They were turned off at 10AM, due to solar gain.



Without snow on the northern roof, attic temp climbs quickly.
I changed the software setpoint to Basement Temp+5 deg F.
(Attic must be 5 deg warmer than basement to start ventilation blowers)


Current Temperature Sensors show:

50.7 F Basement (Basement floor is 42.1 F, away from oil burner area).
64.9 F Attic
150.0 F Solar PV water tank

It's warmer in the basement during the day (while blowers are running)
and the radon levels are in the green.
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Old 03-09-14, 01:03 PM   #75
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Default Acttic is really starting to warm up!



It's a dry 40 degrees F outside this afternoon, and with the snow off the northside roofs,
we are seeing some nice attic heat, for most of the daylight hours.

In order to keep the fans from running for the whole day, I'm moving up the setpoint a little bit..
Now, it's set to run the blowers when the attic is 10deg F hotter than the basement..

The PV->DHW tank has been working very well lately. We rarely hear the A7 ASHP come on..
It has been hitting 150F almost every sunny afternoon..
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Old 03-22-14, 04:54 PM   #76
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Xringer, I like your thread, you'r pretty high Tech with the data logging.
I enjoy reading your posts on numerous other threads.

I'm thinking of doing similar thing in my next house I'm designing / building someday.

Hole is dug for basement, with no trees to shade until very late in PM, dark green steel roof 9:12 pitch, about 1200 ft2 faces South.

Location:
80813
Teller County Colorado
Zone 5/B dry
Design temp 2* F
AFI = 2500
Mean Annual Temp. 40* F
HDD 6415
Lat = 38.8*
Altitude 8,800'
Very good Solar many clear Winter days, lots of UV, I can get a sunburn in 30 min. in Winter.

I will attach a quick drawing of mini-attic area below 48' long ridge vent.

Roof is vented on underside of roof sheathing & above R51 insulation.
The vented air will flow into this mini-attic before exit out full length ridge vent.

My question is: do you think this is worth doing?

BBP

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Old 03-22-14, 04:56 PM   #77
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http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1395525348

BBP
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Old 03-22-14, 05:54 PM   #78
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Wow, I just saw a great place to live..
3011 Teller County Road 1, Cripple Creek, CO 80813 - Zillow

1200 sqft of south facing roof?? The very first thing I would be thinking about is PV panels!
Have you given PV any consideration?

The problem I have with snow and lack of sunny days most of the heating season,
makes me reluctant to say what I've done helps with the heating bill..
Mostly the impact is on the Radon in the basement.

However, this is my first 'spring' with the system in place, and so far I like it.
Since the basement is uninsulated, I'm pleased to see the 49F move up to 52F in a partly sunny afternoon.

Even today, when it was mostly cloudy (but got into the low 50s), we had the blower running a few hours. And, that's with the differential setpoint at 15deg F..

One other thing I noticed today. Since the A7 hotwater heater in the basement was really
pulling the basement air temp down, the warm attic air worked very well,
in counteracting the cold air coming out of the A7 ASHP..
Within an hour after the A7 shut down, the basement temp was recovered.

One of these days, (in May?) it's going to start warming up the basement like crazy.
I hope! And I'll have to add a top limit to basement temp..
Of course, that might be wishful thinking on my part..
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Old 03-22-14, 07:09 PM   #79
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My lot is about 2-3 miles South of Florissant Fosil Bed park & 1 mile West off Teller Co 1

Same redish gravel, DG as we call it, Decomposed Granite (high Radon). That listing says Not For Sale?

They call this area a bananna belt, they don't know what they are talkin about because banannas will not grow here. hehe

Yes, PV solar on that roof would work great! but I won't put a bunch of holes in my new Decra shake look steel shingles.

Looking into HD hangers that go on before steel roofing.

So it would be pretty easy to build in the tube, backdraft damper, & pump during construction, but with my ridge vent it may not do much?

BTW, you shouldn't obstruct your gable end vents, they usually barely do the job of removing moisture in Winter.

Radon abatement can involve positive air pressure into basement.

BBP

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Old 03-22-14, 09:52 PM   #80
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My end vents are wide open and always have been.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...0slot/peak.jpg

I do have the new ridge vent obstructed about 3 or 4 feet on either side of the air intake in the peak..
Otherwise, I end up pulling cold outdoor air into the basement..


If you cover your roof with PV panels, you won't be getting much direct solar heating.
But the bottom side of PVs get really hot, so there will be considerable radiant heat to the roofing.

I've studied Radon abatement a bit, and I've come to the conclusion that
positive air pressure to the slab can't work in this house,
without replacing the entire slab with a new one. It's got way too much damage.

Besides, I've discovered that my radon levels can be kept low by
relatively small amount of fresh air ventilation.
Radon abatement has been very successful, so far.

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