Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Heating/insulation/etc (FWD)

[Fred H Olson WB0YQM (fholson]

DIGGLE [at] MACLINE.COM Roger Diggle is the author of this message but
due to a listserv problem it was posted by the COHOUSING-L sysop.

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On 10/28/94 Ray Gasser Maplewood, NJ, EcoVillage at Ithaca wrote:

> We have to give up Gas cooking in the houses because
> super-insulation and combustion by-products do not get along well together.

Something smells fishy about this... Super insulation should not preclude gas
cooking.  If you aren't getting enough air changes to get rid of gas cooking
cobustion fumes, you are also not getting enough air changes to get rid of
moisture from cooking, showers, exhaling, what have you, as well as any other
contaminants of your indoor air, such as radon.  As a matter of fact, If you
cook fish, with or without gas, and you have poor ventilation, it will smell
fishy for a week.

Tight houses are good because they let you control air changes, but you still
have to have air changes, or you invite many problems.  Air-to-air heat
exchangers, also known as heat recovery ventilators, should be a standard
item in any tight building, in my opinion.  The warm stale air from the house
is blown through a heat exchanger and to the outside.  Fresh cold air from
outside is blown through the other side of the heat exchanger and brought
into the house.  Much of the heat that you paid to install in the stale air
is transferred to the incoming fresh air, so it's more energy efficient than
opening windows.

My pesonal favorite design for these ventilators uses a moisture permeable
paper heat exchanger.  This may seem counterproductive, since the main thing
you're trying to do is get rid of moisture.  However, only a portion of the
moisture passes through the paper between airstreams, so much of the moisture
is still removed.  Moreover, this style of heat exchanger almost never frosts
up, so the units are simpler.  They don't need defrost controls, and don't
run a defrost cycle, so they are less expensive and more reliable.  The extra
run-time required to get rid of the recirculated moisture is still about as
efficient as impermeable units which run defrost cycles.  Altech Industries
and Research Products make such equipment.

I can furnish further information if there is interest.

Roger Diggle, Porch Light CoHousing, Madison, WI

- via BulkRate 2.0

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