Smaller house = forced savings

[Xist]

When I finally own my own home, I want to learn the point of diminishing returns on insulation. I remember doing some math and if I put a foot or two into my parents' attic, their utility bills were supposed to go down, but there was still a long ROI. In the Phoenix area, I think that it would make more sense to put 8" batts on the inside of the roof, if you keep the heat from getting in, you never need to cool it.

I am trying to remember something else... an underground heat pump. In the winter, it brings forty-six-degree air from underground to heat your home, and in the winter, it cools your home.

Dad wanted solar. He had big dreams.

[Christ]

When I end up in a more or less personally owned space and can do whatever I want, I"ll be using solar thermal coils to heat bulk and personal use water. Bulk water heats the house, personal use water is... well... yeah.

I would also really like to build a parabolic outdoor oven and figure out a way to regulate it's temperature somewhat precisely.

And of course, solar/wind energy or some mixture of both, more likely.

...but it all takes money.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Christ

...cuz we had to leave the freezers outside on the porch... and since we live in a trailer and don't cool it, having them outside means they'll run less often [and not at all here shortly], so we're saving money on our food storage requirements.

I've often thought about building a "freezer" / refridgerator that would be on the inside of the house but have appropirate venting to use the "outside" whenever possible to cool its contents, then in the summer months switch to traditional means.

Would work in reverse of what an air powered solar collector operates

[Christ]

That's a step closer, but you've still got the heat contained in the house acting against the interests of the insulated compartment of the freezer. Unless your home is generally cooler than outside temps [ours typically is not], it's still better left outside, even if only for a few degrees.

[Fat Charlie]

AllenK did a good job looking at that:

Insulating the fridge yourself and cutting down energy consumption down to 50%

[Christ]

If you have an upright, one of the quickest things you can do with it, at the cost of space, is to fold up an old blanket so that it fits perfectly in the bottom area below the last shelf [typically drawer space in a fridge] and lay the blanket into that well, at least covering the odd shaped area where the compressor is usually placed.

In the case where your cooling coils are inside the walls of the unit, insulating inside it [but not outside] can still increase it's efficiency, at the cost of a little space.

If it's a really old one with the coils inside, you can also simply find out where the coils are and remove that entire panel, exposing them.

[j12piprius]

Insulation doesn't keep heat from getting in, but absorbs it, then releases the heat into the house through the night. The result is that the house stays hot and uncomfortable through the night.

A much better alternative is radiant barrier foil, stapled to the rafters. It is inexpensive, quick and easy to install on one's own. When the temp was 112 here a few years ago, the house got up to a comfortable 83 inside, but is usually in the mid 70's in the summers, and I never use any a/c.

Another advantage is the foil reflects internal heat back into the house in the winters, keeping the house cooler in summers, and warmer in winters. I only had heat from the fireplace insert 7 times last winter, compared to 45 times a few years ago.

[Christ]

I guess that all depends on where you are... it's already steadily below 70 here during the day, and it's only gonna get colder in the next month or so. There's a portion of the winter where it's pretty steadily under 30 degrees for a couple weeks or longer, too.

During that portion of the winter, the freezers won't even run, and for the months surrounding them, it'll more than likely only run once or twice a day.

For that entire period, there's almost nothing I could do that's more efficient than having them outside, because even letting the 'waste heat' from the pump and cooling coils heat the house, the house being warmer than the intended temperature of the freezer means it has to run more often to keep it's contents cold, and reduces the coils' cooling efficiency, making the pump run longer per cycle as well.

Even super insulating the freezer would still allow this to happen, although it may run less time per cycle and less cycles, it won't be as 'good' as it not cycling at all or cycling once-twice per day.