how about some new boards?

[mbryner]

What's the required temperature to neuter a polar bear .... and more importantly, why would you want to ?

With polar bears now an endangered species, is that felony?   

[Crofter]

my thinking was not so much heating the water, but spreading the heat from the central thermal  mass (fireplace) to the secondary
thermal mass (floor slab)



i am convinced with enough thermal mass, if i can get it cooled to ~ 60degree's F with a cooling tower (which is attainable) i can moderate the interior temps to a temp rise of certainly no more than 80 degree's F and perhaps a few degree's lower as the house
in question looses its afternoon sun exposure at about 4 pm during the summer months.

the problem as alluded to will be humidity, it is likely there will some condensation issues, so i might have to incorporate some means of dehumidifying which i am leaning toward a dessicant (sp) that can be batch fired dried with the heat from the cogen perhaps?

or maybe some method of absorption with plants, or some combination of other passive means.

the cooling aspect of the project interests me, as it does get hot in kansas in the summer time, however
it also gets cold in the winter as well, so whatever i do has to also work for heating.

perhaps the best approach would be something to aid the process, and not try to design for 100% , but rather accept the reality that it might not be 100% and require a bit of help from something like the forced air furnace to supplement the heating and the same to supplement the cooling via the AC system?

i figure anything i do ought to help reduce the heating and cooling load covered by the utility connected systems?

bob g

Bob, Just thinking; the temperature differential of day and night air is really not that great or very concentrated energy so it takes some whopping big surfaces and a lot of medium to harness and transfer. The huge sun exposed heat pickup area you have with its greater temperature differential makes for quite a battle. Super insulation, if it does not already exist will be a big help. The cold slab would do a better job of cooling the air if it was the ceiling not the floor, lol!  No question though that a heated floor sure is a nice way of warming a room. I have a friend who had piping in the floor and finally gave up on repairing it but there were shortcuts taken in underfloor compaction and concrete reinforcing so not off to a good start.

Your project seems like a monstrous amount of labor and hardware but might be a lot of fun. I dont have much need of cooling in my geography and like the simplicity of freestanding iron wood stoves. My cook stove heats my hot water. I looked at the outdoor boilers and the russian style masonry heater and decided against the complexity. Time was when the trickier the situation was the more turned on I was.....now tranquility seems to be trumping turned on, lol!