https://sites.google.com/view/electricfarm/home
Shelter and the Solar House
Since I have been in the construction business most of my life and have built, remodeled, and repaired homes I have some informed opinions on rural housing. It is often that someone comes to the country with a lot of fancy ideas about how they want to construct and heat their shelter and there are many very uncomfortable homes built in this area that bear testimony to flawed thinking.
There is a house that was built near me that was built to maximize solar heat collection. On the south side of the house there were many large windows installed. Yes they did achieve solar heat collection. In fact in the winter if the sun was out you had to open the windows to let the excess heat out. Unfortunately this only occurs for a few hours, if at all, each day and the large window area provided very little thermal barrier most of the time. Consequently the heating bills for this solar house are astronomical.
It is important to understand that the most cost effective installation for heating in the rural home is insulation. Through effective insulation and zoning I have reduced my heating cost to less than $500 per year. I used to burn wood thinking I was saving money. This also was flawed thinking as the cost of chainsaws, gas, oil, parts, and maintenance on the truck cost over what I presently pay for propane. This does not even consider the labor, fire threat, and mess in the house.
As a mason I often encounter people that want to install a fireplace to supplement their other heating systems. This is as good an idea as putting a screen door in a submarine to keep the water out. It does not work as most of the heat goes up the chimney. Also the combustion process consumes air from inside the house creating negative pressure which draws cold air into the house. A fireplace as far as heating is a liability not an asset. Better results are achieved with an air-tight wood stove with air for combustion supplied from outdoors but wood is not free. Presently a cord of wood (128 cu. ft.) is priced at over $200 and the same amount would buy 100gals of propane or fuel oil. One cu. ft. of wood if very well seasoned will yield less than 80,000 btu's, one gal of propane 95,000 btu's, and one gallon of fuel oil 132,000 btu's so as you can see wood is not cheap, involves a lot of labor, and constant attention.
These prices must be revised for 2016. GS