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Can I pick your collective brains about an idea for a home cooling solution that I have thought of? (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 1 year ago by DontNoodles@discuss.tchncs.de to c/diy@beehaw.org

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I'm planning to construct a home sometime in the near future in hot, arid part of the country. Obviously, keeping the home cool is a major concern and I've been considering all available options.

One of the recurrent ideas discussed online is using geothermal cooling. But I think I don't have enough land to implement it. I have a related idea though.

Water supplied during set hours of the day by the municipality is fairly cool even during the summer months and it is a common practice around here to first let it collect in an underground tank and then pump it to the overhead tank as needed.

What if I create a closed loop system of circulating water with two car radiators: one in the underground tank, submerged in cool water and another in the living area of the home with a fan blowing behind it.

Do you think it'll cause perceptible change in room temperature if there is, say, a temperature difference of 10 degrees Celsius between water and ambiance? I intend it to only reduce the load on the air conditioners and/or just delay the use of AC.

What kind of math/physics will be needed to assess if this is a feasibility? I tried looking hard but could not find anyone else discussing this idea, so I'm reaching out to you guys.

Thank you for your time.

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[–] DontNoodles@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 year ago

I can't thank you enough for taking the time to write all of this. I have come across most of these concepts and have been considering them with respect to the options I have.

I'm trying to design the house considering the natural air flow and sun angles. There is a garden with trees on one side of my plot and I intend to make use of it while also planning for other sides. Currently I'm making house plans on my own and discussing with some people I know. This is helping me understand what we want/need, or not, in our home. At some point I'll definitely take it up to the professionals. There used to be a community of floorplaners and home builders on Reddit but it was not much active.

Stone is the cheapest construction material in my area but it practically converts the house into a furnace unless the walls are very wide. I plan to avoid it at all costs. On my radar is a technology called EPS (Extended PolyStyrene) Core panels which are nothing but high density PolyStyrene with a galvanized steel mesh in it. It is supposed to be load bearing and good enough to build the roofs along with walls. It has been used in some countries at various levels of success though not in this exact form (with wire mesh). It is supposed to be highly non conductive in terms of heat and so good for maintaining inside temperatures with minimal cooling. Most of the material available online are either research papers or companies selling it, both of which only have the incentive to talk good things about it. I intend to go and meet people who have actually built using this technique and take their feedback before I commit to it.

As regards this pet idea of mine, I think the consensus in this discussion is that it will not cause much difference. But since it does not involve much effort/investment, I'm going to try it anyway.

Another cooling technology that has my attention is desiccant based cooling. That too has some research papers and a nice set of videos by Tech Ingredients (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zW9_ztTiw8). It looks more daunting and more suited for humid regions/months.

I keep dreaming about a setup with evaporative coolers for dry spells and desiccant based thing for humid ones, assisted with this pet tech of mine.

I hope I'll have the courage to implement these ideas finally.

Thanks again.