Quote:
Originally posted by GoodOlBoy
Mostly I am looking to help offset the HIGH East Texas Summer cooling bills. Since we are directly in the sun at the house (we put it in an old cow pasture I own several years back, and my fruit trees are all either dead, or less than roof high) I figure we could get some great offset from a decent on-grid solar system.
GoodOlBoy
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GoodOlBoy,
If cooling is what you want and you have a piece of land about the same square footage as your house (with nothing on top yet) you can dig a pit 10 to 12 feet deep. Set a copper or plastic pipe radiator into the ground with an inlet and outlet above ground. Fill the radiator over with the same dirt that you dug out. The outlet should be close to the house. The inlet is put into a small building that covers the air filters from the rain and sand. It can be ventilated to keep temps down. The warm summer air is pulled into the ground through the filters and into the house. It cools to 55 or 60 degrees F. The only expense would be the fan or blower that you use to get the cool air into your house. For optimal efficiency you can run the blowwer on solar power. It is initially less expensive than an air conditioner system and it saves you money every day you run it. The only maintenance is filters and blower repairs when they are needed. You would have to consult an engineer or find out how to compute the losses in your home to size the tubes to fit your application. The ground at that level stays at 55 - 60F all year long. It really saves money if you are further north because you can heat the 55F air cheaper than the 17F outside air. That way it saves money all year long.
It does make a cheap airconditioner though.
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Outdoor Public