Heating and Cooling With The Sun
(Page 6 of 7)
At Home in the Desert
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Now that Jim's had a chance to live in the house through
quite a few seasons, he's truly pleased with the
structure's performance. Since the dwelling's systems are
almost entirely passive, including its gravity-fed solar
domestic water heater, Jim's normal power requirements are
merely for lighting, refrigeration, and pumping water into
a storage tank from his 330' well. The happy result is that
the desert dweller's utility bill averages only a
quarter of what his neigh bors are accustomed to
paying! (The Harmon household does use some bottled gas for
cooking, but Jim hopes to construct a small
methane-from-compost plant, which should help take care of
kitchen needs.)
Otherwise, Jim's ten-acre microcommunity is relatively
self-sufficient . . . with the help of the sun. And since,
in addition to growing much of his food, the Golden Stater
raises cacti for sale to nurseries and the like, the desert
itself provides him with an extra source of income
for a minimum of effort . . . and that's a hard-to-beat
combination in any territory.
How It Works
Simply put, the Harmon house works on the principle of
pressure differential caused by rapidly moving air. In the
summer, as the sun beats down on the surface of the roof,
the air within the ceiling channel absorbs heat. Because
the heated air has a much lower specific gravity than the
ambient atmosphere, it tends to rise, flow upward along the
channel between the inner and outer roof, and exhaust out
the louvers in the "tower of power."
Naturally, with all this air escaping, a new supply must be
brought in . . . and it enters by way of the groups of 1/2"
holes drilled through the soffits under the outside eaves.
So, what results is a constant—sometimes downright
furious—flow from the outdoors, through the roof
channels, and outside again.
In order to take advantage of the air current, Jim Harmon
has cut several small openings into the tower, at its
highest point inside the house. As the heated air
rushes past these holes, it actually entrains—or
pulls—the air within the building right through the
vents . . . in much the same way that an automobile's
carburetor draws fuel out of its float reservoir.
Of course, since air is then being drawn from the living
area of the house itself, it must be replaced . .
. and the only available sources of supply—as long as
the home's doors and windows remain closed—are the
eight ventilation tubes buried 40" beneath the surface of
the earth . . . where temperature is maintained at about
75-°80°F year-round.
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