Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site amdcad.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!amdcad!mike From: mike@amdcad.UUCP (Mike Parker) Newsgroups: net.misc Subject: Re: A home heating question Message-ID: <373@amdcad.UUCP> Date: Mon, 10-Dec-84 21:41:26 EST Article-I.D.: amdcad.373 Posted: Mon Dec 10 21:41:26 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 11-Dec-84 05:07:16 EST References: <520@homxa.UUCP> <6516@brl-tgr.ARPA> Organization: AMDCAD, Sunnyvale, CA Lines: 30 > Contrary to public belief, an airtight home is not optimal. > Consider building a passive heat exchanger to bring in outside air... > > -Ron < Being uncreative, I can't think af anything truly funny to put here > A truly airtight home is as you say not optimal, it is a health hazard. A passive heat exchanger is a good idea, but, I'm not sure how I would go about building one. One of the problems is that exchange of heat is not really enough. Warming up cold, dry outside air and cooling off warm, humid inside air gets you a heat exchanger full of water and cracked furniture. Drainage for the exchanger is possible, but most efficient heat exchanger have narrow air passages between many plates and could easily clog with ice if poorly designed. A humidifier will save the furniture, but is noisy and a pain to tend. ( When I lived in Maine, ours ate five gallons of water a day, and the only air exchange was bad weather stripping ). I think it would be best to buy a commercial exchanger. There has been much talk on this in recent issues of "Fine Homebuilding". Commercial exchangers are available that exchange heat *and* moisture. If you think about how a heat exchanger, you can see how readily moisture is exchanged if the membrane is not waterproof. Mike @ AMD