During this winter’s cold spell, many householders encountered problems of condensation forming on the inside surface of roofing felts, which collected and dripped down onto the ceiling, causing dampness to rooms below. Many complained of ice forming from this condensation on the underside of the cold roofing felt. When this started to melt, it dripped down and caused puddles of dampness to form.
So where does this condensation come from? Well it is not from the outside environment, or from the cold- water storage tank, even many may be uncovered. Some of this vapour could have been generated by small expansion tank, venting the central heating system, often located in the attic space. But by far, most of this condensation is formed from warm vapour-laden air that drives under pressure from heated habitable rooms into the cold attic to condense on the coldest and least ventilated surfaces, such as roofing felt.
Posts Tagged ‘Duncan’
Controlling vapour diffusion and dampness from condensation
Energy Retrofitting our Existing Homes
House holders certainly have their difficulties today that impede their ability to tackle this problem. In this unprecedented time of economic downturn, falling property values, less disposable income to play with and much less possibility of borrowing, the cost of maintaining comfort conditions is becoming a huge issue. Last winter’s long cold spell was a wake up call to take real action. For most people, the focus has shifted from luxury to necessity and surviving through these difficult times for others.
Most people regard their present abode as their long term home. Moving home is no longer an option for most, so making the best of what we have is where householders are focusing their minds. With global energy prices creeping up quickly, climate change and global warming now the greatest threat to life on this planet over this century, primarily caused by our excessive CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuel, becoming very urgent to reduce so weaning off oil and coal is our greatest challenge, So consolidating and future-proofing our homes is where the solutions householders have many concerns about their home.
There are so many options to select from and yet so many risks of mistakes being made, so many products and installers selling their wares, there’s a huge need for competent, independent information and impartial advise that can be trusted.
In the next blog I hope to try and empower householders with some basic knowledge on the practical choices they can make to future proof their home.
Duncan Stewart
Renewable Energy in the Home
So let’s look at options available for space and water heating in the home:
Solar collectors:
These are mainly installed to provide free, clean heat for domestic water. Solar energy varies considerably seasonally. It provides about ten times more energy in the long mid-summer days compared to mid-winter with much less solar intensity and short daylight hours. Most solar systems can more than satisfy their Summer use but need to be supplemented by another energy source in Winter. As domestic hot water is needed all year round, it is the obvious first choice for solar. Whereas, space heating is badly needed in the cold mid-winter, when solar is at its minimum. To maximise solar for hot water use all year round, the collectors can be pitched at angles from 25% to 60%, and oriented from South East through South to South West. For hot water use, the size needed for collector area, depends on the number of occupants in the house, using showers, etc, how close the panels are oriented to due South and the type and efficiency of collectors. Typically collector areas of about 1.5 sq. metres is required per person for domestic hot water. The collector types can vary from evacuated tube, reflector, flat-plate, warm-air panels or even slate/roof tile, cladding types. These systems can typically deliver about 60% of the total domestic hot water needs of an average family and preheating the cold supply water to the cylinder in the Winter. Solar collectors need to be backed up with a large, vertical pre-insulated ‘buffer- tank’ to store solar heat. The volume of the buffer-tank is critical to match the solar energy being supplied and the demand required for hot water use. The capacity may vary from between 200 and 500litres for hot-water storage. The heat exchange coil should be fitted at a low level in the vertical vessel, where lower-temperature solar heated water can preheat the colder water at the bottom and the cold supply water entering the tank.
What is realistically achievable?
Having now entered a new year and commenced the 2nd decade the 21st century, – a new era where we face daunting challenges. Besides facing consequences our unprecedented economic setback with all its unfolding hardships, there are much more serious issues facing us all, where there impacts will become more apparent in the early part of this century.
Lets Go Green for Christmas
Did you know that Irish families this Christmas will consume an estimated 1 million selection boxes, 1.4 million boxes of biscuits and will pull 16 million Christmas Crackers. All this waste will result in a packaging mountain this Christmas, unless we do our part!
Assumptions
To do so, there are certain assumptions that we have had to make in order to arrive at certain figures. We have assumed a certain house type with certain heating and electrical and energy use. We have outlined these assumptions below and unless otherwise stated on a blog that you read, our figures are garnered from these assumptions.
The Importance of Cavity Wall Insulation in your Home
Insulating your Cavity Wall is an inexpensive, yet major step towards a cleaner environment. With the HES (Home Energy Saving Scheme) available from the SEI (Sustainable Energy Ireland) at the moment it has never been a better time to take this step.
Attic Insulation
The recommended amount of insulation to be in your attic is 300mm or 12” of fibreglass. In many homeowners cases at the moment they may only have roughly between 4” and 6”. So by upgrading your attic insulation as a homeowner you will see a big difference. Getting back to the type if insulation you put in your attic, today we are talking about Fibreglass Insulation.
It starts at home
Going green starts at home and our next post from Duncan is going to give an overview of the steps we can take to future proof our homes, from the small and simple to the major changes. To get us ready for this post, over the next two weeks we are going to explain a [...]
