Earth Cooling Tubes for Ventilation and Climate Control with Richard Freudenberger
Vložit
- čas přidán 29. 08. 2024
- Learn how you can take advantage of the soil’s moderating temperatures for cooling and passive climate control in buildings, workshops, and more. Living Web Farms’ Black Soldier Fly breeding facility uses the energy of the sun and the heat capacity stored in the earth’s subsoil to create a controlled inside climate with minimal or no energy input.
Richard Freudenberger, is our Energy and Resource Coordinator and will explain how the system works, what materials are used, and what factors you need to know before embarking on a project of your own. We’ll look at siting, costs, calculations, limitations, and what does and does not work with real world expectations wen installing your earth cooling tube ventilation system.
Have you considered using a duct valve? Once the interior air gets cooler than exterior air, you could engage the valve causing the air to flow in a "closed" loop fashion. As in, the air going into the underground ducts is pulled from the room and then returned to the room. This would mean the air would begin the loop at a cooler temperature rather than pulling the warmer air from outside.
This really accentuates the beauty of the cooling culverts in the earth ship design.
The volume of that container needs a 4'' pipe that runs 136'. I know there is no official formula for these geothermal stuff, but I feel like you are not giving the air the time to exchange. You have bigger diameter with a short run. Some people successfully built a green house and maintained the temperature using earth tubing. Earth is great and thanks for sharing
I'm writing to a farmer channel called '10th generation dairyman'. I saw he was digging a ditch but it was only 5 feet deep or so. I figured if he's digging a ditch it's a good time to have dual use and that reduces the cost of trenching by half for each use.
You are heating a storage container but he could heat his house or even the barn. I believe Canada farms or upper midwest could benefit from providing heat to dairy farms in deep winter cold.
It's my understanding that some people pump the air either directly into their heating room or into the air conditioner or heat pump: so in effect it will preheat / cool the air for the conventional system.
Very interesting topics
Excellent video, and very informative. A lot of good feedback in the comments too.
I didn't see any screen on the inlet tubes. I would put something to prevent insects from going in the tubes. I love the simplicity of the whole concept.
Confused, why are the cooling inputs at the top of the container, rather than at the bottom edge, did I miss something? surely the incoming air will just be drawn towards the chimney, creating a flow pattern that will negate the overall cooling effect?
@Crozbyguy
but it makes more sense to have the cooling tubes at the bottom as heat rises which will create a cross breeze into getting the cooling to actually spread within the structure properly.
at least this is how they do it within earthships. no electricity no fans needed for any of the process.
however i could understand if this cooling tube system is only through the use of a closed system, because a closed system just sends the air in the room underground long enough to get cool to bring back into the room.
the cooling tubes for earthships leave the other side of the tube open so your using fresh air but the tube is underground far enough in length to the point where it cools the air within the tube and is ready for the cross breeze, but then again earthships have the already built-in mechanic of the house being partially buried under ground so the space it's cooling is much easier to keep cool.
and the other half is that they use windows that are near the celling that are meant to cause a cross breeze when the cooling tube is open and the heat that rises escapes while also creating an natural vacuume of air from the cooling tube to the ceiling window.
i think they could improve this system using these design principles.
@Crozbyguy unless the sun from windows warm the floor
Cool air drops 🙄
@@Crozbyguy some floors are actually heated from underneath so...
It would still create a crosswind effect. but in a circular patter with the hottest air being pulled out at the chimney and the coldest air coming in at the tubes. The cool drop will actually help create this as it "drops".
Interesting experiment. Havnt seen much actual info on these cooling tubes in use and i like the idea to make it a passivly opperated system. Wondering if it was really worth the effort in this situation, might have been more cost effective to just pour some underground walls like a root cellar for your cooling, and use your hydro tubes in the floor for heat still and then a ventilation system which could still be passive/solar powered or whatever. Either way i like seeing more info on the subject. Im planning on setting up a cooling system for my house im currently building by using an underground cistern and pumping the water through the house to heat exchangers. Using water has some advantages over air, no issues with condensation in tubes or animals or mold, and the water can store up lots of thermal energy while not in use unlike air. It does have drawbacks too such as not being quiet as efficent due to the extra heat exchange required and of course the required pumps but the energy usage is still tiny. You guys must really like those flies :)
Side note on the excavation. Typical Occupational Health & Safety guidelines for a working trench is maximum 150cm with spoil piles a min of 1m from edge of trench. This standard can be shallower pending your ground conditions. Any deeper and the risks of trench collapse becomes life threatening. If you are planning to trench, read up on excavation safety. Clearly there was no research done with regards to this.
I was also wondering about condensation in cooling tubes. Thinking that the lines should have same slope as plumbing waste pipe and then join in underground access box like septic tank but open bottom filled with pea rock to absorb moisture. One good advantage of pipe size your running is you could clean out pipe dragging soaped mop head or similar on a rope. Avoiding mold.
Another thought is why not make the cooling tubes more compact by using 90 bends forming an expanding square. (a square that starts off with small sides and grows in size as square coils go around previous square). That way you might fit the current length in something like a 4x4 hole. I dont know if heat dissipation would be effective.
My first guess about the bends is airflow make it too restricted then you won't be able to have as much airflow risking the solar chimney bridging heat in thuse defeating the purpose of the whole project.
Think of it like blowing through a straw vs a silly straw
makes good sense. Thank for reply.
@@tommyshadow66 that makes sense. Like playing a trumpet vs. other instruments with smaller tubing, and more angles . harder to get air through it
6- 8 feet deep is a stable temp over most of 48 states US
Source?
I would also use the black 6inch drain corrugated with the holes on the bottom and it will be a little cheaper too, and lookup any geothermal sites ground temperature in usa is anywhere between 40 and 60 deg Fahrenheit all year
Please follow up and show us how the Soldier Fly facility works when it is up and running.. This is the first one I have ever seen.
I would think that more smaller tubes would work better then fewer bigger tubes. Also PVC is fairly easy to bend so if you could bend a long sweeping curve into it the air would flow better.
When considering flow, bigger is almost always better. The reason for this is the fluid (air is consider a fluid in physics) at the edge of a tube moves slower than in the center due to friction, and that causes turbulence within the system. The larger the tube/pipe the less turbulence and overall less impedance on flow at the center of the tube/pipe.
For this reason as well, you want to avoid using sharp bends in the PVC as well, because even a 90 degree bend GREATLY reduces flow.
So it is wise that they are using large pipes. ESP since air is not a dense fluid, and will tend more towards turbulence.
Pondering a project for my cabin, looking for feedback... here's what I'm thinking: water tanks (not sure what material yet, need to find out what is available in 1000 gallon that have a material with a good heat conductivity), buried 4ft down with manhole tube access, with multiple several inch diameter flexible tubes (also not sure what material yet re conductivity) run from cabin as a return air, then run into tank(s) and coiled inside, then out and in to another tank (repeat as necessary) and then run back into cabin as the 'cool air' output into cabin. In ground tanks are filled with water for good heat transfer/conductivity, and then backfilled with a proper mix of conductive material (clay, sand, etc) over tank and up to manhole cover. The thinking is, with a conductive tank, the water, and a conductive series of tubes (run in parallel, effectively) that are insulated above ground coming and going from cabin, and a series of 12 volt marine fans on the input and output in the cabin moving a large volume of air through multiple tubes slowly enough for heat dissipation, and the earth is effectively cooling the water tanks making them de facto heat exchangers.. should, after a tank or two in the ground, create more than enough cooling for a 20x24 cabin.
I'll admit, I don't have a good solution for condensation in the tubes. They wouldn't have a drain as they're in the water in the tanks. Dessicants? Heating elements inside the tubing for periodic heating/clearing of condensation?
open to ideas!
I think my experience in auto paint spray booths can help. All compressed air piping in the shop slope so that water drops in piping collect at lowest points to be drained manually of automatically. See if you can slope your tubes and install a Y at each lowest point as condensation outlet.
I am going to use your idea and I intend on using a check valve at the lowest points with a drain that goes a ways further down hill and discharges into a stand pipe filled with gravel. I also thought about putting a 3” pvc pipe through the inside of a 4” pipe filled with water to aid in the heat exchange. Then again maybe something like cement would work just as well poured around the pipe.
@@boxelder9167 Hi Box, Depending on your time available and how large the commercial scale your operation may be, Building a to-scale model for study and trouble-shoot can be a good aid. Good luck.
Why not create a French drain under those pipes? Could you use perforations in the pipe?
Good idea. Would not need one for the whole pipe, slope the pipe, then at the lowest point out have the drain.
My property is heavily sloped so I'm thinking of intaking air way downhill and coming up into my cabin down low. Should help improve solar chimney flow and minimize fan power needed. Condensate would gravity flow out there bottom end of pipes. Just my thoughts.
It’s probably not a huge amount of water accumulating from humidity, so couldn’t you have a perforated section at the low point of the pipe run that drains into a gravel bed to dissipate into the surrounding soil?
Why not run the tubes underground to just under the end and go into container low? Maybe with baffle on entry? Much less exposed tube and maybe better (heat rising) airflow? Was there a reason the tubes had to enter container up high?
I think that the air inside the container wouldnt be mixing enough to run the chimney plus it would stay " layered" in the building..cold air goes down and pushes the hot up while mixing together. im not sure, but it makes sence, what do you think?
Just wondering how metal pipes would work compared to pvc...seems to me like it might cool the air even more. Now cost might be a problem....but if one has the resources, would it cool better...esp. if it's on a consistent upper slope with big trees around it to shade the ambient air..???
Almost half way through and it has barely touched the subject. Are we going to talk about the siding or windows next?
Insulating a solar chimney defeats the purpose
klein IS KING GOOD JOB BROTHA (DIGITAL THERMOMETER
What if you’re lowest point in the pipe is very close to the inlet?
ie if you started at the bottom of a steep hill and made the pipe rise from that point all the way up to the house.. all the while staying underground?
Also why do you have to insulate the chimney.?
On a separate point - Wouldnt it be better to shade the inlet tubes at the room end as well.
I had the same thought. My thinking is, if I sink the lowest point of the tubes at the inlet, I could drill drainage holes in the bottom of the pipes to help the condensation build up leech into the earth. Almost eliminating the problem of condensation altogether. Even drill drainage holes up the entirety of the pipe if you wanted to be really safe.
@@SpaceCruisin187 There is another person on youtube that did exactly that and has a playlist of 4 videos on the system. It has a video of the energy savings in the first year as well!
I like the idea of having it slope away from the house much better.
Search for 'earth tube cooling system france'. CZcams channel 'nrlog'.
I believe the chimney insulation is too allow cause chimney to heat more because the higher the heat the faster the natural air flow will be as hot air rises.
I have a spring pond fifty feet from my cabin, could I partially submerge a pipe and push air through it? I would insulate the length that is dry.
I had a friend who had a pond behind his house and he put a copper tube in the bottom of it buried to his house.
It's is hooked to a small pump and a coil in his ductwork and pumps a fluid thru it with thermostat control.
Works great!
This sounds like a wonderful idea!
Did you try this? I have a creek in the back yard that is always very cold even in July and August here in GA.
Has anyone tried anything yet? We don't have ponds but have a couple of under ground water tanks
Whatever works best, if the pond is deep enough it never freezes then you could use it for both summer and winter and do a geothermal solution with coolant.
Can you post those lengths on temps at different depths in the description? thanks.
Thank You.
Sir,
I am from India, State West Bengal.Going to start a new project for mushroom which required temperature of 20 to 25 Degree Centigrade. Our normal and average temp around 30 to 40 degree Centigrade. I have seen your youtube video about Ground-Air Heat Exchanger. And your uploaded video. It is very interesting. I want to know more about it. And I want to install this system for my project if it is viable.
Hi Biplap, have you discovered any more information about similar projects? I want to use this as an effective cooling system for a mushroom farm too!
I am starting learning about this system. I could NOT found any one here in Brazil to share their experience and if this (open loop) system would make sense here in this part of the world
I wonder about setting solar chimney more horizontally. One side a few feet higher. That way more heat would be transmitted yet maintaining air flow direction. If the chimney could be tilted test could be performed on what position worked best. My guess is 45 degrees. Two chimneys connected in center like a V would catch morning, noon and eve.
The other chimney consideration is what size promotes most airflow. Since horizontal can the roof top (no plants) serve as one wall of the chimney, the bottom wall.
I think the down pipe section should be outside and connect to building low, to prevent heat accidentally going in. Some breeze dampening to prevent hot air being pushed in. A n ultra light cellophane valve that flaps shut.
In short, what dimensions make for cheapest and best convection airflow?
A local auction house had a sale last year, and I managed to buy something, it appears no one else knew what it even was, for $10. I got a brand new heat exchanger, I Live in Central New England, and other than digging down further than 4', and using solid 4" flex pipe, with a few weep holes at a low spot for condensate, wonder what else I need to know. Any thoughts by anyone on this system idea? I have access to a backhoe, so, flexible pipe is the only cost, and then the electricity for the small fans in the heat exchanger. Thanks
Coupla computer fans on each end & run it off a solar panel or Battery
1/4 inch per ft drop for safe flowing of fluids without getting stoppage 8ft drops 2in & so on. Any less any more your gonna run into major trouble
What about condensation in the cooling tubes
why not link the tubes so the air that goes out just comes right back only cooler?
This is a horrible rambling presentation on an important topic. No overall discussion of the goal or the plan or the results. Just carrying on about insignificant details and sidebar discussions. What's the goal? What's the purpose? Using geothermal heat to do what?
I'm thinking most already have that figured out before they get here. Now if you're talking about specific targets and equations that's a little different but this isn't really a good first introduction to Earth tubes or permaculture but it's not meant to be.
I forgot to ask You. Can these earth tubes be used in a trpical zone? Again Thank You.
There should be no problem using it in a humid environment. You’d probably need a dehumidifier.
Too funny, you really think a white sheet over the incoming tubes will change the temp? On your ceiling of the storage trailer, you should have considered seam sealing, the overlap takes care of most, but seam sealing takes care of all. Always love homesteading ingenuity!
It would assist in reducing heat from radiant heat energy, but wouldn't do much for heat energy from convection.
isnt there an issue with bacteria breeding inside the pipes?
If there is condensation and a warm temperature with a slow air flow [cubic feet per minute], bacteria may appear in the tubes. But 6' under the surface [or deeper] the temperature may be too cool coupled with an adequate air flow speed, for bacteria to survive. Anyone know of data to help determine these figures? Thanks in advance!!!
Bacteria has a hard time breeding on the walls of plastic. I was surprised that they did not handle the low place pooling in the 6'' pipe. Just drill holes in bottom of the pipe and sit pipe over 2-3 inches of gravel. If the soil is absorbent like mine it will work like a septic tank system and the condensate will seep into the ground. Pumping the water out is NOT a solution over the long term.
@@chrisharris4400 I was thinking the same thing. Make it as maintenance free as possible.
A friend did this once and bacteria was a problem! This is Minnesota where it’s very humid when it’s hot. So, this cost a lot to do. It worked great, at first. But the smell from the underground pipe became unbearable. Eventually he disconnected it and capped it off.
This was a long time ago, and I feel with a little more research, this has to be feasible?
1:10 Here on planet Earth we like to discourage folks being sent into ditches like that. So, I hope that is YOU.
i could easily redesign this to be to be more easily serviceable and probably about 25 % more efficient. And far less cost in materials. Other than cost effectiveness and strength why are we using a metal building? You are defeating your own cause.
How can you use PVC piping in earth cooling tubes? That reduces the conduction of heat energy by more then 50%. The scary part of all this, is you are holding a seminar a out the topic. Teaching the wrong information. That project should have used corrugated metal piping, and never ever have two ends elevated to allow accumulation of condensation. You people should not be teaching!
Cause it works knuckle head. Proper drained & pitch with a French drain type slope. Always gotta Wanna-Be-A educated thermal engineer failure.properly insulated itll work with a fan on each end. Pulling & Intake
@@unclejack41 STFU jackass! There are more more superior and efficient ways to cool then this.
@@bigphillyed then explain Jerk-off if you gotta better way asshole. You have No Clue. Superior & more efficient ? Then explain troll or shut the fuque sissy
Multiple design mistakes with these cooling tubes. Ridiculous.
Yes. Tho, despite there being several problems with this design, I found it inspirational... and the mistakes I saw, got me thinking about how I would do this.
lots of nonessential conversation with this demo... Zzzz-Zzz
Organize yr thoughts before splaining. Better yet, get anyone else to do the talking. Your great ideas are ruined by erratic explanation. I'd rather hammer my thumb than listen to your choppy, unorganized blather.
I'd be interested in your CZcams discussion on this, Stephen.
Sorry but talk about talking about anything but focusing on the important information.
Yeah I cut out after seeing the highly dangerous photos of a 6 foot trench with zero shoring and the spoils literally piled by the edge. Extremely dangerous.
They don't know what they're doing.
Looks hot in there