BYC Café

[Shadrach]

@Shadrach: I've been wondering if the sort of house you built would be fairly fire resistant? Remember, I'm not a scientist, so explanations need to be simple. I think our councils need to rethink our building codes for fire prone areas, like they do for cyclone prone areas. Our house is so reinforced it's ridiculous even though we rarely see a cyclone.

I don't really know Ribh and I'm not in a hurry to find out.
We get fires here, serious fires but the vegetation is different. Fires here don't burn at the speed of your bush fires on these mountains because of the evergreen oak that grows here. There isn't much on, or around my roof to burn. If it was a slow burn fire with no wind behind it the heat would probably pop the windows. For a fast moving fire over the roof, there is a chance it would leap to the trees on the bank outside and burn away from the house. If it came up the bank I would be in trouble I think.
It's the smoke that would be the major problem I think. It's the smoke that kills most here.
We have to keep two exit routes open in case of fire.
I might risk defending the house for some fires. Lots of factors to take into consideration.

 

[Shadrach]

Remind me to send you my special watch so you can go somewhere where your eyelashes will defrost.

That's a rather nice timepiece Roomy,

 

[Ribh]

I don't really know Ribh and I'm not in a hurry to find out.
We get fires here, serious fires but the vegetation is different. Fires here don't burn at the speed of your bush fires on these mountains because of the evergreen oak that grows here. There isn't much on, or around my roof to burn. If it was a slow burn fire with no wind behind it the heat would probably pop the windows. For a fast moving fire over the roof, there is a chance it would leap to the trees on the bank outside and burn away from the house. If it came up the bank I would be in trouble I think.
It's the smoke that would be the major problem I think. It's the smoke that kills most here.
We have to keep two exit routes open in case of fire.
I might risk defending the house for some fires. Lots of factors to take into consideration.

That is helpful. Thank you. It's the speed our fires travel that causes a lot of the problems. So I was thinking in terms of sheltering in the house.

 

[Shadrach]

That is helpful. Thank you. It's the speed our fires travel that causes a lot of the problems. So I was thinking in terms of sheltering in the house.

What the house has proven to be very good at is wind shelter; we get a bit of a breeze here from time to time where stuff that can't fly takes wings, chairs, pot plants, tiles etc
and stuff that can fly takes shelter, like chickens.
It's also been surprisingly good in the heavy rains we get.
Most of all, it's easy to keep warm.

 

[Ribh]

What the house has proven to be very good at is wind shelter; we get a bit of a breezed here from time to time where stuff that can't fly takes wings, chairs, pot plants, tiles etc
and stuff that can fly takes shelter, like chickens.
It's also been surprisingly good in the heavy rains we get.
Most of all, it's easy to keep warm.

All good qualities to have in a house. Is it also easy to keep cool when things heat up?

 

[Shadrach]

All good qualities to have in a house. Is it also easy to keep cool when things heat up?

I made a couple of mistakes in the thermal calculations/estimates.
The house faces East. The idea was to use the solar gain in the mornings to warm the house. I've got quite a lot of glass on the front wall because I wanted the inside to be light and airy. The temperatures can hit 35C and more in direct sunlight by 9 am here some summer mornings. That puts a lot of thermal energy into the house. But, the house is very well insulated and it takes a long time for that energy to leak back out.
So, while it is cool inside on most days when it is very hot outside the rate of heat loss isn't fast enough to bring the ambient temp in the house down fast enough to provide what I find comfortable early evening.
The solution is to use shutters like most Mediterranean house use and block the sun, but then you lose the light as well.
I'm fitting a fan in one of the air tubes to the roof this winter which will hopefully drag some of the warm air out.

 

[Ribh]

I made a couple of mistakes in the thermal calculations/estimates.
The house faces East. The idea was to use the solar gain in the mornings to warm the house. I've got quite a lot of glass on the front wall because I wanted the inside to be light and airy. The temperatures can hit 35C and more in direct sunlight by 9 am here some summer mornings. That puts a lot of thermal energy into the house. But, the house is very well insulated and it takes a long time for that energy to leak back out.
So, while it is cool inside on most days when it is very hot outside the rate of heat loss isn't fast enough to bring the ambient temp in the house down fast enough to provide what I find comfortable early evening.
The solution is to use shutters like most Mediterranean house use and block the sun, but then you lose the light as well.
I'm fitting a fan in one of the air tubes to the roof this winter which will hopefully drag some of the warm air out.

Some sort of awning over the front wouldn't work? Northern Australia has many of the same heat issues. People want solar, for example, but then have an exposed western front that super heats things.

 

[pennyJo1960]

We here face faces west backside gets morning sun straight on house is insulated well we heat with the trash burner .. cost might be worth going solar here sell back to the electric company any we do not use start up is the major

 

[room onthebroom]

That's a rather nice timepiece Roomy,

I wish it was mine. I’ve never seen one like it in real life, but if I find one I’ll be sure to get 3. One for me, you & Debby.

 

[pennyJo1960]

BF has a nice rolex from when he retired 40 year same place