Basic Heating Information

Background

Obviously one primary requirement for survival and thriving is that you are kept warm, dry, and have sufficient food. I will discuss each of these topics in detail in following articles here on the site, starting with heating in this article. In terms of cooling, I am not an expert, but theoretically, the principle is the same, the transport of heat is just reversed. The principle of insulation is to prevent transfer of heat energy in either direction, so should it be hot outside and you have good insulation in your home, that heat will not move through your walls and warm up the house. However, there are weaknesses to any insulation which is what I want to include in this discussion today.

Insulation Basics

Insulation quality depends on the use of materials with poor energy transport properties. Not surprisingly, air is an excellent insulator, so you would want to ensure that your walls have a way of holding closed pockets of air in them. The most common method for this is using Rockwool insulation bats or styrofoam sheets. Wood is an excellent insulator as well. Also keep in mind that the greater the differences in temperature on each side of the wall, the greater the transport of energy between them. Glass is not a particular good insulator, but what makes (good, modern) windows that, are the layers of encapsulated air between the sheets of glass, and the warm frames that holds it all in place, i.e. wooden frame. Good windows have three layers of glass, and thus two layers of air between them, and even then, not regular air, but a gas (Argon or Krypton) which transports energy even slower (read: better) than regular air. That means that the warm air in your house has to heat up the innermost pane of glass, and whatever heats walks through has to warm up the argon gas behind that, and then heat up the middle layer of glass, and then heat up the second layer of gas, and then finally, the outermost layer of glass, before getting to the point of heating up the cold environment outside your window. In this case, with 3-layer windows, with argon or krypton between the panes, very little heat will ever get through all those layers, which is why they are classified as energy glass, with very low R-values, often as low as or better than the walls in your house.

Escaping Heat

There is a smart device out there, called a thermal scanner, or camera with thermal view, which can help a lot in determining if, and where heat escapes your house, by indicating in varying color tones the temperature of the area you are scanning. Usually they will range from red (hot) to blue (cold), and should show an almost uniform color on the inside of your walls. If you have gaps in doors or windows, you will see a blue region on the thermal image, showing that area being cooler than the surrounding wall regions. Those are the spots to worry about in the first place. Some solutions might be as simple as re-stripping the door and window frames with weatherstips. Check with your local stores, they are easily and cheaply available, and come in rolls of 10m to 25m, which suffices for 2-5 doors or even more windows, depending on their size, obviously. Also, make sure that large glass surfaces are covered with heavy curtains, at least when you are not enjoying the view. Curtains/drapes are an easy way to help control insulation, again using the same principle as mentioned above, practically encapsulating a layer of air between the window and the environment. It is important, however, to keep in mind that direct sunlight during the day should be allowed to flow directly into the house, with the curtains pulled aside, since all materials contain an amount of heat energy and will work as a heat battery, which will then emit the heat to the surroundings (your room) if the rooms cool off, all things seek to balance temperatures and so will your furniture and floors. Finally, make sure that pipes running through the exterior walls are insulated as they will otherwise allow a lot of heat to dissipate out to the open air, wasting your hard earned money for nothing.

A Word on Open Fireplaces

 Open fireplaces are indeed cozy and can feel very warm, if you are standing next to them, due to the radiated heat they emit. However, if the chimney is not well constructed and regularly inspected and pressure tested, they will suck out heat from your home which defeats the purpose of them in the first place. If a chimney has too much upwards draft the hot air from the fire will rise upwards through the chimney and cause a low pressure below it, which will be replaced with air from inside your room, ultimately causing your room's low pressure to suck in air from all other holes and channels, i.e. window and door gaps and cracks in the walls etc. Be careful though of too little draft in the chimney as that will cause smoke to spread inwards and can be dangerous; people die from carbon monoxide poisoning essentially suffering from asphyxiation as the lungs fill with smoke and carbon monoxide and leave no room for good air and oxygen. Newer fireplaces of the inset style (with closed glass doors) and an attached heat exchanger is not only much more efficient, but also safer to operate. Many are able to be connected to your hot water tank, helping heat your house through the radiators as well (hydronic heating) which is clever indeed. Finally, make sure you close the chimney damper or flue when not using the fireplace, and more importantly, open it before lighting it up again. When the fireplace is not in use and the dampers are open, hot air from your room will seek any way it can find to move upwards, and that will be through the chimney, if it is open.

Later Discussions

I will be getting into details about heat capacity in floors, accumulator tanks, hydronic heating systems, solar heat and other options we have to improve energy efficiency in our homes, ultimately reducing the need for external heat/power sources in the event of an emergency or shutdown of power companies. Anything can happen, anytime, and usually when we least expect it, so keeping the options open, and learning about how heating works is always a good skill to keep in your preparedness portfolio.

Feel free to comment this first post, which was simply a quick overview of a few details that are worth keeping in mind, and hopefully serves as an appetizer for future readings!