Davey wrote:

First, as an aside, what is the opposite of radiator (as in central
heating) - consumer, sink? Best I could think of was absorber.

To the point: I can't see any actual solutions to my problem, but it should
provoke some intereresting discussion, anyway.

It's been very hot here in the UK this past weekend and while lying awake in
the sweltering heat, trying and failing to get to sleep, I was wondering if
there was anything I could do to cool the house down. I started on how we
kept the house warm, and worked backwards. The obvious thing was the central
heating: could I pump cold water around that? Well the rads. were already
cold, so that wasn't doing much. So why does the heating work? Because the
rads get a lot hotter than the surroundings. Could I pump very cold water
around the system? I couldn't see water even at 0 deg. having much effect,
so it would have to be well below 0 deg. to have any effect. The obvious
problem - you can't cool water below 0 deg. C! How could I stop it freezing
up? Does the anti-corrosion additive have any anti-freeze properties?
Doubtful, as this isn't its purpose. Add antifreeze? That can take water
down to -20 deg. C, as I recall (if, of course, I could 'bulk cool' the
water down to that!). Now rads at -20 deg C might be nice on hot summer
nights...


There are several problems but by far and away the biggest is the amount
of condensation (or even ice) that would form rapidly on the radiators.

However why get so into technology.
1)The average temperature (over 24hrs) even on the vey hottest days is
only in the low 20s. So air the air at night try to keep the heat out
during the day. Shutters are used in hot countries for this reason.

2) Humidity and air movement are far far more significant than
temperature.

3) A low tech ceiling fan (big & slowish preferable) will make things
much more confortable.

4) Cooling the air without removing the moisture will make things not
much better if at all (I haven't followed the evaporative coolers thread
but the idea of trading temp for humidity is dubious IMHO.

--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at www.diyfaq.org.uk
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