Has anyone tried pumping the hot air form the top of a conservatory
into the floor ?
I am planning to put in a thick concrete floor above insulation
(polystyrene ?) and am thinking about laying 4 or 6 inch drainage hose
in the concrete. Then with a couple of fans, piping the hot air from
the roof apex down under the floor.
The idea is to use the concrete pad as thermal storage, keeping the
conservatory warmer on marginal evenings.
It may still be necessary to vent some or most of the hot air on hot
days, but the system could be useful for some of the year.
The fans could be thermostatically controlled so that if the air temp
rose above say 22C they start to store the excess heat.
Anyone have any experience with this ?

I have been pumping the hot air from my conservatory into the kitchen for
some years.
I use an old cooker hood fan & 100mm ducting, there are 2 thermostats, when
the air in conservatory is over 25C the fan starts, when the temp in the
kitchen is 22C the fan stops.
The conservatory faces east so misses out on max sun but works well even in
the winter.

--
regards
Dave Batter
Kitchenman
www.kitchenman.co.uk
www.sxmitres.info
www.marks-family.co.uk
http://oneandone.co.uk/xml/init?k_id=5568652
"David" wrote in message
om...
Has anyone tried pumping the hot air form the top of a conservatory
into the floor ?
I am planning to put in a thick concrete floor above insulation
(polystyrene ?) and am thinking about laying 4 or 6 inch drainage hose
in the concrete. Then with a couple of fans, piping the hot air from
the roof apex down under the floor.
The idea is to use the concrete pad as thermal storage, keeping the
conservatory warmer on marginal evenings.
It may still be necessary to vent some or most of the hot air on hot
days, but the system could be useful for some of the year.
The fans could be thermostatically controlled so that if the air temp
rose above say 22C they start to store the excess heat.
Anyone have any experience with this ?


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"kitchenman" wrote in message ...
I have been pumping the hot air from my conservatory into the kitchen for
some years.
I use an old cooker hood fan & 100mm ducting, there are 2 thermostats, when
the air in conservatory is over 25C the fan starts, when the temp in the
kitchen is 22C the fan stops.
The conservatory faces east so misses out on max sun but works well even in
the winter.

--
regards
Dave Batter
Kitchenman
www.kitchenman.co.uk
www.sxmitres.info
www.marks-family.co.uk
http://oneandone.co.uk/xml/init?k_id=5568652
"David" wrote in message
om...
Has anyone tried pumping the hot air form the top of a conservatory
into the floor ?
I am planning to put in a thick concrete floor above insulation
(polystyrene ?) and am thinking about laying 4 or 6 inch drainage hose
in the concrete. Then with a couple of fans, piping the hot air from
the roof apex down under the floor.
The idea is to use the concrete pad as thermal storage, keeping the
conservatory warmer on marginal evenings.
It may still be necessary to vent some or most of the hot air on hot
days, but the system could be useful for some of the year.
The fans could be thermostatically controlled so that if the air temp
rose above say 22C they start to store the excess heat.
Anyone have any experience with this ?


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.504 / Virus Database: 302 - Release Date: 27/07/03

Read alt.solar.thermal

Plenty of good ideas on there. Search for 'solar closets'.

Nick

"NickW" wrote in message
om...
"kitchenman" wrote in message
...

I have been pumping the hot air from my
conservatory into the kitchen for
some years. I use an old cooker hood
fan & 100mm ducting, there are 2 thermostats,
when the air in conservatory is over 25C the
fan starts, when the temp in the kitchen is
22C the fan stops. The conservatory faces
east so misses out on max sun but works
well even in the winter.

Good idea. It is best to have ducting from the conservatory into the loft
and have a grill in the ceiling over the hall. Then the hot air can reach
many parts of the house. You could also have grills in all bedrooms, if
enough heat is generated. All easy, and apart from a cheap fan, nothing to
run.

You can use a conservatory to cool a house. Hot air in the conservatory
rise up and out through an open roof window. This bring air in from the
house, which is replaced by cooler air from the north side of the house
(best have the intake grill under vegetation to ensure it is cooler. So hot
air can move air bringing into cooler air. All totally free to run and only
some thought and ducting.



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"David" wrote in message
om...

Has anyone tried pumping the hot air form the top of a conservatory
into the floor ?
I am planning to put in a thick concrete floor above insulation
(polystyrene ?) and am thinking about laying 4 or 6 inch drainage hose
in the concrete. Then with a couple of fans, piping the hot air from
the roof apex down under the floor.
The idea is to use the concrete pad as thermal storage, keeping the
conservatory warmer on marginal evenings.
It may still be necessary to vent some or most of the hot air on hot
days, but the system could be useful for some of the year.
The fans could be thermostatically controlled so that if the air temp
rose above say 22C they start to store the excess heat.
Anyone have any experience with this ?

Good idea to store heat for later use. But will the sun be playing on the
conservatory floor storing heat in the thermal mass anyhow? Heat stored
further down the concrete slab may not rise into the room above in time to
be useful. It is called admittance. Have tiles on the conservatory floor or
better still have slate tile which have a very high admittance value.

When installing ducting under floors with air running through beware of
condensation inside. They are fine in dry climates, but in the damp UK?
Also have fine mesh grills to stop rodents and insects crawling through and
if possible access to clean the ducting.



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(David) wrote:

Hello David

D| Has anyone tried pumping the hot air form the top of a
D| conservatory into the floor ? I am planning to put in a
D| thick concrete floor above insulation (polystyrene ?) and am
D| thinking about laying 4 or 6 inch drainage hose in the
D| concrete. Then with a couple of fans, piping the hot air
D| from the roof apex down under the floor. The idea is to use
D| the concrete pad as thermal storage, keeping
D| the conservatory warmer on marginal evenings.

Interesting idea. But, ime, the concrete pad (& paving stone laid on
top) in my conservatory was ample thermal store by itself - was still
too hot to walk barefoot several hours after the sun went down.

For others it may be difference, I guess it's very dependant on
position of C, geographical position, type of C (glass, poly, double
or triple poly etc), size, ventilation and so on.

--
Simon Avery, Dartmoor, UK
uk.d-i-y FAQ: http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/