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thermal mass

Earth-sheltered mansion, UK

Posts: 6

posted 1 month ago

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UK based homesteader who tinkers with natural and/or eco building methods.

One of my earthship inspired builds was documented and introduced on the YouTube channel “Liveration” but I sense this community would be interested in more details regarding permaculture technology utilised over what is now 5 experimental builds of underground homes on my playground I call home.

I welcome any questions - ideas I have, answers I will give
DOC

Nancy Reading

steward and tree herder

Posts: 8385

Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year

3974

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posted 1 month ago

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Hi, Thank you for sharing your home with us - that is astounding! It is so bright inside, I was really surprised.
So the basic structure is IBC totes covered in earthbags? Is there insulation in the walls at all? I didn't catch that. Insulated roof and floor, with clerestory windows letting in winter light and warmth. Electric for cooking, with a conventional wood burner for back up heating if necessary. I love your mezzanine office too.
Is there anything you'd do differently now it is finished? Any advice you'd give someone contemplating doing something similar in the UK (or elsewhere)?
I'd actually like to hear more about your microbusinesses, but that is a slightly different subject.
Well done!

How Permies works: https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads
My projects on Skye: The tree field, Growing and landracing, perennial polycultures, "Don't dream it - be it! "

david danielson

Posts: 6

posted 1 month ago

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I only answered the questions they asked and 30 minutes of a 20 year odyssey is limited - as you have demonstrated a Permie asks the right ones!

This is v0.2 (current build is 0.5) and lessons learnt for sure.

IBCs are stacked, wrapped with silage tarp/dpm/foil insulation and layered geo-tex with hyper-adobe to hide and offer extra insulation
Floors and Roof insulated to 150mm
All materials are recycled/recovered except for white paint

updates:
v0.3 was made with structural insulated panels (extra £ but build time was 1 day - not including earth bag exterior)

Dale Ziemianski

Posts: 18

Location: Lancaster Ohio

posted 4 weeks ago

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I just saw the video and found you on here.... and I love your place.having trouble finding you on Instagram. How do you write your @? I keep getting millionaire crap that I'm not interested in.

Dale Ziemianski
d-alien.com

david danielson

Posts: 6

posted 4 weeks ago

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david danielson wrote:UK based homesteader who tinkers with natural and/or eco building methods.

One of my earthship inspired builds was documented and introduced on the YouTube channel “Liveration” but I sense this community would be interested in more details regarding permaculture technology utilised over what is now 5 experimental builds of underground homes on my playground I call home.

I welcome any questions - ideas I have, answers I will give

Instagram. /50millionmillilitremansion

YouTube: /@50millionmillilitremansion

DOC

Dale Ziemianski

Posts: 18

Location: Lancaster Ohio

posted 4 weeks ago

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Thanks.
So I was wondering... Does water do a better job of maintaining a livable temperature than, say, earthbags?

Dale Ziemianski
d-alien.com

david danielson

Posts: 6

posted 3 weeks ago

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Dale Ziemianski wrote:Thanks.
So I was wondering... Does water do a better job of maintaining a livable temperature than, say, earthbags?

I believe 20x more - that was the principle (potential lie) i was working on. Even if that is an exaggeration it is surrounded by earth bags so hard to say.

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50mmlm_YT_icon-(1).png

Nancy Reading

steward and tree herder

Posts: 8385

Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year

3974

I like...

posted 3 weeks ago

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Dale Ziemianski wrote:Thanks.
So I was wondering... Does water do a better job of maintaining a livable temperature than, say, earthbags?

Water has a high specific heat capacity (ability to store heat per unit mass)
from Rain or Shine by Tyson Ochsner

Soil constituent	Thermal conductivity	Density	Specific heat
	W m-1 °C -1	g cm-3	J g-1 °C -1
Clay minerals	3	2.65	0.76
Soil organic matter	0.3	1.3	1.9
Water	0.57	1.00	4.18

From that reference the soil's heat capacity is also dependent on it's water content.
I'm not sure how the soil density might affect the heat capacity too. Water is a contiguous material,being a liquid, whereas soil has air gaps in between the particles so it's actual energy storage wouldn't be as high as the figures above suggest.
One disadvantage of water perhaps is that it doesn't have any insulative value? convective currents would spread the heat through the liquid. But that would also mean it is more effective at storing the heat; spreading it thought the mass rather than only heating the surface of the material as soil might do.
It's fairly common to use a 'water wall' in a thermal store for a greenhouse. I'm not sure what other disadvantages might be? As long as you use a good container....

How Permies works: https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads
My projects on Skye: The tree field, Growing and landracing, perennial polycultures, "Don't dream it - be it! "

a wee bit from the empire

rocket mass heater risers: materials and design eBook

https://permies.com/w/risers-ebook