how to REALLY save energy this winter

We live in a mobile home in Arkansas and have wonderful south facing windows. I've built 2 - 23° tilted solar collecters (6"x2'x4') attached to the south side painted black inside, calked and glazed w/ greenhouse plastic, w/ aluminized 3" dryer vent pipe also black beside 2 windows. I was able to run the vent from my central electric heat duct to the bottom and then a vent from the top into each window. I have a small solar panel powering a fairly large computer CPU fan on each one that provides over 140° air inside. I will upgrade to larger fans as these are underpowered. If the solar panel would follow the sun it would be more effecient but it gives us significant supplemental heat. We live in the country so the esthetic aspect is not relevant, for us anyway.

A lot of body heat is lost through your head and waist. Wearing a cap and something like a scarf around your waist will help you feel warmer. Also for those that seem to have to use bathroom more when it’s colder-that’s because your organs are trying to shrink and stay warmer. This includes your bladder and well…walnut size bladders need tending more often. Adding something around the waist helps keep organs warm and less potty breaks.

 I also do the bubble wrap on the windows. A light mist of water makes it stick to the glass. I heat only with wood; so blocking off unused rooms helps. Also, found out on accident that weighted blankets also help tremendously on trapping body heat.

Michael Cox wrote:We too live in a big, sprawling older house with leaky windows and doors, and an underfloor area that is essentially open to outside. It's a pain to heat and through the winter we have our fire running pretty much 24/7.

Our previous house was a 3 bed semi with suspended floorboards on the ground floor. We found that putting a good underlay under the carpet downstairs made a lot of difference. I seem to remember we actually used one with a vapour barrier - maybe closed cell foam, like they use under laminate flooring? Anyway for cutting down the draughts it worked really well.

Tiki Hunter wrote:A lot of body heat is lost through your head and waist.  

😂
That explains the night cats
... on the stomach and the head.
I have warm feet too, so that's probably why Shackleton the lowest in the pecking order slept on my feet!

Nancy Reading wrote:

Michael Cox wrote:We too live in a big, sprawling older house with leaky windows and doors, and an underfloor area that is essentially open to outside. It's a pain to heat and through the winter we have our fire running pretty much 24/7.

Our previous house was a 3 bed semi with suspended floorboards on the ground floor. We found that putting a good underlay under the carpet downstairs made a lot of difference. I seem to remember we actually used one with a vapour barrier - maybe closed cell foam, like they use under laminate flooring? Anyway for cutting down the draughts it worked really well.

Oh that would feel soooo good on the toes!

My floor isn't that cold, but I like walking around bare foot.

This house it's just 4x4 thin plywood nailed to the rough timber subfloor.

I have recycled tire rubber 6x8 mats taped down with carpet tape.

It turned out mats were not going to work for a stripped motorhome rebuild, (they won't withstand heat swings without perishing and cracking)
so I finally have flooring -- it looks better than faded mistinted paint on squares and it's warmer!

(The 1960's lino was one of many things that came out upon purchase, but you know, do the floors last 😂 )

That hasn't covered all of it, but
I will do another section with rubberized carpet squares,  scrounged with a free motorhome, that are now washed of glue, sun-dried, and ready to install -- they'll work pretty well too.

Brian Prescott wrote:Another thing that has worked well: I purchased styrofoam panels several years ago. They were cheap at the time, about $9 for a pack of 6. I cut them to fit the windows and put them in the windows in cold weather as soon as the sun goes down; take them out when the sun starts hitting the windows in the morning. In the summer months I use the same panels during part of the day to reflect the hot sun out of the windows.

Didn't you have issues with condensation on the interior surfaces of your windows?  They would get colder than the home's interior overnight while insulated.  That was my concern which kept me from implementing that solution.  I'd think the condensation would damage the finish on wood window frames.

Donna Lynn wrote:
Didn't you have issues with condensation on the interior surfaces of your windows?  They would get colder than the home's interior overnight while insulated.  That was my concern which kept me from implementing that solution.  I'd think the condensation would damage the finish on wood window frames.

I'm not Brian, but you're right.  This can happen, depending on temperature difference, relative humidity in your home, how well the insulated panels fit, etc.

Thorsten Chlupp, who found ways of annualizing solar gain even in permafrost regions (he was in Fairbanks, AK when he worked on those projects), specifies exterior insulated shutters for exactly this reason.  He found that window sills (stools?) and casework tended to get damp and rot with the insulating panels or shutters on the interior - but he was probably in a more extreme climate than where you are.  He also had very thick walls (more than 12", but I think it was more like 18", of dense packed cellulose insulation - basically Larsen trusses, but built that way from the outset, rather than as an add-on, after the fact), with the windows  deeply inset to minimize the convective losses during the day, when the shutters were open.  Most of his shutters were on rolling barn door hardware.  If you go to the "REINA, LLC" YouTube channel, you can find videos of some of his public lectures and presentations.  The last I heard, Thorsten was in Bhutan, working on an affordable housing project with an NGO there.

See here for drawings of his preferred scheme:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/greenbuildingadvisor.s3.tauntoncloud.com/app/uploads/2021/05/07225331/1442-Arctic-Shutter-Design.pdf

On edit: try this talk by Thorsten (short compared to most, at under 45 minutes; many of his talk, with Q&A follow up, are 1-1/2 hours, and at least on is 2-1/2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MroKo-598T0
At about the 16 minute mark, he says his walls are 24" thick, so I was way off!

I don't think Thorsten is the "be all, end all" - his thermal mass heater could have benefited from a more rocket-y design - but he was and is way out front of a lot of people for extreme climate housing and heating design.  Carried to a lesser extreme, many of his ideas can transfer to a less extreme climate, as well.  Reversing some of his strategies could help with cooling in very hot climates.  Food for thought.

It may be worth your while finding a copy of "Thermal Shutters and Shades: Over 100 Schemes for Reducing Heat-loss Through Windows" by William A. Shurcliff, 1980.

Lots of ideas, some more helpful than others, some definitely showing their age.  For example, Thorsten's shutters are, if not straight out of Chapter 9, very similar to the basic designs shown there.  Worth a perusal if you can find it.

This isn't a way to keep your house warm, rather it is a way to help keep YOU warm in your house.

Something most people don't even consider as they come in the house and drop off ALL of the cold weather clothing, including their HAT!

Get yourself a small hat, even a beanie, and slap it on your head and keep it handy as your own HOUSE HAT!

Your head loses more heat than the rest of your body - even inside your house. You may even think someone has turned up the thermostat after you start wearing the hat in your home!

USE IT! DON'T LOSE IT!    THE HEAT, THAT IS!