Another thought, which might be more effective, is to drill vertically
and insert a loop of small diameter pipe. For example, you could drill
several 1.5" bores down 200 or 300 feet and insert a loop of 1/2" pex.
I'm not sure how much drilling costs, but I know people are
experimenting with this technique, particularly for use in urban areas.
On advantage of deep bores is you'll hit water tables which will make a
better heat sync both in the sense of better contact with the tubing and
more mass for dissipation.
Peri
<< Annoyed by leaf blowers ? https://quietcleanseattle.org/ >>
------ Original Message ------
From: "Bobby Keeland via EV" <[email protected]>
To: "Peter VanDerWal" <[email protected]>
Cc: "Bobby Keeland" <[email protected]>; "Electric Vehicle Discussion
List" <[email protected]>
Sent: 21-Mar-21 9:31:12 AM
Subject: Re: [EVDL] Projects
Yes Peter VanDerWal (thanks for the reply) I am aware of all that you said.
I was planning on using at least 4 smooth wall tubes that are buried about
10 feet deep with a downward slope away from the house. The earth tubes
will be about 100 feet long, and the soil here is almost pure clay
(southern Louisiana in the Atchafalaya Basin).
A little over a year ago we had a heat source mini-split installed so we
got a jump on being more efficient. The earth tube project has not actually
physically started yet. It’s more of a thinking and study real life
experiences at this point.
Right now I’m more interested in working on the 1951 Chevy pickup (we
actually use pickups as pickups rather than as a manly car). There is a guy
on YouTube who is showing his complete process of moving a 1952 Chevy
pickup onto an S-10 pickup frame. Something like that plus an electric
motor and batteries (not lead acid) is what I have in mind.
Another possible project is converting a riding lawn mower and Mantis
tiller to battery electric. I watch Jehu Garcia a lot. There is never a
shortage of possible projects.
Bobby Keeland
Not a lot of money, but I do have time and interest.
On Sat, Mar 20, 2021 at 11:52 PM Peter VanDerWal <[email protected]> wrote:
Bobby, have you done any research on Earth Tubes? Not just looking up
testimonials and anecdotes, but looked for actual studies?
I was really yped about earth tubes for a while until I looked into them
and found a few studies. I found a lot of people claiming that all they
did was dig 2 foot deep trenchs and burried 30 feet of tube and 'Wow, what
a difference'
But the actual studies with measurements, etc. tell a different story.
First of all you need to go a LOT deeper than 2 feeet, 6-8 foot minimum.
One study I found was done in India as I recall, they were studying using
Earth Tubes to cool a green house.
They used 4 tubes 100 feet long, 8 foot deep spaced 6 feet apart. The fan
used to drive the air through them consumed 400-450 watts and ran 24 hours
a day. It was effective at the begining of summer, but by the middle of
summer the output air temps had climbed to around 80 degrees, the green
house temps were closer to 90 degrees.
I also read lots of feedback from individuals that were having problems
with mold due to condensation in the earth tubes. That is solvable, by
making sure the tubes angle down, away from the house and you have some way
to drain the moisture from them.
My mini-split heat pump on the other hand uses about 1/2 the energy per
day to cool my house and output air temp is around 50-60 degrees an the
temp in the house stays below 76. I could get it cooler, but it would use
more energy and I'm comfortable at that temp.
So the mini-split is more effective, for less energy and a LOT less work
to install. If you have to hire someone to dig the trenches, the
mini-split is probably cheaper.
Sometimes the best solution is NOT the simplest solution.
My PGP public key: https://vanderwal.us/evdl_pgp.key
March 19, 2021 6:05 PM, "Bobby Keeland via EV" <[email protected]> wrote:
> In a previous posting I said:
> <Unfortunately I’m still working on my solar
> <water heater, my battery backup for the solar
> <panels, earth tubes and many other
> <projects.
>
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