Texas Winter

Relax in southern comfort on the east bank of the Mississippi. You're just around the corner from Beale Street and Sun Records. Watch the ducks, throw back a few and tell us what's on your mind.
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mediatechnology
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It's Hot Today

Post by mediatechnology »

Looks like I got that radiant barrier decking for the new roof installed just in time.
The A/C unit is able to keep a 33 degree differential at 3:15 PM.
It could have never done it before.

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emrr
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Re: Texas Winter

Post by emrr »

Damn, you don't even want to swim in the pool when it's like that.
Best,

Doug Williams
Electromagnetic Radiation Recorders
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JR.
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Re: Texas Winter

Post by JR. »

Carrier (invented air conditioning) deserves a cold beer up in heaven...

JR
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mediatechnology
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Re: Texas Winter

Post by mediatechnology »

Yes he does. I recall the anniversary of the air conditioner was clebrated recently.

We peaked at 107 that day though DFW Airport only made it to 105 to tie the official record.
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JR.
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Re: Texas Winter

Post by JR. »

What is the deal with your radiant decking,,, Inside the attic?

I was up in my attic this week chasing down a leak in my roof... :(

I have been thinking about pumping air from crawl space under house up into attic, or vice versa in winter...

Any concerns about condensation on metal radiant barrier (winter) ?

I think I need to paint my roof white for the summer, then black again... for winter. 8-)

I really think passive energy saving strategies like radiant barriers (and insulation) are smart... We waste so much energy heating and cooling that we could finesse with smarter strategies.

JR
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mediatechnology
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Re: Texas Winter

Post by mediatechnology »

John -

This radiant barrier is on the bottom side of the OSB (oriented strand board) and has free air circulation underneath in the attic space. These days it's only about $1 more per sheet. This house had ~108 sheets.
There are some retrofit radiant barriers that are designed to be tacked onto the roof joists: I believe those are perforated to allow air exchange and prevent moisture build-up between the lower deck and barrier.

Our roof is a 5:12 slope so there's a lot of attic area under there.
It's a combination of hip and gable and about 35 squares (3500 sq. ft.)

They also added a ridge vent along the entire 56' portion of the A-frame.
There are 12 soffit vents total to balance the ridge vent free area which is 18 sq inches per linear foot.
Code (in this area) requires 1:300 free area vent vs. roof area.
This one worked out to be 1:200.

This is a pretty good reference: http://www.waynekirkwood.com/Gladiolus/ ... lation.pdf

I'll try to post a pic of what they did once they move trucks today.

The barrier almost wiped out the attic DTV antenna and did wipe out Clear 4G.
I've got to move the 4G receiver or bootleg an outdoor panel antenna.
Cell service does not seem to be affected since we don't make too many calls from up there and our glass in the older areas is not metalized low-E.
I have been thinking about pumping air from crawl space under house up into attic, or vice versa in winter...


Our unfinished basement does a pretty good job of equalizing it's temp and humidity to the house. That might work.
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JR.
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Re: Texas Winter

Post by JR. »

Thanks for the reference.. good info.

I need to do some basic measurements first... throw some thermal probes up in the attic and down under the living area I'm sure there are huge differentials... probably need to add some more insulation (there is some already) up in the attic, and work on simple active venting or air exchange.

I have also played around with idea of pulling air from under the house to feed a simple heat pump in summer, pull from attic in winter for some passive heat.

or not.

JR
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mediatechnology
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Re: Texas Winter

Post by mediatechnology »

Go to Home Depot or Lowe's and get yourself a cheap IR thermometer.
I have a Ryobi (Home Depot) combo IR thermometer and ultrasonic distance measuring gizmo.

The Ryobi measurement tool is completely worthless but the IR/Laser Pointer is very, very useful.
Shine a laser spot on a target and read the temperature.
I've found it to be very accurate - at least at close range - to an actual physical temperature probe.

I use it for a lot of things: Checking heatsink temperature to making sure the cats are cool.
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JR.
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Re: Texas Winter

Post by JR. »

I was thinking of some cheap digital temp sensors that I could network to a micro and control air exchange fans dynamically based on relative temps. The tighter I make my house, the more often I encounter the random case of outdoor temps lower than indoor during cooling season. To do this right i probably need to sense humidity too... Ideally I want a heat exchange not air exchange, so I've been thinking of pumping air into laundry room from above or below, and exhaust an in wall heat pump into the space..

JR

PS: Back when I was at Peavey I was playing around with the concept of using a digital IR camera, and computer to perform PC board level production QA based on spot temperatures of components. This would mainly be for use with power amps, where you should be able to compare the heat signature of a properly assembled and working board to a faulty one...With proper test procedure you can find things like loose power transistors, incorrect bias, etc. You could make educated guesses based on where and what direction the temperature deviation from baseline was. Never actually got very far with this project, the guy I tasked with this was not the sharpest stick in the bunch. :(
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mediatechnology
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Re: Texas Winter

Post by mediatechnology »

I was thinking of some cheap digital temp sensors that I could network to a micro and control air exchange fans dynamically based on relative temps.
The Dallas Semiconductor (Maxim) 1-Wire stuff is perfect for that: http://www.maxim-ic.com/products/1-wire/

I have one of their design kits - did some devlopement work with the iButton.
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