Heating a Yurt

[redwelte]

I'll be retiring soon & am planning on building a yurt cluster. They will be on pier & beam flooring & I'm considering efficient ways to heat them. I will have a pellet stove and have been considering using the dead air space in the floor as a heat repository. More specifically:

Using 2 X 6's for the floor joists & creating a series of 2'X 4' boxes; covered with  3/4" plywood flooring. I am wondering if there would be an advantage to sealing the bottom of each 2 X 4 box, with thin plywood or blue insulation board, then sealing it shut around each perimeter. Place a Relectix insulation rectangle about 2 inches up from the sealed bottom, stapled to the interior of the box on all four sides. Then running either PVC or copper piping in the dead space between the upper surface of the Reflectix and the bottom of the plywood floor. The pipe would be in a very large loop, connected to an outside solar heater, with perhaps a storage tank & a circulation pump.

Sounds like a lot of work, but I'm hoping that the floor would be toasty in winter (I'm moving to the New Mexico foothills, where it gets into the single digits at night during the winter). I read that someone did something similar to a straw bale house with the pipes in the compacted earthen floor.

Has something like this been tried or am I just going to do a lot of work for not much benefit? Opinions & experiences, please?

Best to all,

John

[jimovonz]

I have done something similar. I have a strawbale house with solar heated radiant hydronic floor heating.  The solar heated water is pumped through polybutylene piping embedded approx 12" apart in the concrete floor. I have 1500l of hot water storage in an insulated concrete inground tank. The system is divided into 5 zones, each on its own thermostat. We never bother adjusting any of the thermostats and if I were to do it again wouldn't bother and just use one system. Back up heat is via a 'wetback' in the fireplace. I made extensive use of the data found in the link here:

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2004/10/6/164945/703

when sizing my system. The thermal mass in my concrete floor and walls plays a big part in keeping an even temp in the house, I don't know how well you will go with the method you are proposing. I am very happy with my system

[drdongle]

There are PEX plastic tubing products made just for hydronic floor heat, no glue or soldereing and they will survive freezing with out rupturing.

[wdyasq]

Suggest you find a copy of "Sunspots" by Steve Baer.  He covers a lot of that stuff

Also:

http://www.zomeworks.com/tech/doubleplay/index.html

You have selected on of the areas in the US that is suitable for passive heating and cooling.  Look at the native designs of the area.  They have had a few years to work out the fine details without the benifit of modern materials.

Ron

[alcul8r]

One night I dreamed I was a yurt.  The next night I dreamed I was a teepee.

The Dr told me I was two tents.

Sorry, couldn't resist that.  Good luck with your project.

Rex

[Volvo farmer]

This might not apply to you at all, but it's the only yurt heating story I have.

I know a guy who just built a cluster of three yurts. He put them on concrete with pex tubing and was heating the floor with a boiler. Well this was his first winter and he found he was going through over $200/month in propane. By Christmas, he had a wood stove in the main unit to take the bite out of the propane bill.

I don't know how well he insulated his floor from the earth but I do know that canvas walls and ceiling don't offer much insulation or thermal mass.

Also, we just had a story in our local paper about pellets. Seems when natural gas and propane prices went up, everyone went out and bought themselves a pellet stove. Now nobody can find pellets. They are not in stock anywhere in my area and when a shipment comes in, it takes about three hours to sell out again.

[zap]

John can you explain your 2'X 4' boxes. I don't quite understand what they'll be doing. Are they attached to the bottom of the joist or something else? And why 2'x4'? Just to heat certain areas? Do a google search for Conditioned Crawl Spaces, that may simplify your design.

[drdongle]

They can use corn as a replacement for the pellets

[zap]

I think you got that flipped Dr.D, most pellet stoves will NOT burn corn but most corn stoves will burn pellets AFAIK.

[twombo]

Yo Farmer!

Where is this installation located?  I've been thinking of using this approach to heating yurts here in northern Califonia. Most of the commonly used insulation approaches in commercially designed yurts rely on Reflectix type products.  By most accounts they do pretty well. Sounds like this slab floor doesn't work well at all.  I wonder if hydronic installed over a SIP floor ( SIP are a Yurtco option) would fare any better?

Yurtco has a 28 footer in Yellowknife  Y.T.  and they use the smallest Jotul wood stove effectively even in t he coldest weather,  (it do get real cold there!!!)

Still looking for land!!!  Going to check out a couple parcels this weekend.

Cheers

Twombo

[twombo]

John

Have you looked at using SIPs for your flooring.  A 4.5" sip will provide really good insulation plus span  greater than the 3/4" plywood.  You may find that the increased cost of SIPs may be made up by less materials needed and greater thermal performance.

I think Yurtco charges $4300 for a prefabbed SIP floor in a 28 footer. Then just lay that over your post and beam structure on 4 ft centers.

Just a thought.

cheers

Twombo