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> We have efficient heat pumps and solar panels, but it's still a disturbing amount of energy usage and something I'm trying to debug. Perhaps we have too many
by rob74 8d ago
> We have efficient heat pumps and solar panels, but it's still a disturbing amount of energy usage and something I'm trying to debug. Perhaps we have too many windows letting in too much sunlight...
External window blinds work wonders with that - your AC doesn't have to work hard to get the heat out of the greenhouse you inadvertently built if you avoid the heat getting in in the first place. But yeah, these might be more widespread over here in Europe than in the US...
- subscribed 8d agoWindow blinds for the worst hours (can be angled so the sun doesn't enter but the view outside is retained), and solar reflective foil for the normal days. I'm still looking for the good, transparent matte coat for my exterior walls, but I've already cut some of the cooling power use via passive means.
- aktau 8d ago> transparent matte coat for my exterior walls I'm curious about this. Do you mean a layer of paint-like substance that makes the walls isolate better?
- subscribed 8d agoKind of not like this. I mean the coat on my brick wall (and ideally roof), that will reflect most of the infrared and UV. I've used a white paint like this on the conservatory and white walls outside, and along with a solar-reflective foil outside of my windows it's the biggest factor to having a nice temperature inside. I might also actually consider painting the interior walls with something like this as well - there's less he t escaping through radiation if it's reflected back, right?
- walthamstow 8d agoI'm putting external shutters on my house in London this winter. This summer was crazy. I've never seen them further north than Barcelona.
- cjrp 7d agoWe stayed in a hotel in Reims, France which had them. Controlled by a remote, and when they were down they completely blacked out the room too. Awesome.
- walthamstow 7d agoBy time you left did you work out how to pronounce the name of that bloody place?
- cjrp 7d agoRahhhhmmmssss apparently!
- bob1029 8d agoThe house is located in Austin TX. Root cause analysis complete.
- chinathrow 8d agoThe house is also mostly glass.
- kentonv 8d agoOh, we figured this out, maybe I should update the page. It turns out at installation time the installer set all the fans on "high", and I left them that way stupidly thinking: "Well, I like circulation, and the power meters show the fans aren't actually using much power, so I'll just leave it like that." Changing them all to "auto" fixed the problem. It turns out that while the fans themselves weren't using a ton of power, their activity caused the heat pumps feeding them to work harder. In retrospect it seems not that surprising and I feel pretty dumb about it. (And yes there are a lot of windows but they are not south-facing and they are all tinted in a way that blocks most of the sun's energy.)
- winstonwinston 6d agoThere is a common anti-pattern for heat pumps being installed in large houses. They are almost always more powerful than needed, just to be safe it will be enough, better safe than sorry. But overpowered heat pump will use significantly more electricity. Simply put that would be wasted energy. Just saying for anyone reading this, it is worth it to ask for a second opinion before heat pump install.