Going 9+ yrs still averaging $21/mo to heating & cooling

[TrapperL]

To post a pic you have to host it somewhere. I use picturetrail.com. Once you've downloaded the pic into the host(picturetrail) click on "get url". It will give you options. What works here works on most other websites. Look for the address of the pic to have [IMG] at the beginning and [/IMG] at the end. So it might look like this[IMG] htp/pic34andsomenumbers.jpg [/IMG] It will be marked as for forums. All you have to do is double click on the line, it will highlight, right hand click on it and chose copy. Now go to the forum page and place the cursor where you want the pic, right hand click, chose paste, there it is. I always preview post before actually posting it so it comes out right. There are a lot of hosting sites out there, not just picture trail. The amount of data stored is limited for free. After that you have to pay.
https://www.picturetrail.com/

I'm well aware of TM especially being this close to Mexico where a mud house is common. I understand the mechanics behind the stored energy and how you can make it work for you. I'm fighting heat so stored energy is not helpful here. Up north I can see where TM makes a ton of sense bringing the stored energy into play after the sun goes down. But it doesn't work like that here. There have been days when at 10 PM at night the thermometer is still stuck on 125F and stepping outside is still like walking into a microwave. Wake up in the morning to temps at 90F or above due to the surrounding rock and clay soil. To give you an even better idea, in some of the places in South Texas you don't leave your truck unless you have gloves. The reason, you'll burn your hand on the handle opening the door. You never turn the A/C off in the truck as it may take hours for it to get back to cool, not cold, cool. I've seen days when my truck at max A/C after running for 20 minutes is throwing 90F out of the A/C vents. So the additional mass just makes for more heat. As a tribologist, it's a lot like motor oil. Most think you have to run a heavier oil during the summer or when towing. The opposite is true, you need thinner oil, not heavier. High school physics says that a thinner liquid will absorb heat faster and release it faster whereas a thicker fluid will gather it slower and retain it longer. Most engines use the oil as a coolant, in some cases as much as 30%. So I'm fairly versed on thermal dynamics.
If you haven't browsed thru the website at buildingscience.com, it might prove helpful. What they have found is that across the nation and even across some states, you cannot build the same house using the same methodology and get the same results. While I fight the incredible dry heat here, some may fight the heat and humidity which makes for different building methodology. Obviously those building up north are fighting the cold and wet. Completely different types of construction than what we see. Where as up north you probably put the moisture barrier to the outside wall, we put it to the inside wall to keep the moisture in, as an example. So there is no one fits all in building, even across Texas. I'd hate to think I had to move to Georgia and compete with K'Ledgebldr. That's a tall order to compete with someone in THEIR back yard that already knows what works and what doesn't.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by InterestedOne

I'm sorry, I spend my off time in the French Rivera. What's a canoe? You truly a piece of work.

Personal insults so you can avoid the points being made will get you no where, I don't partake in that type of discussion.

[Stripes17]

Here's the only thing I've gleaned from reading the mish-mosh presented...

"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 mph... you're gonna see some serious s**t."

Dr. Brown, Back to the Future

[InterestedOne]

Thank you so much for the pic help. Will get to it this week. It certainly will aide further understanding with this material.

I hear you TrapperL. I almost wanted to give my response on parity with an oil refinery.

My daughter lives between San Antonio and Austin. I know well from that which you speak. More than once I've burned my rear-end leaning against a car.

The only consideration why any home built the same way for Anywhere USA has everything to do with fiberglass or other loose cavity fill insulation and orientation for vapor barrier concerns. Texas is particularily familiar with mold issues specifically due to vapor barrier problems and resulting condensation. And that means dew point, dry or damp environment, such as Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Costa Rico, Nevis, etc.

Of course window feature and various layering types can favor northern vs southern, but as much as the house goes - Anywhere on the planet per se' is fair game... and configuration orientation order is King. Technically speaking there is only one configuration, but it may favor cold, hot, or both climates. If both, not all of any single configuration elements may be necessary. It just depends on whether heat is prominent, or cold. This total approach is tunable for all.

This is why I formatted this thread was so as others may learn the the individual elements, respective to climate. If they know why, how, and when -- the reader public at large will be better equipped. I get scores of DMs from contractors all over the world and for 97% of the cases they are asking some great questions and getting the relative answer presented in the posts.

I don't know where you are located specifically so I looked up climate data for Laredo Texas. Because its just about the hottest place in America, second fiddle to just a few other areas.

Climate Laredo - Texas and Weather averages Laredo Month/Average High in Deg F/Average Low in Deg F.
J-67/46; F-72/50; M-80/57; A-88/64; M-94/71; J-98/76;
J-99/77; A-100/77; S-93/73; O-86/65; N-76/55; D-68/47

I looked deeper (Heating & Cooling Degree Days - Free Worldwide Data Calculation) to ascertain daily thermal conditions to determine if Thermal mass interior aor exterior might work. No doubt about it, yep improving TM would serve the area well. Please understand, I am not talking about brick veneer house. Brick as used in status quo is a huge energy parasite albeit a beautiful, very durable exterior finish. Brick, configured correctly can behave very very differently.

Suffice to say, ordinary brick veneers can hit 140-160 deg F in the day and sustain that heat well into an evening. How many readers of this post have ever wondered why its so freak'in hot at night in the home? Heck, most AC systems run full time from the time they set foot in the home after work and the darn things runs consistently into the early morning hours.

If you do not know what a degree day I provided a recommended link: Degree Days - An Introduction. In any event I see from June through August degree days vary from 13 to 21 for Laredo TX. That means the daily temps were moderately high to high but also that there are most any night opportunities to exploit.

The exterior mass need not be all that much necessary to average the day's temps. Getting past the noon til 5 period is a remarkably easy thing for an effective mass to achieve. If you have peak period billing TM will offset cooling at night to carry through the peak periods saving money in two ways.

In sun beaten States, the matter is all about getting the sun off (& keeping it off) things you don't want super-heated. After that the matter defers to other steps to degrade thermal potential. Mass or no mass still applies. Texas is a big state for radiant barrier use. However, poster Restrain hit upon a something to which I responded. Radiant barriers reflect energy back to source. Energy not reflected is absorbed and converted to thermal sensible heat. In opaque building systems the problem is not necessarily direct radiation, rather re-radiation. Controlling re-radiation and incorporate favorable emissivity within a structural systems is very easy.

Emissivity is a physical property of material demonstrating capacity of radiatively emitting stored heat. For example: Consider a 100 watt bulb emitting 5,000k color frequency light. Without emissivity control the bulb will propagate full consumed/absorbed power to emit 5,000K frequency at, say, 1000 lumens. Apply 2-3% emissivity- the 5,000k frequency is still present; however, the lumens is reduced to 20-30 emission, or emitting 2-3 watts of 5,000K light.

This tech is one of many tech missing from a status quo energy efficient shell. Again, we are still very early in all this but understanding E relative to TM -- a bigger picture begins to form and make complete sense. There's more I guarantee it. Just because one cannot see through a a thing does not mean the thing is not subject to the same physics as that which one can see through. Opaque systems are still subject to the same electromagnetic wavelengths as windows; only the order, layering, and mass are different. I the few of you that get this - do not run off half cocked thinking you've got the whole picture - you do not.

Can a system have additional E, TM, or "R" planes within a single composite? Of course. Not only those but other properties as well. In past posts I stated: "Configurations that do not lose or gain heat like status quo..." To get exceptional thermal properties one must engage other and more affordable means done so in different configurations. Most certainly, that's where all this is going.

Nevertheless, whether dealing in frigid tundra or tropical forest, there is only one building system able to perform in every climate because dew point and associated btu relationship are highly predictable and unequivocally controllable.

Loved the oil thing by the way. I liked it because while science may at times seem counter intuitive, inform as to understand and become nimble with acquired knowledge only then can one appreciate events and consequences... only then can one create productive predictable repeatable positive progress.

TrapperL, you are one wise old dog! Nice points in your discussion, thanks again.

[dumitavi]

Originally Posted by InterestedOne

If, as your moniker implies "knowledgable builder", a healthy mindset to contributing to this or any post in positive manner is preferrd -- not to make any seem inferior. We humans thrive went we elevate others up, not down.

Please, and this pertains to all, if you haven't anything positive to contribute, please do not tarnish this or others' posts.

When I see tripe and negativity I tend to think about starting a thread in the Phsycology section about how and why people are (manifestations and other issues included) the way they are -simply by the way they write in response to others. Look for it soon.

Thank you.

Most people on this forum seem to have way more patience than I do with you.

If there is someone that has nothing positive to contribute around here, that seem to be you.

[InterestedOne]

Originally Posted by dumitavi

Most people on this forum seem to have way more patience than I do with you.

If there is someone that has nothing positive to contribute around here, that seem to be you.

Fortunate, that all comments are welcome. I do not discriminate.

Patience is a virtue. Ignorance of science is, well, simple ignorance: Otherwise, defiance of absolutes might be better understood as an inability to comprehend.