Snug passivhaus dwellers?

[epsilonGreedy]

How are all you passive house self builders finding the current weather? Do you feel vindicated and is the 5kw boiler keeping you toastie?

[ProDave]

4KW stove keeping our caravan warm.

 

I LIKE this "beast from the East"  Since it's arrival, it has warmed up, it was only down to -2 last night, and today was a lovely still sunny day and you really could feel some spring like warmth from the sun.

[NSS]

LOL, I initially read the thread title as 'Smug Passivhaus dwellers', and then re-read it and realised my error 

Edited February 26, 2018 by NSS

[IanR]

Along with the cold snap that started last Friday, came some bright and sunny mornings, so we haven't needed to put the heating on. It was sunny all day Saturday and we had to "deploy" the blinds in the afternoon for some shading as the internal air temp jumped up.

 

The house hasn't dropped below 21.5^oC. Although with -5 forecast for tomorrow morning and a more cloud around today I stuck the UFH on for around 5 hours to make sure the entire slab is up to temperature (22.5^oC ).

 

 

[Hecateh]

My current house is far from passive - more similarities to a sieve.

The past 2 days I have been sitting, toastie warm with (south facing) patio doors wide open, admittedly only between the hours of 11 and 3 ish, and when the sun was very definitely shining.  Expletively cold if I stepped through the doors though regardless of the sun

Luckily the east and north east of my house is probably the most sheltered and least leaky and I am colder with a southerly wind at this time of year.  

 

 

[lizzie]

My lovely new house is toasty with no heat on at all its at about 22 today.  This rented house is freezing, boiler working overtime and still struggling to get the place much over 20 half the rads dont work whole system needs flushing and balancing.  I cant wait to get to new house.....I am wondering about overheating in summer.......

[Onoff]

6 hours ago, epsilonGreedy said:

How are all you passive house self builders finding the current weather? Do you feel vindicated and is the 5kw boiler keeping you toastie?

 

That's it, pi$$ me off some more why don't you!

 

All I've got between me upstairs is:

 

-Wallpaper

-3/8" plasterboard

-4"x2" with 4" of badly stuffed insulation 

-Ply

-Felt

-Tiles

 

Oh and GAPS!

 

Not saying it's cold in here but I had a polar bear nick my scarf!

 

Lounge got to I think 26deg on Sat helped by solar gain through the sliding doors. Rapidly loses it though.

[Cpd]

Toughen up @Onoff 

 

Wall build up 

15mm wood panelling

windy air gap

700mm stone wall

Scotland  

 

Roof build up

15mm wood panelling 

Vast cold loft 

sarking

slate 

Scotland 

 

but its home and i love it. 

 

 

 

[SteamyTea]

What is this sunshine you talk off.  Been down to 4°C here and overcast.

But there is ice of the car this morning, must be the 3^rd frost this winter.

 

[Triassic]

Lovely and warm in our super insulated cabin, 150mm of insulation in the walls, floor and roof.

Edited February 27, 2018 by Triassic

[ToughButterCup]

8 hours ago, NSS said:

[...]  initially read the thread title as 'Smug Passivhaus dwellers', [...]

 

The difference made by just one pesky little ol' syllable. 

 

We have a passiv Haus in the making:  walls but no roof, no first floor, open to the elements. Most days this last week, we've been working on it wearing (in my case) 6 layers of clothing. There's a very noticeable temperature difference standing next to  walls that both face the sun and are in the wind shadow. 

And that reminds me of the 6% overheating risk we are forecast to have - once built.

 

[IanR]

Woken up to -4 this morning and clear skys. If that sun stays out for a few more hours then the heating won't be needed and I needn't have bothered with charging up the slab.

[Jeremy Harris]

-4 deg C here, too, outside, but very clear skies, bright sunshine and loads of lovely PV generation!  The combination of clear skies, bright sun and very cold air really does kick up the output of a PV system.  Right now it's exporting more than the house is using, and the heat pump is running and my car is charging......................

[Dreadnaught]

43 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

very cold air really does kick up the output of a PV system

 

Interesting. Does PV silicon perform better when cold? Is there some sort of temperature induced drop in its performance? (Just general interest.) (Sorry to be off topic).

 

Edit: look here for more info if you're interested: https://www.thegreenage.co.uk/article/the-impact-of-temperature-on-solar-panels/

Edited February 27, 2018 by Dreadnaught
Edited to add a link

[Onoff]

11 minutes ago, Dreadnaught said:

 

Interesting. Does PV silicon perform better when cold? Is there some sort of temperature induced drop in its performance? (Just general interest.) (Sorry to be off topic).

 

 

Yes!

[Dreadnaught]

1 minute ago, Onoff said:

Yes!

 

Thanks @Onoff 

I love the contrast between authors. Your splendidly succinct answer compared to the equation-laden paragraphs I expected from @JSHarris  Wonderful!

[Onoff]

Just now, Dreadnaught said:

 

Thanks @Onoff 

I love the contrast between authors. Your splendidly succinct answer compared to the equation-laden paragraphs I expected from @JSHarris  Wonderful!

 

Jeremy will be along shortly I'm sure...

 

[Gone West]

10 hours ago, epsilonGreedy said:

How are all you passive house self builders finding the current weather? Do you feel vindicated and is the 5kw boiler keeping you toastie?

We aren't living in the house yet, soon though I think. We have three electric towel rails running at around 200W each for eight hours a day and that keeps the house warm.

[Jeremy Harris]

5 minutes ago, Onoff said:

 

Jeremy will be along shortly I'm sure...

 

 

 

You've said it all with a single word, nothing I could add could improve on that!

[jack]

11 hours ago, NSS said:

LOL, I initially read the thread title as 'Smug Passivhaus dwellers', and then re-read it and realised my error 

 

I did the same!

 

As for living in a passivhaus-level house (in terms of insulation and airtightness, although some of our windows need adjusting at the moment), we're still waiting to get our ASHP fixed. As such, our sole source of heating for the entire winter so far has been a single 2kW electric column heater in the kitchen, with a small fan on it blowing the heat around. Mostly I've had it on the medium setting, but turned it on full for the colder weather recently. It isn't on all the time, and I usually have the thermostat set at 4 out of 6.

 

We've been perfectly comfortable (my wife would say it's too cold, but she always thinks it's too cold). At the moment, it's -3 outside. I'm sitting here with a hoodie on, in a room at the other end of the house from the heater, and the temperature is very pleasant. The bedrooms are somewhat cooler, as usual. The bathrooms could do with being 2 or 3  degrees warmer, but they're still warmer than in any house I've ever rented.

 

I am having to wear thick socks, because the unheated slab is very cool (we have polished concrete throughout our ground floor - not the warmest option in this situation!)

 

Incidentally, I just received my electricity bill for the last quarter and it isn't much more than for the same period last year. That really surprised me. 

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, Dreadnaught said:

Does PV silicon perform better when cold?

Yes, but it is not as simple as it seems.  You also have to take into account incidental radiation angles, overall insolation levels and time of day.

Edited February 27, 2018 by SteamyTea

[Onoff]

You've all got every reason to be smug imo.

[Dudda]

House is doing fine thankfully. The 1960's office I work in is another story. The old oil boiler broke down yesterday morning. It's always cold after a weekend but my god was it cold yesterday. I had 5 cups of tea in an hour and a half trying to keep warm. I was in very early and txt a few others so they arrived dressed with layers of woolly jumpers, hats, scarfs and leggings under trousers and weren't as cold but looked ridiculous sitting at their computers.

[Declan52]

All workplaces have to abide by the health and safety rules which include working in low temp. If they don't provide you with a means to stay warm i.e clothing or temp heaters then you can go home. The min temp is only 16 degrees so if your works heating has broke down you are well within your rights to pack up and head home if it's below this.

[Jeremy Harris]

19 minutes ago, Dudda said:

House is doing fine thankfully. The 1960's office I work in is another story. The old oil boiler broke down yesterday morning. It's always cold after a weekend but my god was it cold yesterday. I had 5 cups of tea in an hour and a half trying to keep warm. I was in very early and txt a few others so they arrived dressed with layers of woolly jumpers, hats, scarfs and leggings under trousers and weren't as cold but looked ridiculous sitting at their computers.

 

I've recently discovered the benefit of fingerless gloves.  Brilliant for typing when it's cold (we're still half-in our old house and that does get cold overnight)