in-ground Underground / Pit houses

[AJ Drew]

Has anyone given thoght to things like the Walipini?  I understand the idea that you get deep enough and you have the earth's natural heat to keep you at maybe 50 degrees, so it should take less energy to raise that to lets say 70 than it would if you were starting at a lower temperature.  But wouldn't the walls act like giant heat sinks, sucking any heat you provided away?


http://library.backyardfood.net/Walipini.pdf

 

[willard3]

Think about it for just a minute.......if it stores heat from the sun to stay 50F, why wouldn't it store heat you supplied?

 

[smokemaster]

My parents house is off the grid.
The north side is under ground level.
South side is for the sun.
 
I don't know what totally underground would be like,but at turkey day and Christmas they sometimes have to open windows because it gets too warm from the oven when Mom is doing her thing in the kitchen,even though it's 30 -40 outside.
They don't use the county required heaters in their house.
Dad once said the only time they were lit was for inspection 30+ years ago.
 
My Dad designed their house.
His field was Heat Transfer when he wasn't retired.
Worked on Mercury up to the shuttle ,  heat and cold problems along with Satellite stuff and the L1011 (just before he retired).
 
I think that the advantage of underground stuff is that it keeps a constant temp.
You aren't heating the ground.Just the air.
Think about it as being insulation rather than a heat sink.
A houses insulation might need to deal with freezing temps outside.
Underground stuff has a constant temp. to deal with that is MUCH warmer.
 
My parents place is in a location that stays cold all winter and gets that cold white stuff...
30 degrees isn't uncommon where their house is at.