EVERYTHING You Need To Know About Our Earth Tube Zero Electric HVAC System
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- Опубликовано: 13 сен 2024
- We share the full process of installing our earth tube air conditioning system, how it works, and answer some frequently asked questions about it.
You can find the PDF guide to earth tubes here:
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Here is a link to our guide if you're interested in building an earth tube system of your own.
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Good evening to my FDBC
Looking great. I love how you guys think outside the box.
Always learning to much from you guys.
Keep it up your dream home is moving right along.
Ok....Got the Answer now....why you drill holes in your pipe.....Water Drainage Holes....
Yeah, I recall telling you this a few years ago is it now? Its a variation on what I told you, but its nice to see it come about!
Did a really awesome job ! Author of Solar Independent Utility Systems Manual online
Best wishes everyone
That’s were I went wrong
Drain
But did have some outlet for moisture but didn’t use pvc used flex duct cause mold so it’s now a drain lol
I’ll try again
Good I see you guys again
Jess has become a Professional Hostess/Narrator!
And to think she was so shy and hesitant a couple of years ago. Well done Jessica.
A noiseless cooling solution sounds like heaven to me!
Hello sweethearts, do you that no snakes 🐍 can get in the tubes from those holes? Good luck May God bless you always ❤
I meant do you think that no snakes can get in the tube from the holes?
@@linacabrera3172 Stay tuned!
As a former thermal design engineer for more than 45 years, I am eager to see what air temperature and air flow rate you will observe entering into your house from the tubes. One thought is that you might consider increasing the flow rate at the tube exit by using a solar powered fan. So when the solar irradiance is highest you'll get the most assisted inflow of cool air from the tubes. Look forward to seeing your performance data.
What kind of tubing would you recommend I'm thinking galvanized would be way more efficient as a heat exchanger than pvc or perhaps a series of old big truck intercoolers piped together in series and buried
Thermal efficiency is made null by the length of the thin wall pipe.
At 100 foot length, temperature are probably met long before the air is in the house.@@MrCheaterpipe
@@MrCheaterpipe
Non perforated corrugated drainage pipe modified before installation by cutting a straight slit through the outermost edge of the corrugations. This modification prevents water collecting in the bottom of every corrugation. The holes or slots in perforated drainage tubing are designed to let water into the pipe, but not out. Corrugated pipe has roughly twice the surface area for heat exchange as a standard round pipe the same size and length. Its much stronger than thin wall pvc due to the ribs and costs a lot less.
@@rdallas81 Totally agree. Especially since I think the air flow rate is going to be very low. The natural convection "chimney effect" (driving force for the air flow) for the vertical stack at the house has to overcome the pressure drop for the 100 ft pipe length.
The air flow needed to keep the house cool will be primarily determined by how well insulated the house living space is from the external hot ambient air and solar load. With the proper instrumentation (temperature, air flow rate, pressure drop) they have an ideal test bed for characterizing this type of system.
@@rdallas81
Four 25ft tubes will outperform a 100ft tube.
I just have to say to you Jess i couldnt watch for about 1 1/2 years and you have become more comfortable in front of the camera. ❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉
, and the transcript translation , always perfect !👍
Jess has such a pleasing voice, a natural teacher. Thank you for the great videos!
Super job on this! Jess did a fantastic job - so clear and concise! Quite a change from her quiet and reserved nature! MAGNIFICENT JOB !
I'm New to your amazing life. I live roughly 4764 miles from you in Wales 🏴. You're both such beautiful people inside and out. Your amazing house is absolutely outstanding. And finally your stunning dog's the love that comes from all of you it's just heart warming and puts a smile on my face. Good luck my lovely s from a Welsh Lady. Sending a massive Welsh Cwtch (cuddle) we have our own language so night night 🙏 Nos nos 🙏 God bless 🙏🏴
Howdy from Texas from a huge Tristan Jones Fan!
@@doncollins786 which Tristan Jones are you on about my friend so many Jones in Wales as the same as my name Evans 🤣🤣🙏
As someone who is both lucky and cursed (people have said I have 9 lives because I am still alive, but at the same time I have used up more than all 9 of them), the open trench work scares me sooo much. I’m relieved and thankful you had no incidents. To any viewers considering doing this please be very careful and do some research on trench safety. Do what you can from outside of the trench, and use adequate shoring. It’s no joke and I’m not being a worry-wart. You can rent shoring equipment. It adds cost but is worth it to be safe. Sorry for being a wet rag. Great video and you are an impressive team!
30 years critical infrastructure engineer and risk management specialist. I agree 100% with this comment.
Please people, research shoring before climbing into a trench.
If you don't live in a desert area, you're soil is not hard clay which is why this trench did not collapse on these workers. If this was anywhere that's not clay and that sized trench, it would have been a 911 call for the workers and, likely, a body recovery.
I have been on jobs where people have died from cave-ins. Just sayin. One way is to dig down on the sides of the ditch a bit.
Thanx for taking the time for this overview now the whole series has come together for me. Looking forward to watching the house come together now! Will be here next week for my favorite show!!!!
So amazing you put this video together, this is the most complete system overview I’ve seen! 🎉
Great job Jess, good to see you more and more in front of the camera.🎉
It is amazing how many responses you have received in such a short period of time.
It's a good plan, working by convection. My very wise step dad had his in center line of his 40'x60'x25' greenhouse. Another thing he did, was place mushroom inoculated pieces of oak in that ventilation area. They had beautiful mushrooms for seasons. A food forest would be very similar.
I would suggest using a U.V. lighting system on your ventilation system. It will kill pretty much anything in your piping/ vent system. Bacteria, mold, creepy crawly critters, fungus and even viruses. I use one on my home a/c system, just like hospitals do.
Note: that should be installed to an UV resistant pipe section.
@@tonysurber9111 I 100% agree with you. Mold mitigation should be a top priority.
And cooking odors
I would also be concerned about things like radon gas seeping in from the holes
@eriksoderquist4218 Depends on your area. I was a bit upset to find out that in our downtown there are a Radon rich area after I had bought a house. Luckily, after more detailed inspection, the nearst Radon deposit to be conserned of is about half a mile away. Somehow, all the maps were not updated when I was surveying the real estate.
Jessica did a good job explaining this system, answered all of my questions.
Best wishes for your new HVAC system. You are a great couple. Greetings from Greece 🇬🇷.
Thank you for your in depth explaining installing earth tubes you guys rock.
Let’s to see some TEMP reading s😊
Jim you have been of fire I have never seen any one man do so much so fast 👍YOU ROCK JIM👍We built a Earth berm house in the Texas Hill country with a good deal of rock. You guys did it right by picking the correct geography for the earth tube system we opted for the water well.
I do HVAC, and in the 90's, ASU did an experiment in north Phoenix with a building in the center and 3 - 24" tubes about 100' feet long buried about 6' in the ground that we helped on. They were laid out in a 12 - 4 - 8 o'clock pattern from the main building, and used very low rpm electric fans to move air through the tubes. They drew very little power. It had temperature controls so when 1 tube warmed up, it would switch to the next so the previous could cool off and so on. It would rotate between the 3 tubes. The eventual problems were the tubes warmed up too quickly, they began to stink, hold moisture, and grow mold, which could not reasonably be dealt with. Even with some drain holes they added once they identified the problem, during our humid months, (July, August, September), it wouldn't dry out completely, mold continued grow, and they could never get around the stink. After a couple of years, they gave up the experiment.
@@Ephbaum Mold will be a HUGE issue.
I feel bad I can only give you one thumbs up. Great presentation, both of you.
Thank you for explaining the system so I can understand how it works and cost.
It so encouraging to see someone make use of geothermal energy for their home. Your system seems to be very well laid out and should work well.
It was interesting that you noted that the thin walled pipe was a better choice because it would provide better heat transmission, most forget about plastic being an insulator.
As far as measurements to see how the system works, just monitor the inlet and outlet air temperature, it will tell you all you need to know.
Great effort, Jess and Jim this episode should be a great guide for anyone contemplating doing this themselves!
You need to measure the cfm. A few cfm of 70F air wont cool a house.
USA NJ
I've been watching you for a while
this was one of your best videos thank you
Love how you two explain it all. Your hard work is shown on every video.Thank you for sharing and doing it with class. Many blessings.
I’m so happy to watch you two for I’m learning lots about what to do on here to pass it on to people at 45°who I know out on the farm and letting them know all what you are doing off grid that way so thank you, Jim and Jess for your beautiful tubing videos of building off grid and how to cool and heat your house. God bless you both throughout your life out there your truly Kevin H.W. Crabbe out of pincher Creek Alberta Canada.
Excellent explanation of your system, $2100 dollars seems very reasonable, love your video’s can’t wait to see how much this helps 👍
Wonderful, very well thought out presentation. I enjoyed every minute of it! I studied environmental building in the 1970’s and my husband, with help, 😅 built a log house in the Northwest so this was a nice trip down memory lane to think about design and temperature regulation and air flow. I admire the care you took in your research, Jess, and the hard work you did, Jim, and the can do, good-sport attitude you both exhibit. Thank you for putting this carefully together for your RUclips family.
You two are such friendly and creative people. It has been a joy to watch as you create your home. I hope everything goes well for you moving forward. God bless you both.
Can you guys put thermometers in the neck on either end of a pipe to show temp coming in and exiting the pipe?
Thx for the video.
Still a big fan of you guys and everything you are doing. Thanks again for always inspiring. ❤😊
Absolutely perfect explanations, I so much appreciate how you addressed all the questions I noticed in comments. Excellent presentation.
I found it interesting that the system can work well in a humid climate.
Probably not as well as you might think. There is quite a bit of energy in humid air. In a humid climate, It's unlikely that you could dehumidify sufficiently in a single pass. You _might_ be able to do it with a ground loop and a fan to pump air through your loop and back into your conditioned space.
It's not a passive system, but the _Tech Ingredients_ channel has a couple of videos of a low-power system that is potentially DIY-able that can dehumidify. If I were to live off-grid in a humid climate, I'd probably build something similar. The videos I'm thinking of are titled "Solar Powered Air Conditioner!" and "Revolutionary Air Conditioner!". I'd post the links, but RUclips's automod would hide my comment.
Yeesh don't try this in a humid climate, use a closed water loop and a heat exchanger, IIRC that's the norm in humid places.
Back in 2020 we attended a dome workshop (Aircrete Harry) where they were laying out the groundwork for geo thermo. Ourselves, we have mlgoos acreage to plum up to our container home in about a month. Also looking to build a couple larger domes with the same idea. Great video thanks to the both of you!!
Always enjoy following how your projects come along. Nice video. Hope to see the results later.
I use this in germany. 45m 2m deep. Diameter 200mm. Cooling 10°c in summer. And warming up in Winter for my recovery System 👍👍🇩🇪
I assume you're not in nearly as dry a climate. How do you deal with moisture / fungus / bacteria?
Very informative and nicely done, thank you for that. I wish you two all the best.
Very good explanation even a dummy like me can understand the whole process. I learned we cant do this in my area because the trench would have to be 48" deep min., but we also have a high water table and clay.
Coild below water table. Geo
This system works just like the older homes in the Southeast US. There were old windows that slid up the walls to the bottom of second floor windows that actually were a type of window/door. By opening the 1st floor windows, the cool air would rise, sometimes going out upper floor windows or out windows in a cupulo window in the center of the roof.
Retired construction worker here. I think you are referring to “balloon construction “. This is where the studs on the exterior walls were open to the crawl space, and to the attic. As the sun heated the attic the air would rise and draw the cooler air from the crawl space. It had nothing to do with a special type of window.
@@iamthundermug We call it balloon framing
@@taym2720 to-may-toe, tah-mah-toe. LOL probably just a difference of where you live versus where I live. It’s nice hearing other people’s experience! I think both of us are telling people how old we are.
Good job guys. Thanks for taking the time to explain the whys and why nots.
Big thumbs up for the Earth Tubes!!!😊🎉❤
Great project. Quick tip, if you can get it, use small round gravel/pebbles aprox 1/4 inch in size . In the UK we call it pea shingle. It flows easier around the pipes and finds its own way rather than having to move it so much with a shovel therefore a lot easier and faster.
I've been enjoying watching your progress. You did a good job with this video, thorough and concise.
There is a similar system but with a water pipe placed in the screed which also uses the coolness of the ground below to cool the ground above the screed but this is an electrical system where the pumped water circulates in continuous ! This system is more expensive but is really effective!
I hope these tips add more to your system.
Thank You for this information video 📷 !! Now we understand it more !! I think it's a great idea especially in ur area you live in , great work on this project !! Well done !!
The explanation was brilliant. Thank you for explaining how it will work.
You guys are amazing for doing this full build video and describing it! You guys are living out my dream life!! And have so much positive energy doing everything you do!!
Hey good afternoon Jim how you guys doing today hope everybody's having a good job looks like everything is coming together
Been watching for years. I always wanted more of a thourough explanation of your home build and maybe showing techniques more. And now you are! I love the new content. Very informative. thank you guys! Sorry to hear about your sweet dog crew passing. I love to check in on your channel and catch up on videos. Keep up the great work! It's all coming together.
Jim and Jess, such a great video you made. Informative and inspiring as usual. Love, love, love watching you both. Congratulations 🎉😊
WELL DONE! Clearly stated facts backed up with good visuals and well supervised by the Furry Boss----what could possibly be more perfect? Thanks for covering facts that I wasn't aware of throughout the actual build. Who'd a thunk about Legionnaires disease or a mold build-up? My only concern was the UV effects on the intake pipes and the strength of the varmint netting and you put those to rest with this episode. Thanks for the compilation and your ideal of helping out others who might be into passive earth cooling/heating.
This is a very interesting achievement. What I like best about your approach is the search for energy sobriety upstream of the construction itself. We had the same approach before equipping ourselves with solar. Reducing your consumption is the basic condition for having good results.
I first heard about this system years ago when i was reading an article about what President Bush was going to do to heat and cool his new home. Soundef intriguing to me.
after reading all these comments, my question seems small. Will you have to cover the inlets during dust storms?
This topic has been a real advantage for the channel. You have gained 10 thousand viewers recently. Keep the videos coming at regular intervals and maintain the momentum.
If radon is a concern, don't have the air go in "above ground". Angle the pipes just slightly down towards the inlet and put the inlet on a sloped enbankment. That way radon can't collect in the pipe because it is heavier than air, flows down the pipe to the air inlet, out the pipe and down the embankment.
The efficiency drops with larger pipes because the heat transfer can only take place at the surface of the pipe, not in the middle. At the same time, if the pipe is too small, it will restrict air flow.
As for cleaning, it may be a good idea to blow a pull line through the pipe, attach a chimney sweep brush in the house and pull the brush out the pipe inlet end.
Great info, lots of great tips. The inside of your home is going to be so… Cool😂
Thank you for the video! A pleasure to watch! Great project and thoughts.
Pro tip, you can get substantially more cooling by making two changes: place the pipes in your main water storage, this will cool the air more. You can add a solar powered extractor fan or roof-mounted ventilator for better heat exchange. I look forward to the data
Absolutely, your best video so far. It was very informative & a joy to see how knowledgeable yall have become!.😊
A very good air cooling system, inexpensive and durable, discovered thousands of years ago by the Pharaohs in Egypt during the construction of the pyramids to maintain a degree of ambient air, at the time the PVC was made by earth channels with an air inlet on the north side and aerodynamic measures for the propagation of air towards the interior. Good continuation.
Great info, thanks. Can you please show the system efficiency, by showing temp differences
Thank you for this video - answered all my questions and looking forward to seeing it in action after you finish your home - great job explaining everything!!!
I live in Tucson and I am so impressed with what you have done and are doing! Great ideas.
Greate job . Hard work payed off.
I like how you took the time to re apply the bar code stickers to the pipe after you painted it.
If you were president, this would be your presidential moment. What an inspiration! Thank you very much for sharing your determination.
My father was a architect and he did a medical clinic for the Navajo. This is very similar to the cooling system he designed for that building. He used concrete culverts instead of PVC pipe and windows high up to provide solar heat or when opened the hot air flowed out drawing in the cool air. Last I heard they were very pleased with the whole building so much so that when it proved to be more popular than expected they returned to consult with him about a addition. As it turns out what they really needed was more room for medical records. While the lobby was carefully designed to reflect the people's traditions, art, culture he pointed out that records don't care about such things. So to save them some money in a kinda hidden away place he helped them put up a ugly old steel building thus more funds for what really matters, medicine.
It took 40 minutes for me to find out that you don't have actual results from your project. The proof will be in the pudding. I look forward to hearing about the actual numbers from your work. Thanks for putting this out there.
40 minutes and several other videos and not a single word of how well it works. Air Temp in and out would be nice to know as well as how man CFM of airflow they have.
@@TXP2P69Jess and Jim have just built this so how would they know the facts you seem to be expecting. Follow them on the journey to see how it works for them. Each system will surely be different due to the features of each home build and the natural environment.
@@paulvanhouts3365
Hvac engineers dont just build a system and then see how it works when its completed. They design it to fulfil the intended purpose and they test it after installation to confirm it meets the design specification. There were no calculations involved in this design and its clear passive airflow will not create sufficient airflow given the high frictional loss in the long tubes. They will have to resort to using fans to get any kind of useful cooling. They wrongly assume that the passive airflow will only move in one direction from the tubes to the house when, in reality, it can easily flow in the opposite direction, from the house into the tubes.
@@paulvanhouts3365
Tape a thermometer in each end of the pipes to record air temps in vs out.
@@freddymax5256
You need to know the cfm and the inlet and outlet temperature and RH% to calculate the system performance. A 30F in/out temperature difference looks impressive but if the airflow rate is only 5cfm its not going to cool your house.
They use this in the Taos earth ships and it’s nice and cool in them even in heat of summer. I don’t think they dug them as deep. You covered the vents with mesh, so no creepy crawlies. People are posting about what if scenario of flooding- folks- you just put a cap on it. PVC piping has caps you can plug with. Good job you 2. I’m inspired
I do have a question. Is there any angle to the trench other than the vents? Is it level or a slight grade change?
Conduction and convection at its best.
Thank you for making this video with such great information! I learned a good deal about this system from it. I am a new subscriber to your channel. Peace and blessings to you, I'm looking forward to learning more! 💯
It would be interesting to see the temperatures and wind speed at the inlets and then inside to see how much the temperature varies.
Thanks guys! You answered all my questions.
Great info, Yall! A 20 to 30 deg. difference is awesome! Can't wait to see the results after the house is done! 👍🏻
Thank you very much for the labor and insights my friends.
Hope you guys get the circulation through the house you're hoping for. I don't have the space for something like this, and our water table is almost certainly too high, but it's wicked cool.
Great video! Very informative. Thanks for posting!
A nerf ball that is snug in the pipe can be drawn through with a shop-vac to help clean the pipe, if that becomes and issue. You can even tie a string around it to help pull back.
I don't think a vacuum would work with all the hols in the pipes.
@@dontrend5956 You know, I watched the videos a couple of times, knew they had put holes in them, and ignored that fact when I posted. What is interesting is that we have actually been able to get the nerf ball through in similar piping when there were a couple of weep holes, but I am certain you are correct with how many they have. Sorry for not thinking about those.
Yep - I was thinking that they should have installed some rot resistant poly line for pull cords when they installed it... then they could easily pull rags thru for cleaning. I think that will be hard to do after the fact.
I believe angling the pipe generally down away from the house is a good idea to encourage any water to move away from the house, maybe even having a ‘sump’ at the farthest end before the angle up.
You can buy washed gravel but a simple screen tray, built from 2x4 and hardware cloth, works great.
That's a pretty good concept for cooling. I love old historical ways of cooling a house without electricity it's very fascinating to me. I also like the piping has as few bends as possible because that means you get maximum air flow that way.
Not just cooling. In the winter it also heats.
@@justinw1765 still is a very fascinating concept consider how ridiculous power companies here in Southern California
@@justinw1765
Most folks dont realize when the system isused for heating, a large percentage of the heat in the air leaving the tubes is in latent form, water vapor. This raises the RH% in the house, but not the temperature.
@@JohnGuest45 That makes some sense, but why wouldn't heat energy generally exchange with the air via conduction (and to a lesser extent convection) also since that ground sink is a stable 60 to 70* F or so all year round?
But yeah, I could see it not being as efficient in winter since as the dry, cold air is drawn down under the ground it will pick up water vapor. I guess a lot of this could be solved if they used a closed system and used a better fluid-heat exchanger, like water (with a little anti freeze).
Also, for their climate and situation, they could easily and readily take advantage of Solar heaters-some could be immediate daytime only heaters and others could be thermal mass/high heat capacity heaters for overnight. These could be piped in directly through insulated window inserts.
@@justinw1765
Stable ground temperature applies to ground that is subject to natural forces, sun, wind etc. If you actively pump 90f air into tubes buried 6ft in the ground for months, the energy balance in that ground will change along with its average temperature. Ground isnt a magical substance, if you put some on a stove or in a freezer you wouldn`t expect it to remain at a stable 55-60F.
in the winter....how is there going to be a negative pressure created in the house to pull the warm air in?
So in the winter the outside temp is at the lowest in the 60s during the day, it gets down to freezing once or twice a year in the night. I don't think there will be much air flow then since it will be so close to the geothermal temp. It will be interesting to see what happens, but I'm betting they'll need a secondary heat source for winter. Though I only turned my little buddy heater on 3 times last winter, they're not too far from me, so I suspect they won't need much heating either.
I love watching your build and i can’t wait until it’s done and you make the video of the finshed build!! It’s going to be beautiful ❤
Thank you for the updates on home as well as construction successes and difficulties you have encountered. I lived in Phoenix for 6 years, and I'm familiar with the weather in Arizona. I live in North Texas now with temperatures that are similar to Arizona except more humid. I am making plans for and designing my own off the grid, subterranean home, and garage. I have researched geothermal cooling and heating enough to know that 0 to 12 feet will only drop the temperature 20° from outside at ground level. To truly take advantage of geothermal, one needs to go below 12 feet. At least, that's what I've seen in the research on the internet and other sources.
Jess is more natural in front of the camera these days. It's not easy, so well done on learning how to do it your way.
It be interesting to see how the system actually works in real life. I have heard of it but never seen the evidence of how it works in very hot conditions.
You mentioned the paint near the end, I don't know if you've seen "NightHawkInLight" and his videos about Infrared Cooling Paint. Also "Tech Ingredients" did similar videos earlier, but NHIL used cheap, easy-to-get ingredients. Passive cooling paint that cools a few degrees even in direct sunlight, more at night. Just a thought to give a watch if you're interested.
Cool idea can’t wait to see how good it works
Great video! Thinking about this system myself.
Curious what the temperature of your underground room under the dome is. Is it constant?
You could take some cheap hepa filters and cut circles out of them to put into the intake pipes to keep airborne organic particles out and still have the wire screens to keep animals and insects out. I think that would definitely help with the mold problem.
Great video, a lot of information about passive air cooling. I was going to just have one pipe into my house for air to a wood stove. Now I will add two more for cooling. Thanks for putting it all into this one video.
Great job guys! Mold test annually may be a cheap and good idea...
thank you so much for the great info and sharing your adventure.
Great job the best wishes to you both !!!
Nice job you guys, hard work that will pay off in dividends. 1 question though, what happens when the rain saturates the ground? Maybe it won't rain there? IDK
Cool project. Surprised it isn’t used more often.
Like before even watching ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Interesting. I am thinking that it would be a good idea to slope the pipe towards the house with no holes. Put a tank below the pipe with one drain at the house that would drain into the tank giving you water. That water could be pumped into the house for use.