Inexpensive Cooling Method
for Homes and Workshops
The ancient Egyptians and Romans knew how to effectively and quietly
cool public and private buildings without the use of electrical power
and today's expensive air conditioning systems. We seem to have
forgotten their methods and technology as we became more sophisticated
over the years. Maybe it is time we took a look back at what they
did and how they did it as a way to counter the high cost of cooling
our environment if we live in warmer climates.
In almost all warmer areas of the world, ground temperature at 4 to 6
feet below the surface stays between 45 and 55 degrees fahrenheit at
all times of the year. With this in mind it doesn't take a genius
to devise simple ways to use this reservoir of cool earth to help cool
our homes and work places. All it takes is a fairly deep trench,
some large ribbed plastic pipe, and a fan system to move air out of our
buildings, through the tube, and back into our living or working
environment. Such a air cooling tube must be long enough to
sufficiently cool the amount of air that is being moved through it, and
to avoid the earth mass becoming heat saturated and thus loosing it's
effectiveness as a source of cool air. However, this information
may be determined by simple trial methods. Dig a suitably deep
trench of around 20 feet overall length (8 feet out and 8 feet back
with a 2 foot crossover connection at the far end) and after adding a
small fan to keep the air moving, simply measure the ambient
temperature entering and leaving such a cooling tube on a hot
day. The amount of air movement and the temperature differential
measured will give you an idea of how large an area can be cooled with
your 10 foot system. This then can be scaled up or down to suit
the needs of your area to be cooled.
If you have a building to be cooled that is located at the top, middle,
or bottom of a hill, you can even use the Roman idea of running the
cooling tube or chimney nearly vertical and take advantage of
convection to move the air upward into or out-of your building.
This provides a no-power and very quiet low-technology solution to your
cooling needs.
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