Radiant heat gain

[Bob Rowlands]

Back to 'shading yurt' idea. If you have the time, just for kicks you might look up the 'frame fittings' at My Tarp or other online supplier. Those fittings fit EMT tubing you get at Home Depot etc.

I find the idea of building an octagonal frame around the yurt and covering with tarp the months you need the shade an interesting idea. That would also potentially give you protected storage around the outside perimeter of your yurt.

The folks/anarchists/oddballs that live in 'Slab City CA' in 120 degree plus desert heat all summer come up with all manner of cheap coverings over their shacks etc. to keep direct sun off them.

I have no idea what the cost would be or how well it would work, how it would withstand wind, in comparioson to just flopping a huge tarp over the yurt, like outfitters flop tarps over wall tents in hunting camp. Just doing some brainstorming. Good luck.

[Bob Rowlands]

Shoulda read more thread up top, Ida learnt sumpin.. lol When it comes to doing alternatives, I find where there's a will, there's a way. I make it up as I go all the time, including at work. You ain't gonna get anywhere unless you do some tryin. Keep a smile on and enjoy the journey.

[Jafo]

"How big should I plan to go if I want to run a small AC unit off it?"

Minimum 2,000 watts I would think. That will cover the AC unit and any other low wattage stuff you might have running at the same time.

[trihartsfield]

If you are serious about getting it cool, invest in a split unit and a larger generator. You can get generators now that run off propane and are remote start.


Do you plan on staying in it for extended periods of time?
How often do you plan on using it?
Can you get on-grid power to it?

I have a split unit (that heats and cools) in my Groovy yurt and it works well but I have electricity.

[Wintergreen282]

In a pinch, don’t underestimate the cooling power of dumping a gallon of water over your head. I took a bunch of trees down this spring that were worrying me with the ever worsening storms. It’ll be great in the winter, but much hotter now. I only have one panel and two 6V marine batteries, but it runs a 12v fan all night. Also very helpful.

On a positive note, yurts cool down much faster than your typical house.

[Bob Rowlands]

It's about 2AM Thursday and I can't sleep tonight. I'm on a criminal offense jury this week. We wrapped this afternoon and we deliberate Fri. To say "I'm conflicted." would be an accurate assessment. lol

Yes, yurts are tents and as such they have a small fraction of the mass of any traditional house. They change temp very fast as a result.

Erect a tent with and without its rain fly in the sun and you will see the effectiveness of a shade over your tent. A solid wall tent that doesn't have breathable bug netting as the upper tent body turns into an oven without the fly. If it's a nylon tent and not a canvas wall tent the effect is even worse.

As for wetting the yurt down, no doubt that would cool it. Spraying it down with a hose or lawn sprinkler every half hour on a blistering hot day would certainly help cool it. I regularly soak my hat while outside in the summer. Soaking a bandana and stashing that under your hard hat or wrapping it around your neck also works.

[Bob Rowlands]

A good cooling alternative in dry western climates is a swamp cooler. In fact the drier the air the better they work. Plus from what I justread on the 'net you can get indoor units nowadays.

My wife's mom had a heavy duty old school roof mounted swamp cooler on her 1064 sq ft ranch house that was built in 1952. That cooler pushed enough air to blow the hat off my head. I repaired it a few times in the 1980s, but it long since kaput although still up there.

Moms house is in the big valley in CA. No

insulation

in the walls. 1.5 inches rock wool in the attic. I cut in turbine roof vents and soffit vents. Insulated the attic with loose cellulose. Repaired that swamp cooler three times.

There was no 'central air' in those small tract houses back then. Swamp cooler was 'it'. Not even a window mount air conditioner and it regularly gets well over a 100 in the valley.

All that work I did there dropped the inside temp to 90s on a hot day well over 100. The attic was a furnace I'll bet 150 in there when I insulated it.

When she had the swamp cooler running it would drop the temp inside to probably about mid 80s on a hot 100+ day. Pretty good cooling under the circumstances, but those units need maintenance and we live 1200 miles away, and mom always on a very tight budget. Mom now 91 and still lives there, still no central air. We offered to help her withb that and of course being old school no way she gonna let me help her. lol In fact the original furnace didn't get replaced for about 60 years. Well, they don't make em to last like that no mo. lol

[elewis33]

Sorry I missed some of these comments when they came out. Didn't get notified in my email so thought the thread had died.

In any case, thank you all for taking the time to give me some answers and some things to think about, because we all need more things to think about. But seriously, thank you.