Yurt Dome Insulation Install and Condensation

[dlhall]

Well my 28' sits on an insulated cement slab with radiant in floor

heating

that will keep yurt at 50F with no wood stove going. The wood stove goes 24/7 to keep it toasty warm here. And yes I'll likely go through 10-12 cords of wood. The

insulation

is standard reflectix so I won't use a fan or anything. The air naturally moves around the yurt anyways & as I've mentioned before my interior walls don't meet yurt walls, and loft floor doesn't either. This allows the air/heat to naturally move unaided. I live in this full time & experience no problems with condensation etc.

[Skibum]

I totally agree with you, if you are burning 10-12 cords of wood a year and using radiant

heating

then I'm sure you are staying toasty warm as you say. I just cannot burn that much wood in a year in addition to radiant floor heat bills. I am used to burning 3-4cords of wood a year in a large home. So here we are living in these small spaces uses 3-4 times the energy as a mansion, which just seems crazy. So if u live in a yurt full time just be prepared for an insane amount of heating materials, whether wood, propane, electric, pellet or what have you. Other than that yurts are fun and different, they just pose a bunch of challenges to overcome and as far as green building and energy efficiency, they are on the opposite side of that spectrum.

[dlhall]

Free firewood is a good thing! It doesn't bother me 10-12 cords of wood, it's carbon neutral. The propane bill is pretty small, heat exchanger steals heat from 60gal hot water tank. It's significantly cheaper living this way than in town. Been there & done that......I'm mortgage free now, property tax free, and cost of living way down.

[Jafo]

Perhaps, but the laws of thermodynamics are the same in full time yurts as they are in part time yurts. Also, bigger doesn't necessarily mean you will be burning more wood:

About The Katydid Wood Stoveâ„¢ |

http://www.unforgettablefirellc.com/...ly-wood-stove/

Partitioned yurts always seem to have a harder time with heat, I believe this is mostly because it cuts off a lot of the radiant heat reflection.

[dlhall]

Wise words Jafo. That's why my walls & deck of loft don't meet the yurt itself anywhere. It's a separate free standing piece in my yurt. I'm thinking that is letting the reflectix do it's job. That's why I wouldn't use any fan ( ceiling or otherwise ) . I'm convinced moving the warm air over the walls in ways other than naturally connected currents works against the type of

insulation

& not with it.

[Skibum]

None of my walls meet the outside of the yurt either, and that still isn't helping.

[Skibum]

I will just assume I am an anomaly and allow the thermodynamic currents to carry me out of this forum, skibum out!

[stephanwik]

Originally Posted by dlhall

I'm convinced moving the warm air over the walls in ways other than naturally connected currents works against the type of insulation & not with it.

What we've observed is that it works well to allow natural convection to transport humid air to the top of the yurt, and then extract this mechanically and re-use the heat while expelling the moist air (and odours).

I wonder, are heat-recovery units something that most people know about? They're very clever

[dlhall]

Originally Posted by Skibum

None of my walls meet the outside of the yurt either, and that still isn't helping.

That indeed must be frustrating for you. How much frost are we talkin about? Right now it's -16C and it's 4pm.......the

dome

has more than half cleared off of frost. By sunset it'll be mostly clear & overnight will frost up again....MEH

The wood stove has been on slow tick over all day.

[dlhall]

I've been trying to post a pic here in thread of current frost on

dome

, no success. I just uploaded one under my pics.