House on the Beach Uses Sun for Heat
Oct
21
Built on the beach, this house has an elegantly clean design that combines a number of active features with passive direct gain to make its solar heating system work exceptionally well. The basic solar heater is an active liquid type: 450 square feet of flat-plate collectors (all-copper tube-type absorbers with a selective surface and single layer of glazing); a closed-loop system using a mixture of water and nontoxic propylene glycol to prevent freeze damage; a 2,000-gallon steel storage tank in the basement that can carry the house through 48 hours of winter storm before the auxiliary oil furnace comes on.
The system has a collector-to house cycle (unusual for a liquid system) which, when the storage is cold but the day is sunny, permits hot liquid from the collectors to circulate through a fan-coil device that blows the heat directly into the house. The liquid then returns to the collectors, bypassing the storage tank. Household water is preheated in a coil immersed in the storage tank.
To avoid winter daytime overheating from direct gain through the south windows, a fan and duct were installed in an interior living room wall. They draw heat from the south rooms and disperse it to the north ones.
Hot summers are usually accompanied by cooling breezes off the ocean, but additional ventilation is provided by two rows of north-facing clerestory windows backing the two rear collector mountings. These can be opened to vent excess heat from the house ceilings.
Aloft like sails, three ranks of liquid-type collectors top this beachside house; they stand apart on flat roof so as not to shade one another from low winter sun. Collector mountings are integrated with house structure for strength to withstand winds and storms. House is turned 10° west of south for ocean view, but still has good solar exposure. Broad planes of south window glass admit sun for daytime passive heating in winter; deep overhangs shade them in summer.
Pleasant south living room gives no marked suggestion of solar design, but subtle features give it away: room is awash with light from expansive south windows; unobstructed view from living room up through study to master bedroom on upper level indicates open plan of house interior, designed to encourage free circulation of passively and actively gathered solar heat. Vents of heat- recovery device in fireplace are visible below mantel.
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