Insulation vs Thermal Mass Explained

[@namaefumei]

Good to see your videos back mate! Thanks for providing good videos for us!

[@SimpleTek]

Glad you like them!

[@DanielDavis-kl5cl]

Thank you very much. This video was a neccesary learning step for me as I am going to buil a medium sized hut in my backyard and I want it to be able to not change it's temperature rapidly due to the temperature outside. I don't watch ads (asblocker) so I gave you a like and a sub. Good day!

[@SimpleTek]

Wonderful!

[@ct00001]

A whole channel dedicated to greenhouses, gardening and alternative energy. Hell yes.

[@user-ic2ug8ys1z]

I thoroughly enjoy your videos on building better green houses. Thank you so much. 😃🌱🐢

[@SimpleTek]

Thank you for the kind words that made my day

[@WhatDadIsUpTo]

Hey, nothing wrong with Peewee Herman. That said, my concrete greenhouse floor is BLACK for just this reason. Oh, battery - ya. Well, I'm here to tell you I use an air BATTERY to store energy on my homestead. My wind turbines (VAWT) compress air. I build steam and compressed air engines as a hobby. I also use accessory heat in Winter from the waste heat coming from my LP gas wall furnace. One side of my greenhouse (north side) is my house and the other side of my greenhouse is just that, my greenhouse. My house insulates and provides auxiliary heat when I run my heater, while the black concrete and steel floor provides both passive heating from sunlight and thermal mass.

[@SimpleTek]

You need a KZbin channel for all that!!! Sounds awesome

[@WhatDadIsUpTo]

@@SimpleTek Got one. But it's not likely what you think. It's for my kids to keep up with me. I don't care about subscriber numbers or ad revenue. I don't chase money. In fact, it chases me. Anyway, I'm autistic, so "keeping up" with me is a full-time job. My KZbin channel is just big kid Show & Tell.

[@Chris_at_Home]

I built our greenhouse on a 4’ concrete block wall with 4” of foam board on the outside. I put drain pipe under our grow barrels with tons of rock over it. I pump heat with an in-line fan from the peak to the drain pipe during the day. We grow from late March to October with no supplemental heat.

[@SimpleTek]

Thank you for the insight

[@thisolesignguy2733]

I clicked on this video because he was so excitable in the thumbnail and I thought it would be funny to watch. It was actually alot for informative than I expected. Great video!

[@SimpleTek]

Thank you! I appreciate that!

[@jeanfrancoislandry385]

Very good video.

[@SimpleTek]

Thank you!

[@magician2020]

I remember living in Ireland and they had what they called ‘storage heaters’ which were giant rock filled heaters that heated the rocks during the night when electricity was cheaper and released the heat during the day when it was more expensive. Probably one of the most inefficient heater I have ever used, and impossible to regulate the temperature effectively.

[@SimpleTek]

Interesting.. thank you for sharing

[@TheNightwalker247]

Could be interesting to do with a solar direct heating system

[@GRINGO_CTM]

Welcome back man!!

[@SimpleTek]

Thank you soo much!

[@adus123]

I have been using barrels of water in my polytunnels for years now I use horse manure in a very big hotbed about 3/4 feet high by 3f wide by 10f long you have to keep topping it up every 2 weeks and it takes a shit load of horse manure to do it. it keeps the tunnel warm all winter long. my allotment is off-grid so no power for heat. it's not one for everyone but it works for me. plants sitting on top sit at about 15 to 20c.

[@SimpleTek]

that's awesome! Thank you for sharing!

[@hossenfeffer8383]

Thank you for another great video. I am using Mylar-faced bubble wrap on the north side of my homemade dome greenhouse, as well as across the crown of the structure, and all around the perimeter, leaving about 180 degrees of clear 4 mm film facing the winter sun. We’re about to have a hella snowstorm here, and I am going to put my 50 gal. rain barrel inside the dome and fill it with natural gas-heated hot water - yeah! Cheap first round of warm water in the thermal mass container. I am going to try heating the water with a submersible pool heater and observe the effect on my interior temps. Hoping to supplement the little electric greenhouse heater to keep the interior temperate (I will settle for, say, 15 C) with the thermal mass. Will it be more efficient to keep the thermal mass heated than to keep the air heated? I guess I will find out. Like you, I laugh ironically at “passive greenhouse” heating advice coming from parts of the world not subject to the wrath of Mother Nature at this time of year - From a SK girl in QC

[@SimpleTek]

That’s awesome! I hope it works!!!

[@jamessorensen7277]

Thanks

[@SimpleTek]

You’re welcome!

[@MiggyManMike]

Strictly defined a batter is an array of equipment, the reason it's used (often incorrectly) for electrical systems is because a collection of cells is by that definition a battery (of cells), it does also tend to get incorrectly used to refer to a cell though (like a aa "battery" which is actually a cell).

[@SimpleTek]

Ok

[@p35flash97]

Is that 400 feet per ton linear? Or, 400 feet coiled?

[@SimpleTek]

Good question

[@iamtmckendry]

Also good for getting a solid 3-seasons!

[@SimpleTek]

3 is great, insulation and or thermal mass allows that often without additional heating!

[@iamtmckendry]

@@SimpleTek Yup! I think I can get away with a weak 3-seasons without heat here at elevation in south central BC. But building a rocket mass heater with mini sauna inside the greenhouse is too tempting of an idea and I suspect can get me a solid 3 seasons with no supplemental light

[@79PoisonBreaker]

i enjoy your videos, i was wondering about aluminum roofing for summer to keep cool and what your thoughts on it might be. goal of a cool summer warm winter roofing for pets/plants

[@SimpleTek]

Metal roofing lasts longer and is cleaner for water collection than asphalt

[@SimpleTek]

Light Colors stay cooler, dark Color’s heat up more with roofing

[@79PoisonBreaker]

@@SimpleTek i was thinking the thermal properties of aluminum vs steel same color on a hot summer day.

[@SimpleTek]

@@79PoisonBreaker honestly couldn’t tell you the differences in the two metals, sorry

[@eliinthewolverinestate6729]

Insulatation should be defined as the slowing of radiation of energy. Thermal mass stores energy and slowly releases it. Somethings can be both. I am using a masonry, rockwool, with masonry veneer for earthship walls. No berm. Vertical windows.

[@SimpleTek]

Well said

[@OOTurok]

Technically speaking, Insulation is Thermal Mass. There is literally no difference between the 2, as they both function to slow the transition of heat from leaving or entering a system, by absorbing & reflecting thermal radiation. People have just adopted a colloquial deffinition for Thermal Mass, to describe really thick Insulation.

[@SimpleTek]

the difference is in thickness and efficiency

[@OOTurok]

@@SimpleTek Thickness, yes... as I already stated. Efficiency, depends entirely on the material being used. Fiberglass is far more efficient at insulating, than water or dirt, because so little mass is needed to trap the same levels of heat. Ceramics are the most efficient at insulating as the rate of heat transfer through the material is so slow, they can trap several 1000s of degrees C of heat... where as all other types of insulation would either melt or boil.

[@nailtips8235]

Good info

[@SimpleTek]

Thank you

[@jordonhope3408]

Did NightHawkInLight just solve your thermal mass needs with a cheap, homemade phase-change material that can outperform water as a themal mass?

[@SimpleTek]

Link?

[@jordonhope3408]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKLbm5mmaaycZs0si=aZ6YHzUZ4QTNGB_a

[@jordonhope3408]

@@SimpleTek kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKLbm5mmaaycZs0si=hq4T-cYw8RITS-KF

[@maths_chris]

The presentation is too intense. Too loud and too dramatic.

[@SimpleTek]

Sooo sorry I’m not boring

[@mkeyx82]

Straw bale has good balance between the sides, it has both the insulating properties and can act as heat storage. However, damp environments, like a greenhouse, would probably make it rot quickly. Thanks for the video.

[@SimpleTek]

Great info! Thank you for the kind words

[@docholiday2328]

you might end with mold on the straw

[@jonathannumer5415]

I remember the days of being in school when a word could not be used to define itself…

[@SimpleTek]

?

[@maximosh]

I think you could have explained R values and that 'air' itself is an insulator. Good video anyways!

[@SimpleTek]

Thank you

[@aldoogie824]

Wouldn't you want the sun to shine on the south wall?

[@SimpleTek]

yes, you insulate the north wall

[@somethingsomething404]

Laughing at your own jokes is creepy, please stop.

[@SimpleTek]

If you’re not going to laugh, then I have to or no one laughs!

[@aussieauntynette6892]

Hey Mr Grumpy, Please keep your mean, insulting thoughts to yourself. No one else wants them here. I hope you have a wonderful day that improves your mood.

[@docholiday2328]

more because i want a greenhouse when i move to Canada

[@SimpleTek]

Seeet

[@aussieauntynette6892]

Thank you for your great information you share with us. There are many of us who would much rather watch you be happy and expressive in your delivery of your information than listening to a computerised voice-over or someone so bland in their delivery with only a blank expression and no variation in their voice, only the same dreary, put-you-to-sleep monotone that you lose all interest. I am writing this for the grump who complained, I feel sorry for someone else to be so rude and miserable with their own life that they have to insult others for being happy. It's great to see another person happy and/or laughing and NOT boring in the delivery of info that is so often delivered with the dullness of an old dish-rag. I enjoy your vids, the delivery and the important information you give to us. If you were in Australia, I'd say "G'day mate, It'd be great to get some advice first hand. You and your family would be welcome to come along and visit" I am trying to plan and build a couple of variations for different purposes and very different properties. #1. Very flat land, surrounded by big commercial (and very heavy chemical users) croppers. #2. Bush block. Mostly 4WD only, steep hills, a couple of clear-ish valleys/gullies, small but deep seasonal creeks, shale, lots of rocks and native wildlife and numerous varieties of native bees. Again, thank you, great content, stay as happy and as healthy as you can and have a fabulous day :)

[@SimpleTek]

Thank you sooo much for that comment. It made my day! Cheers from Canada!

[@ChrisBGramz4u]

Im moving down near the equator. I want to build cool, keep the cool in and the heat out. I would also like a cool greenhouse. to grow full sun cool climate plants like celery.

[@SimpleTek]

Ok

[@jamesdim]

I've watched all your videos! This channel is like youtube's best kept secret. It's a privilege being one of your first subscribers and learning so much from you over the years. Thank you for sharing!

[@SimpleTek]

Wow, thank you!

[@silverfoxes65]

I built a house east of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon using Structural Insulate Penel, which means the basic building component was 5" thick styrofoam sandwiched between two sheets of wafer wood. I used 10 inch panels on the roof. We found that the house was more comfortable if we left the heat on all the time. Bottom line, it took so long to heat up the foam core panels, also it took a long tome to cool down the thermal panel implying that there was substantial thermal mass in the foam panels themselves. My heating bills were $300 per year and my neighbors heating bills ran over $500 per month in the winter. And we needed no airconditioning in the summer. It was a total win.

[@SimpleTek]

That’s awesome thank you for sharing

[@G27pat]

So happy to see another video! I'm researching the same but to keep things cooler for longer.

[@SimpleTek]

Thank you!

[@monokheros5373]

i like to use Thermal Banking... Thermal Mass that you Deposit Thermal Energy into and can the Withdraw Thermal Energy later BLACK Colorant added to Cement can help draw heat into it IF you leave it the color of Lime Stone it will reflect heat away interesting stuff mate

[@SimpleTek]

thank you for the insight! Cheers!

[@Vipel]

Glad to see you back in the saddle love thinking about these kind of ideas!

[@SimpleTek]

Us too!

[@Vipel]

@@SimpleTek Been looking forward to seeing this one for a little while working on designing a house around some of the simple ideas I have gathered from you over the years. Thank you!

[@SimpleTek]

@@Vipel you’re very welcome

[@David_Mash]

Insulation restricts heat transfer in both directions, thermal mass slows heat transfer by absorbing heat from both directions

[@David_Mash]

Water is a thermal mass but it is much more conductive than sand for example. Thus, sand would be a better thermal mass for slowing the transfer of heat

[@SimpleTek]

@@David_Mash water works better to store and release heat

[@David_Mash]

@@SimpleTek perfect to connect a thermal mass wall to a thermal mass floor or storage.

[@Chris_at_Home]

I built our greenhouse on a 4’ concrete block wall with 4” of foam board on the outside. I put drain pipe under our grow barrels with tons of rock over it. I pump heat with an in-line fan from the peak to the drain pipe during the day. We grow from late March to October with no supplemental heat. Thermal mass for walls on a home in a cold climate aren’t good.

[@SimpleTek]

Thank you for the insight!

[@priestesslucy3299]

You do want insulation, but thermal mass inside that insulation is still valuable in the north. Thermal Mass stores the heat you produce so you don't wind up with it all in the air, flying out the door every time it's opened. But yeah, with the 'only choose one' quandry poised by the video thumbnail, you definitely pick the insulation up here.

[@SimpleTek]

@@priestesslucy3299 click bait works!!!!!

[@priestesslucy3299]

@@SimpleTek It wasn't the bait that got me lol, I'm just interested in energy efficient construction methods 🤭

[@Chris_at_Home]

@@priestesslucy3299 our house is built like that. We have a daylight basement with insulation on the outside walls so we can use the concrete as a thermal mass. I put a vent with a thermostat high on the wall of the ground level and on sunny days it pumps heat into the basement. We have good sun and lots of glass on the south wall. In the summer we can bring up cooler air by reversing the fan.