Cathederal Ceiling

[James Repetski]

This is a dumb question, but if you put in a cathedral ceiling in a room would it require more heat in the winter to keep the room warm?

Tracy

[JerryL]

Heat rises, doesn't it? The higher the ceiling the more the heat rises to fill the space.

[Travis Jordan]

It depends - while heat loss is a function of room volume (among other things), the slope of the ceiling doesn't matter. So if you compare two rooms of equal volume - one with 11' ceilings against a room with a linear 8' to 14' cathedral ceiling for example, the heat loss will be the same.

[nicksanspam]

Nono. It's proportional to wall and ceiling surface exposed to the outdoors.

Nick

[Travis Jordan]

A fine point, but one which I will concede willingly.

[Travis Jordan]

And I omitted....don't forget about the floor / slab.

[RicodJour]

That's not exactly correct, but the OP is asking about keeping warm, not heat loss. He's also not asking about which size room is easier to heat. The only variable is the ceiling configuration.

Higher ceiling, more volume, more heat required to keep a person warm...unless said person was bitten by a radioactive spider and spends quality time scurrying around the ceiling.

R

[Joseph Meehan]

There are a lot of factors and construction details will make a big difference.

I would say that in general there would be a little difference and it will require more heat in the winter. You may or may not be able to recover some of that with lower cooling cost during the summer.

Good construction will minimize the differences.

[tbasc]

Mech Engineer on bowleing alley project talked about stratification.. As I understand it, if the air is introduced at a given level with enough momentum / volume, zones of temperature above and below are separate. Is there an HVAC expert in the house? TB

[SQLit]

I had cathedrals in my last house some places were almost 20 feet high. Summer time it seemed like the a/c worked longer than the previous house. Bills were about the same. Winter was comfortable to me. I live in Phoenix so the location your talking about would have a lot to do with the situation.

Personally I will not have high ceiling again. Just to echoie for me.

[Rudy]

So you need a fan up there to push it back down

[nicksanspam]

Room A is 20x20x11, with 4400 ft^3 of volume and 2(20+20)11 = 880 ft^2 of walls and 20x20 = 400 ft^2 of ceiling, ie 1280 ft^2 of heat-losing surface.

Room B is 20xL, with V = 20x8xL+2x1/2x10x6 = 220L = 4400, so L = 20, with

2(20+20)8 of walls + 2sqrt(6^2+10^2)20 of sloped roof + 120 ft^2 of gables, ie 1226 ft^2 of heat-losing surface.

Room C is 20x20x8, with V = 3200 ft^3 and 2(20x20)8 + 20x20 = 1040 ft^2 of heat-losing surface.

Nick

[Travis Jordan]

Good analysis, Nick....thanks.

[RicodJour]

Playing at math to show that a larger room has more surface area is an analysis...? More like a waste of time.

R

[nicksanspam]

Some earlier RicodJour seems to have c> > This is a dumb question, but if you put in a cathedral ceiling in a

That's not exactly correct, but the OP is asking about keeping warm, not heat loss. He's also not asking about which size room is easier to heat. The only variable is the ceiling configuration.

Higher ceiling, more volume, more heat required to keep a person warm...

Nick