to give the same insulation as modern cavity wall.
Let's assume its mainly built of limestone?
Those castles were around 1-2m think in places. I was womndering HOW think it would have to be to offer - say - a U value of 0.3.
It wasn't a problem then when there were plenty of peasants to burn
I think (or should that be thick) that they were more concerned with incoming iron balls, rather than heat loss.
And I thought *my* DIY projects were impressive ;-)
The White Tower in the Tower of London is 12-15 feet.
The absence of anything in the window holes, except sometimes a wooden shutter to stop the worst of the wind, would probably be a more important factor. In any case, there was no attempt to heat the whole room. Like a
1950s home in Britain, if you wanted to be warm, you put extra clothing on and/or moved closer to the fire.Colin Bignell
------------ They may have been sufficiently massive to provide some sort of thermal equilibrium. We often used the structure of a building for thermal storage in our energy management projects. And none were anything like as impressive or thermally massive as a castle.
So they may have had a cool environment in summer and a warm one in winter, when compared to outside ambient. I suppose the Tower of London, as you quoted, can best tell us if this is true.
From the chaotic regions of the Cryptosphere, The Natural Philosopher wrote on Sat, 09 Aug 2003 12:39:21 +0100:
The current maximum U-value is 0.35W/m²K.
This gives an R-value of (1/0.35) = 2.857m²K/W, so removing the R for surface resistances (0.13 & 0.06) & internal plaster (0.06) gives a minimum required R-value of 2.607m²K/W.
The conductivity of limestone is 1.13W/mK, so multiply that by the resistance required (1.13 x 2.607) = 2.95m.
You may be able to argue for a slight reduction with the Building Control Officer as these old castles had very little windows (or arrow-slits) And of course, burning peasants could be classed as a Carbon-neutral fuel.
My Grandpa's croft house has walls which are 3ft thick - I'm sure a castle would be thicker.
So lets just resatet this.
3 meters of castle wall is as good as any house today? Ignoring windows....which were small, and in any case if reasonably tight fitting thick shutters and/or heavy tapestries were used, as good as double glazing....AND of course the castle would settle down to an avearge ambient temperature and stay there due to its massive thermal inertia. Probably take a week to get warm after lighting the fires in winter. Likewise in weather like todays, it would settle to somewhere between day and night temps - say about 25C instead of 35, or 15.....
I think he would have something to say about the oubliettes tho :-(
I have also thought hard about some of the passage graves and long barrow type tombs. It seems to me that a few feet of earth is probably pretty good as well - the biggest hassle being heating and ventilation.
BUT if you stick all the animals in as well, thats a shitload of heat isn't it?
A cow has to be worth 500W at least. And you could burn the shit.
One suspects these guys found something that worked.
I never could understand how thw upper crust confined themselves
to damp cold draughty stone buildings, but...it would seem
they probably were not any of those.
Except the dungeons, which probably were all of those :-)
Woudl it be as thick as IMM d'you think?
Our snotty uni goon rises up to spouteth wit. Such wit!
Windows in castles were to let the wind in. And the smoke out, if built before chimneys.
Same here, nothing like a good bit of solid thermal mass to stabilise internal temperatures. Yesterday was the hottest I've recorded up here, 31.4C outside, after a steady 15C overnight. The living room temperature changed from 22C early morning to 25C by late afternoon.
I have a well insulated house and the insulation is very effective at keeping the heat out. The coolest room is the main bedroom, as the thick insulation up there keeps the heat out.
There lays the point. A modern house with superior materials can be built cheaper and perform at least the same, but more likely far, far better.
Uh huh, what's the temperature in your house today and what's your annual heating bill?
Temp: Very comfortable - well ventilated and well insulted. Bill: approx £250 for gas which is CH, DHW and gas hob. The CH is only setback ay night in winter time. I think £250 is too much and I ma working to get that down.
Poor house. What has it done to deserve that?
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
How witty. Are you the next Tarbuck?
Who?
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
Exactly!
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