I have recently bought an underground house near Mankato MN built by Earth Sheltered Technology. The owner died before completing it.
The owner clearly was trying to put in a system of earth tubes into the house. There are a number of PVC tubes running from the outside of the house, through the concrete of the slab to vents in the various rooms. There is 220 v wiring coming out of the house to where the tubes exit that may, or may not, have been intended to power some sort of air-moving equipment.
I would like to finish this project, but I don't know how. Can anyone tell me what kind of hardware to get and where to buy it? For example, on the internet I see recommendations that filters be put on the exterior openings of the tubes to keep out dirt, insects, etc. I am not aware of any commercial fittings for PVC pipes which would be used for mounting filters. Any concrete advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
replied to: ScottBuchan
Replied to: I have recently bought an underground house...
You may want to check out this article, http://mb-soft.com/solar/saving.html and possibly contact them for further advice. Good luck with your project.
OurLazySRanch.com
replied to: OurLazySRanch
Replied to: You may want to check out this article, http://mb-soft.com/solar/saving.html and possibly...
Thank you for your interest and encouragement. I have looked through the website you suggested, but it does not seem to have anything I can use. It seems that the writer is recommending a closed system of earth tubes to bring the subsurface temperature into a house. Two holes are made in a basement wall and are connected to a series of parallel PVC pipes buried in the yard. The details are sketchy, but presumably there would be a fan to blow the basement air through one hole into the parallel pipes, where it would be cooled by the soil and return into the basement through the other hole, perhaps with another fan pulling the air out of the pipes. The holes in the basement would be slightly lower than the PVC pipes in the back yard, so that any water that condenses in them would flow back into the basement, to be evaporated by the fans.
Unfortunately, that clearly is not what the system in my house is intended to do. It is apparently an open system, bringing outside air directly into the house through the pipes which are embedded into the concrete floor. There is nowhere that a system of pipes could be placed underground: the ends of the air pipes, about a half-dozen of them all grouped together, go out of the house between three and four feet high onto a concrete patio, right in front of large windows. The other end of each pipe leads to an opening in the floor of the house.
Thank you again for your interest. Please let me know if you run across anything else.
replied to: ScottBuchan
Replied to: Thank you for your interest and...
It is possible it was thought to be used as an cool intake type system as the hot exhaust would be in the upper most part of the house, or through the roof. I would imagine this type of system would work by itself, or with enertia, pulling the cool air in through the bottom while the warmer air that rises exhausts through the roof. Possibly using one way up ducts or similar.
You might be interested in the following ~
http://www.enertia.com/Science/HowItWorks/tabid/68/Default.aspx
Good Luck. OurLazySRanch
replied to: OurLazySRanch
Replied to: It is possible it was thought to be used as an...
I believe that you are right. There are also tubes going up out of the roof, so it makes sense that the plan would be to draw cool air in from the outside and let warm air vent out through the roof. Thank you very much for the tip! Now I need to find someone in the Mankato area who knows how to finish the job. At present all the tubes are just completely open, and I am going to have to cap them until I find my expert. Garter snakes are crawling into the house through what seem to be the air intake tubes.
