Not signed in (Sign In to the Green Building Forum)
Categories
- General
- Essential for Newbies
- Building Regulations and Standards
- Commercial build
- Data and monitoring
- Downshifting
- Energy Assessment
- Events and Courses
- Fundamentals
- Green Building Bible
- Green Building magazine
- Green Living
- Heating and cooling
- Housing - New Build
- Housing - Renovation
- Offers and wants
- Politics
- Products
- Renewable Energy
 |
||||||||
|
Vanilla 1.1.4 is a product of Lussumo. More Information: Documentation, Community Support.
Welcome to new Forum Visitors
Join the forum now and benefit from discussions with thousands of other green building fans and discounts on Green Building Press publications:: Apply now.
Join the forum now and benefit from discussions with thousands of other green building fans and discounts on Green Building Press publications:: Apply now.
Heating and cooling: Venting/reusing heat from recessed lights in ceiling void
Bottom of Page1 to 12 of 12
-
- CommentAuthorpetecooper
- CommentTimeJan 17th 2011
Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but I thought I'd ask.
I've recently swapped out standard issue 50W halogen recessed downlights with 11W CFLs. The new lamps aren't as long as I was expecting (the wrong brand were delivered to me), and the whole lamp body is recessed. This creates far less heat than the previous setup, and the chassis venting is greatly improved...which got me to thinking: is the heat that's generated good for anything? There's a bit of a draught up in the ceiling void when it's windy (converted garage; one side, two ends and a roof open to the outside world), but is there any value in me recovering the heat from the lights and doing something with it?
Thanks in advance. -
- CommentAuthorevan
- CommentTimeJan 17th 2011 edited
Short answer: no. Any measures involving ducting, fans or whatever would take more energy and money than it would ever save.
The only realistic way to do it would be to get rid of the recessed lights and use surface mounted ones instead. And even then it's probably not worth bothering unless the rest of your house is "better than passivehouse" or whatever.
IMHO :) -
- CommentAuthorpetecooper
- CommentTimeJan 17th 2011
Posted By: evan"better than passivehouse"
Not by a long stretch. 60s end of terrace that's not been well-cared for in the past. There's an element of turd-polishing in most things we're doing around the place ;)
Appreciate your input, evan - cheers. -
- CommentAuthortony
- CommentTimeJan 17th 2011
I use the heat from light bulbs to heat my house!
No matter how small the saving is it is worth having. I would put a flower pot over them and try to stop the draughts. -
-
CommentAuthorSteamyTea
- CommentTimeJan 25th 2011 edited
Tony
I am intrigued by the idea of heating a house with light bulbs and there was a bit on You and Yours about it yesterday (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00xpljr/You_and_Yours_24_01_2011 About 14 minutes in).
As most lighting is at ceiling level it will tend to heat at that level (have you tested this to see what the temperature gradient is?).
But the really big one that has me wondering is that we tend (teenagers may be different) to only put the lights on when we are in the room. Now if a person at rest generates about 100W and there is two people in a room and 1 60W light bulb, then surely the contribution from the people is greater than the bulb and in a more useful place. -
-
- CommentAuthortony
- CommentTimeJan 25th 2011
my house works -- all the energy generated within my house helps heat it including the people and light bulbs
I have no formal heating system and the MHRV destratifies the air so -- it is nice and even temperature everywhere. -
-
CommentAuthorSteamyTea
- CommentTimeJan 25th 2011
But you take my point, what is the electrical rating of the MVHR unit and its runtime.
Personally I think that de-stratification is a very important issue. Going to put some sensors on my wall now to see what the gradient is just for a laugh. Shall pick kitchen as that is where I work. -
-
-
CommentAuthorDamonHD
- CommentTimeJan 25th 2011
I know that the floor of the room I work in gets as much as 2C cooler than head level from using an inside/outside thermometer with the 'outside' sensor on the floor and the main unit on a head-height shelf. Extra pair of socks donned when that happens.
Rgds
Damon -
-
-
CommentAuthorSteamyTea
- CommentTimeJan 25th 2011
Shall see what mine is in a few hours.
Seems my sensors that claim to have a 7 to ten year battery life don't
-
-
-
CommentAuthorDamonHD
- CommentTimeJan 25th 2011
Mine seems to run on perpetual motion or something: don't remember changing the batteries more than once ever which must be well over 6 years per single AAA cell.
Rgds
Damon -
-
-
CommentAuthorSteamyTea
- CommentTimeJan 25th 2011
Mine have built in cell, the whole thing is the size of 3 5p's stacked together. -
-
- CommentAuthorbarney
- CommentTimeJan 25th 2011
No doubt the heat is useful (although recovering it isn't cost effective generally due to the small scale) - the problem generally is that it's not useful in summer so at a theoretical level you need a recovery system that uses it year round - into say HWS. Or dump it in the summer.
Personally I would look at dealing with the draught in the ceiling void - probably more cost effective
Regards
Barney
1 to 12 of 12
