Cob: Pipes under floor - roman bath

[Darel Henman]

Thanks for the reference on the Roman hypocaust systems.

It did use wood.  They didn't have glass then and probably didn't
understand solar systems very well either.

Now, we could implement this using a home made solar air heater.  
Possibly even a passive system, depending on locations of collecter and
pipe grid.   


The site below has a very good description and drawing of the roman
hypocaust system.  With a little imagination one could use a solar
heater instead of a wood burning fire to supply heat.  Once the ground
and walls were heated they would stay that way and provide heat for days
of cloudy weather depending on the wall's mass and the outside
temperatures.

http://www.romans-in-britain.org.uk/inv_central_heating.htm


Darel

Dognyard wrote:
> .........................
> Obviously this
> type of technology relies on a lot of firewood, but the simple beauty of
> the design was inspiring.
> 
> Karen in snowy Alberta