Ian’s Cave is a concrete dome, 12 feet high and however many feet it is long, covered in nobody knows how many tons of sand but it’s a lot. You wanna talk thermal mass? You can’t handle the thermal mass.
This time of year, neither can I. Because…
For the past couple of years the Cave has contained a perfectly lovely shower. But once it gets cold there’s no effective way (within my propane budget) to actively heat it*. So although it takes a long time in early winter for the cave to fall out of the comfort zone and it never gets anywhere near below freezing…
…it also takes a really long time in Spring before the cave is warm enough for the old man to want to get naked and wet in it. So…
…every warm afternoon so far I’ve been trying to speed things up. Day to day it hasn’t really seemed to accomplish anything, but I remind myself that heating the Cave is never a sudden thing. This past January when Daughter and Granddaughter came to visit I burned a whole 20-pound bottle’s worth of propane in there and JUST BARELY got things sufficiently warm for non-shivery shower use. Took three days. So the big-fan-by-open-window technique sort of qualifies as better than nothing but only just. Eventually things will warm up in there.
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*This is the big problem with the strawbale-and-earthbag extravaganza my neighbors D&L built. They burn an AMAZING amount of expensive wood pellets every winter because they can’t afford to ever let its insides get cold: It would take days to warm back up. My little stick-built cabin gets cold at night but is easy to warm back up in the morning.
Darn Laws of Thermodynamics! I presume some temporary styrofoam sheets to cover the walls would be a nice thought, but ineffective?
Joel: how goes the hose-melting solar water heater?
I used to live where the shower was in the basement’s SE corner. The south and east walls were mostly exposed. Having ice forming on the walls while you shower is a splendid incentive to not waste water. I don’t miss the experience. I eventually lived where there was a BOILER supplying unlimited, free hot water. Heaven! Too bad I had to move out.
So his cave stays at appox 54 degrees, is that year round? Wow, that’s about 10 degrees lower than what I would have thought for these. I keep hearing folks say mid 60’s year round for theirs..
My brother and I erected an outside pallet shower stall for us to bath outside in complete privacy. Perhaps some type of temporary arrangement could be made in your situation as well ? Not in cold or COLD weather of course, only in season. Way out in the boon docks, should be safe from Peeping Toms.
As far as the cool interior being a problem, wearing appropriate clothing would be the reasonable solution to me. Much easier insulating your body than changing the interior climate.
Here in east central Florida, ground temperature is 72 DEGF at a depth of 6 feet below ground year round, according to an architect who specialized in earth-sheltered buildings.
Why not use an arrangement like your shower heater to move hot water down to a radiator inside the dome?
I’d bet it could get the inside temp up by at least 15degreesF.
The commemt hox is squashed and I can’t see my comment so my apologies for nonsensicals. ground temperatures below a certain depth are based on inputs (solar) and outflows (seasonal fluctuations). Average ground temps can be searched. Treat your interior like a car, heater on in winter and off in summer. Insulate walls with removable panels. All up in winter, to avoid losing it to the walls, and selectively remove some in summer to bleed excessive heat away. Sure wish I could read what I wrote. Hope it isnt a variation on Mein Kampf…..