How to \"cool\" home if using hot water heating system?

new builder

I'm doing pricing on building a berm earth house and wanting to use a boiler system to heat the home. What should I do for cooling it?

Mike T., Swampeast MO

I've been in a number of "earth berm" or "earth sheltered" homes in my area. Unless the exposed side faces generally south and has a lot of glass without a deep overhang for summer shade(POOR design) even with dewpoints and temps that make a rainforest proud, they stay reasonably cool in the summer.

Excessive humidity--not excessive temperature--is the more likely problem. Conventional A/C will only make the problem worse. Use a well-sized dehumidifier or two--with condensate drains of course--in most climates.

If you're in a hot desert, include some conventional or "swamp" A/C, but just as happens with thick adobe structures, you'll find FAR less need than you would think. If you're in an extremely hot and extremely humid climate, use high-velocity A/C in addition to dehumidifier(s).

hot_rod

check into the \"mini split\"

systems. They are a good fit in many radiant jobs.

hot rod

Larry Weingarten

Harold Hays...

... I think it was Harold Hays in the 1950s developed passive cooling using night sky radiation. Steve Baer of Zomeworks (www.zomeworks.com) is doing similar, but more adaptable things now. If you have much difference in temps between day and night, this approach might be of some use.

Yours, Larry