Heat Transfer is Inevitable

So lately we’ve been busy. In class we are studying about energy transfer and how it occurs; we even had a field trip dedicated to insulation and where cold air enters a house. For the trip, we went to the Otterbrook house out in Peterborough. We looked outside, inside, upstairs, and downstairs; all to see where heat was being lost. Most of the heat loss was due to convection in small holes in the floors, walls, and ceilings. Previously posted was a video of a piece of tissue paper that was taped to a support beam in the ceiling. You can the paper moving like there was wind blowing. This is actually caused by convection heat loss in the beam. The paper was taped in front of a crack in the beam that was allowing heat to escape. We also took photos of certain things around the house to give you an idea of what it was like. Ted Styles, an energy audit, came into our class to talk to us about conduction and convection heat loss in houses and how he helps people save thousands of dollars a year.

We also did a multi-day lab/construction project where we tried to make the best thermos for a water bottle. We had the make it with a 5 in diameter and a 10 in height. The key was to choose the right insulation with the highest R value so that you could make a usable design that was practical and kept the water at the same temperature for 30 min. Overall this unit was very interesting and we learned a lot of useful information that could maybe help us save some money in the future when we live in our own homes.

Visible Air Leaking from Support Beams

Pictures From the Otterbrook House

Above is an outdoor view of a window that was releasing heat because of the surrounding cracks.

Shown above is a hole in the siding up by the roof releasing heat.

This is a blower door that seals the door and blows air outside. If you go around the house and put your hand against the cracks while this is on, you can feel air flowing through. Ted Styles uses this tool when he goes into houses and searches for heat loss causes.