[Greenbuilding] Thermal bedchambers

[nick pine]

Old Swedish farmhouses and Thomas Jefferson's house had "alcove bedchambers"
to conserve body heat in wintertime. They were like sleeping bags with more room
inside, maybe 7' long x 5' wide x 3' tall, like a queen-size bed with a low canopy.
They were built into walls like shelves with insulation on all sides and a close-fitting
thermal curtain over the wall opening, like this, for personal air conditioning:
http://www.sunfrost.com/sleep_genie.html

We can sleep in 70 F air in a 30 F bedroom if we raise a bed 3' above the floor
and surround it with vertical comforter thermal curtains, eg 4 92"x104" R3(?)
$30 Wal-Mart king-size quilts. With a 30' perimeter and 19" airtight vertical
overlaps and a perfectly-insulated ceiling and a perfectly-insulated wall
behind the headboard and no air leaks, the bed space might be kept at 70 F
with (70-30)30'x5'/R3 = 2K Btu/h, eg a $15 Home Depot 1500 W space heater
with a thermostat using 2K/3.41 = 586 watts in a 586/1500 = 39% duty cycle.

Are we tempted to rig the comforters to the ceiling with standard drapery rods and
clamp rings, superficially bowing to Louis XIV? No! Form follows function! A mere 2"
ceiling gap would lose 30'x16.6x2/12sqrt(5)(70-30)^1.5 = 47K Btu/h to air leaks,
requiring 13.8 kW, 23.5 times more than comforters perfectly-sealed to the ceiling!    

How to do? Rip 3 10' 2x4s into 2x2s and screw 3 2x2s to the ceiling above the 60"x80" queen-size
bed 12' apart at the headboard wall and 10' apart at bed end, giving a 42" curtain side clearance
at the bed head and a sqrt(120^2-12^2)-80 = 39" end clearance and a 20" bed end side clearance.

Two more 5' ripped 2x4s at the head can provide vertical seals and Harbor Freight grommets http://www.harborfreight.com/103-piece-1-2-half-inch-grommet-installation-kit-30037.html or velcro http://www.harborfreight.com/3-4-quarter-inch-x-35-ft-roll-hook-and-loop-cable-strap-96215.html
can provide vertical seals at the end of the bed, if needed.

Voila.

Nick
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