[Greenbuilding] Fw: Biochar as Annual Cycle Building Dehumidifier

Mon Jul 6 14:15:35 CDT 2015

I won't touch a job unless the client has done a 15 year WUFI analysis on
their home.

Gennaro Brooks-Church
Director, Eco Brooklyn Inc.
Cell: 1 347 244 3016 USA
www.EcoBrooklyn.com
22 2nd St; Brooklyn, NY 11231

On Mon, Jul 6, 2015 at 2:20 PM, Alan Abrams <alan at abramsdesignbuild.com>
wrote:

> this may be self evident, but with regard to loading up the interior of a
> building with desiccant material--let's call it hygromass--unless the
> envelope and mechanical system are capable of redesiccating during dry
> periods, problems can result. things can cycle from wet to dry for years
> before a slowly accumulating moisture content can hit the point of
> sustaining mold, so there is the potential for a stealthy failure. a WUFI
> analysis, run out for, say, ten years, can predict such outcomes.
>
> -aa
>
> Alan Abrams
>
> *certified professional building designer, AIBDcertified passive house
> consultant, PHIUS*
> *certified passive house builder, PHIUS*
> cell     202-437-8583
> alan at abramsdesignbuild.com
> HELICON WORKS *Achitecture and Education*
> <http://www.heliconworks.com/index2.html>
>
> On Fri, Jul 3, 2015 at 1:10 PM, John Salmen <terrain at shaw.ca> wrote:
>
>> Sorry I didn’t see the video but wouldn’t zeolites (volcanic rock
>> dessicant) be more effective than any source of carbon. It is a pretty
>> common dessicant and pretty cheap – works by storing water to a saturation
>> or equilibrium – so when the humidity level drops the zeolite will cycle
>> and release moisture to about 80% of its dry weight – so a 100 lbs will
>> hold about 12 gallons of water.
>>
>>
>>
>> Not sure what kind of moisture you need to pull out but if its about 12
>> gallons a day you would need about 10,000 lbs or about 7 cubic yards –
>> would definitely fill a crawlspace – but then you have to draw your air
>> through the crawlspace.
>>
>>
>>
>> I could imagine making an air filter using a buried concrete or poly
>> tank.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* Greenbuilding [mailto:
>> greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] *On Behalf Of *conservation
>> architect
>> *Sent:* July-03-15 7:15 AM
>> *To:* Green Building
>> *Subject:* Re: [Greenbuilding] Fw: Biochar as Annual Cycle Building
>> Dehumidifier
>>
>>
>>
>> Many of us living on the East side of the Mississippi River, have high
>> humidity in summer and low humidity in winter inside our homes when
>> heated.  The relative humidity can be high in the winter outside.  However,
>> by heating the cold air, it becomes very dry inside.  In the summer, the
>> common practice is to cool with refrigerant driven air conditioner.  Never
>> mind that all the refrigerant will leak when the seals break.  We do not
>> have air conditioning.  In mountains of Virginia, we are able to keep the
>> house in 70sF all summer with night flushing and closing up during the day
>> with HRV running.
>>
>>
>>
>> Setting aside the issue of biochar, let me speak of increasing the
>> desiccant capacity of the house similar to the what was described in video
>> referenced below.  I have observed that our house has an annual cycle of
>> humidity.  After heating through the winter, the house is very dry.  In the
>> spring as the humidity begins to rise, past the heating season, the house
>> will act as a desiccant and dehumidify  the air coming in by aDsorbing the
>> humidity.  As summer and early fall, continually adds moisture, the
>> capacity to aDsorb humidity out of the air becomes saturated.  By late
>> summer and early fall, without active dehumidification, the house will have
>> it’s highest humidity.  Then when heating season starts again, the heat
>> will begin to dry out the aDsorbed humidity.  In the gradation from being
>> too high, to too low RH, there will be a time where humidity released by
>> drying will be a beneficial humidifying of the air, just as late spring,
>> early summer the house’s dehumidifying affect is a benefit.
>>
>>
>>
>> For the past 3 years, I have been reducing the humidity in my house in
>> the summer by temporarily heating to 100F+ temperature for a few hours.
>> Living near a creek may be raising my ambient humidity above normal.
>> However, when I have done that with a wood stove, I am able to cool house
>> again by the following morning with RH reduced by 15%.  Because initially,
>> my wife did not want me to do this, I waited until it was 90%RH in late
>> August.  This brought it down to a still too high, 75%RH.  On a slightly
>> cool day, I got permission to do a smaller fire to get RH to 65%.  The
>> second year, I pointed to the mold forming to convince here it was a
>> problem, also in August.  Similar results to first year.  This year, I
>> convinced my wife to proactively dehumidify by drying the house when I
>> first saw it get to 80%RH temporarily.  I did this last week to get down to
>> 64%RH.  Also, on select days where RH is in 50s%, I ventilate the house
>> with fans.  I was able to reduce by 5% the last time this way.
>>
>>
>>
>> Now if you could increase the desiccant capacity such that describe in
>> video, we can lower the peaks of dry and wet to achieve desirable levels of
>> humidity without the use of refrigerants.  This assumes you can maintain a
>> suitable temperature by other means.  Now if people use biochar as the
>> desiccant, they can prevent the readmission of half the carbon contained in
>> the wood it was created from for millennias.  In addition to sequestering
>> the carbon from wood, it also reduces the carbon from manufacturing and
>> running refrigerant equipment to dehumidify.
>>
>>
>>
>> This video about charcoal in Japan shows its use as an annual cycle
>> dehumidifier in a home.  The relevant part of 28 minute video for this
>> aspect comes at 21:28.  Any thoughts? 4,500 kilograms of charcoal were laid
>> in what looked like a crawl space to absorb humidity during the summer and
>> give off humidity in the winter.  Much information was not included, like
>> climate, size of house, thermal envelope construction, ventilation, et.
>> However, this application of a desiccant is relevant to our core subject
>> of  greenbuilding.  Does anybody on list have experience using enough
>> desiccant to absorb humidity in summer and release back in the winter
>> inside a thermal envelope?
>>
>>
>>
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiVmKC8xXJ8
>>
>>
>>
>> Eli
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* Reuben Deumling <9watts at gmail.com>
>>
>> *Sent:* Sunday, June 28, 2015 8:59 PM
>>
>> *To:* Green Building <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
>>
>> *Subject:* Re: [Greenbuilding] Fw: Biochar as Annual Cycle
>> BuildingDehumidifier
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Does anybody on list have experience using enough desiccant to absorb
>> humidity in summer and release back in the winter inside a thermal
>> envelope?
>>
>>
>>
>> Some of us live in climates with low humidity in the summer and very high
>> humidity in the winter. I'm thinking this would not work for us, eh?
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
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